You’ll find over 167000 active eCommerce sites powered by Magento 1 and around 100,000 powered by Magento 2, as of October 2022. These figures account for around 0.9% of all online stores. If we talk about Magento 2, it is much more user-friendly and faster when compared to Magento. Since its release in November 2015, it has received several updates along with significant performance and security improvements. The impact? A majority of the businesses are considering migrating to Magento 2. If you are an eCommerce store, running on Magento 1 or a Therefore, you must devote enough time and resources for the migration.
The Middle-east is expected to witness huge growth in eCommerce businesses in the coming years. This can be attributed to:
- Changing consumer behavior
- High spending potential
- High level of Internet penetration
- Improved infrastructure and logistics
- Government’s digital initiatives
More and more eCommerce businesses are switching to Magento 2.x owing to its advanced features and flexibility to update different extensions.
Before we discuss how you can find a Magento 2 upgrade service in the Middle-east, let’s quickly walk through the reasons why you must move to Magento 2.
Why Should You Go For Magento Upgrade?
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Enhanced performance and scalability
By switching to Magento 2, you can improve the performance of your eCommerce site and make it easily scalable. As a result, it will improve your website’s search engine ranking, thereby increasing the brand visibility and traffic.
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Improved cache
With Magento 2, you can limit the browser operations on the user’s devices. It comprises minimized Javascript and offers effective tools for compressing the images. Moreover, it has got improved caching for static pages.
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Easy checkout
Magento 2 allows you to checkout more customers when compared to Magento 1. While Magento 1 uses 6 steps in the checkout, Magento 2 uses just 2. It helps in increasing the number of customers and drives faster profitability. Furthermore, Magento 2 also lets the users checkout as a guest and create their account with a single click from the Thank you page.
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More effective SEO
Besides rich snippets and SEO-friendly URLs, Magento 2 helps in boosting SEO efforts with several features like image optimization and the freedom to utilize canonical tags for products and categories.
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Prevention of cyber attacks
There will be no security patches after Magento 1 reaches its end of life. As an implication, online stores using Magento 1 will be at risk of serious cyber attacks. So, if you fail to upgrade to Magento 2, it can give unauthorized access to your customer’s confidential information. Consequently, it can tarnish your reputation and make you lose all the hard-earned customers.
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Customer segmentation
Magento 2 gives you a split structure of Product Data, Checkout, and Orders. Because of this embedded segmentation, you can be sure that the database does not get overloaded. So, even when the admin panel gets loaded for a long time, the frontend works without any hiccups.
Now that we have a clear picture about the advantages of migrating to Magento 2, let’s see how you can find a Magento 2 upgrade service in the Middle-east.
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Figure out your requirements.
Before you make the switch to Magento 2, figure out your challenges and requirements. Meticulous planning and analysis are also important. As Magento 1 themes are not transferable to Magento 2, you will have to determine the new store themes too. You can either recreate the old theme or build a customized theme from scratch.
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Consider all the data migration risks.
Create a backup before migrating your store to Magento 2. Upgrading to Magento 2 comes with some SEO risks. Third-party SEO solutions and extensions can not be migrated with the standard Magento Migration tool. So, you will have to create an effective SEO strategy after the migration. You will also need to invest in local SEO efforts to enhance your visibility in the Middle-east.
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Research online for the expertise to look for
The perfect Magento 2 upgrade service should take into account all parameters like securing the payment gateways, optimized page loading, reducing in cart abandonment rate, and minimal cyber risk. Also, make sure that the migration experts have a detailed understanding of your eCommerce store and the middle-eastern market.
Note that this would generally be a one-off task. Hence, it is more advisable to hire an agency that can equip your eCommerce business with upgraded processes of Magento 2.
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Take a look at the testimonials or case studies.
Before zeroing in on a Magento upgrade service partner, go through the testimonials or past projects they have worked on. Check whether they have worked with a similar business. Take a look at their approach and processes involved. An ideal migration process would look something like this:
Crossing Off The eCommerce Challenges In Middle-eastern Market
- As far as the middle-eastern target audience is concerned, credit card penetration in these countries is significantly low. So, choose a migration partner who will allow you to have localized payment options like cash on delivery (COD). Strike the right balance between security and customer convenience.
- Mobile use in the MENA region is extremely high. So, it is imperative for retailers to develop mobile-first stores. This is all the more important when you make the switch to Magento 2. There should be no compromise in the customer experience, no matter which device they use.
Points to Consider While Magento 2 Upgradation
Migrating to Magento 2 involves a number of technique-sensitive aspects. They are:
- Your core files should not be disturbed.
- The development environment should be the same as the live eCommerce store.
- Before migration, get rid of all the redundant extensions.
- Perform an in-depth compatibility check for every integration.
- Make sure there is zero downtime in business and no data loss.
- You should get adequate technical support after the migration is completed.
Summing it up…
Migration to Magento 2 is no cakewalk. But, by hiring the right migration service partner, you can be assured of a pleasant experience without any roadblocks. Just make sure that you choose a Magento 2 upgrade service, considering the challenges of the middle-eastern region, your requirements, and customer’s expectations.
