Magento 1 has stirred up the market of open source e-commerce systems and has become one of the most popular e-commerce systems in the world within a short time. For over a decade, small and large retailers have been relying on it.
Since Magento announced that it will discontinue official safety updates in June 2020 and no longer release updates for Magento 1, this means that hundreds of thousands of merchants will no longer have reliable software in the future.
Spoilt of choice
There are currently many alternatives to Magento 1. Depending on the size and complexity of the shop, there are various options available.
For many shop owners, this change is sudden and unexpected, despite the announcements and the one-time postponement of the support end of Magento 1.
In this situation it is important to stay calm and find new possibilities. A change from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is not a small update, but a time-consuming and costly process that requires rewriting and rethinking many parts of the system. Of course this also applies to other e-commerce systems such as shopware, as well as other frameworks and technologies.
The shop operator has to make an important technological decision. A change is costly, especially considering the time already invested in Magento 1, the employees that have already been trained and the corresponding budgets. In addition, an agency must be found that has the necessary resources and expertise. The decision has also been made more difficult by the launch of Shopware 6 in January 2020. With the release of Shopware 6, Shopware has guaranteed the support and further development of Shopware 5 for the next 5 years.
The right numbers support the decision
There are many factors that need to be taken into account in order to make an informed decision. However, this does not necessarily mean that an immediate change must be imminent. Mage One will offer security updates for Magento 1 from June 2020 onwards. The costs are based on the shop’s turnover and start at 29€ per month. In this case, an invoice can help with the decision making process.
Monthly costs for Mage One start at 29 €, with hopefully increasing shop sales the monthly costs will increase to 99 € in the next season.
In our example calculation we exceed this threshold in the third year. In our example, the total cost of providing security updates for the next 5 years is 4,260 €. If the Magento 1 Shop is not running in the latest version, the costs for upgrading Magento to the current 1.9.4.x must be added. With estimated (and version-dependent) costs of about 5.000€, exemplary costs of 9.260€ will be incurred over the period of 5 years in order to operate the web shop securely in the future.
These costs must be compared to the costs as well as the time and risk required for a relaunch. Assuming costs of approx. 15.000€ for a relaunch, Mage One can continue to operate the web shop at a lower price than a relaunch. The risk is also considerably reduced, because by switching to a new shop system, employees also have to be retrained and possibly new interfaces to third-party systems have to be adjusted or implemented.
Conclusion
By having Mage One provide security updates, such a major decision does not have to be made immediately. No matter if a timely change can no longer be realized, no decision has been made yet or no agency could be found. The temporary use of Mage One for 1 – 2 years offers shop operators enough time to make a well informed decision and to be able to devote the necessary amount of care to the relaunch.