Magento 2 Migration Checklist [Updated for 2021]

Magento is, without a doubt, the king of eCommerce. Over the years, it has given great success to thousands of eCommerce businesses across the world.

What’s more, is that there are still over 200K eCommerce stores running successfully on Magento today. Ever since Adobe ended its support for Magento 1 in June 2020, It stopped releasing new updates and security patches. This lead thousands of Magento merchants to be forced to migrate their stores to Magento 2.

So, if you also own a Magento 1 store, it’s high time that you migrate it to Magento 2 platform as soon as possible. In this post, we’ve shared the complete Magento 2 migration checklist to help you understand and make the entire migration process smooth for you.

Magento 2 Migration Checklist for 2021

Magento 2 Migration can definitely seem like a tough task, but it’s only when you’ve not planned and executed properly.

So, to help you plan your migration and execute it the right way, we’ve compiled a comprehensive Magento 2 migration checklist to help you make a smooth transition.

With that being said, let’s dive right into it!

1 – Create a Magento 2 Migration Plan

Before starting the Magento 2 migration process, it is critical to gather together all stakeholders, project management, and the development team to plan the migration process so that everyone knows what they need to do.

After gathering everyone, you need to set a realistic timeline for the migration. – It usually takes anywhere between 2 to 6 weeks to migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2 platform and go live.

The timeline usually depends on the size of your Magento store, its data, extensions, and functionalities. Once the planning is done, it’s time to move on to step number #2 and set up a testing environment.

2 – Set Up a Testing Environment

When it comes to Magento 2 migration, we recommend performing each phase of the migration process in a separate environment (i.e. on an allocated server).

The purpose of this is to ensure your existing Magento 1 store runs without any downtime while the migration is in the process.

So, before writing any code for migration, prepare a test as well as a development environment.

And to make sure everything is ready to implement, we advise you to install the default Magento 2 platform and configure the Git version control system.

3 – Install Extensions & Develop Custom Functionality (if any)

Third-party extensions play a key role in the success of any Magento store. 

Unfortunately, you cannot move your existing Magento 1 extensions to Magento 2 platform as they’re incompatible.

However, most Magento 1 extensions today have a version for Magento 2. And if there is no version of Magento 2 for a specific extension, you’ll have two options.
Either install an extension with similar functionality or develop a custom extension yourself. 

4 – Data Migration

Data Migration is a crucial aspect of the Magento 2 Migration. During data migration, all your Magento 1 store’s data including products, categories, orders, customers, settings, and store configurations will be moved to the Magento 2 platform.

So, to make sure data migration is done smoothly, we always recommend using the standard Magento Data Migration tool. It also helps you ensure all your store data is transferred to Magento 2 without any issue.

5 – Frontend Design

Unlike data migration, Magento 2 doesn’t allow or offer any tool for theme migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2.

This is mainly because the codes of frontend design are completely different and incompatible. 

So, while migrating your store to Magento 2, there are two best options:
Either purchase a brand-new Magento 2 theme with all the modern features.
Or design a custom frontend theme with all the visuals as well as functional features built from scratch.

6 – Test Frontend Design & Perform Database Synchronization

The next step of the Magento 2 migration process is to first test the frontend design thoroughly. 

And after that, configure the hosting server as per the new system requirements for Magento 2. 

Once the testing is done and you’ve configured the hosting server, it’s time to synchronize the final database so that no orders are missed during the migration process.

After database synchronization, put your Magento 1 store in maintenance mode. Complete certain last-minute tasks such as clean up cache, execute Magento 2 Cron jobs. Now test the final demo to ensure everything is functioning well and your Magento 2 store is ready to launch.

7 – Launch Magento 2 Store on Live Server

The last step of the migration process is the launch day. 

If you’ve tested everything thoroughly and made sure all is running smoothly and perfectly, then it’s finally time to carry out a smooth transition to the Magento 2 store on your live server and launch it in the market.

Concluding Thoughts…

Besides being necessary, migrating from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is also a good opportunity to optimize your eCommerce store and make it future-ready.

However, it also goes without saying that Magento 2 Migration is a complex process that requires a lot of time and effort. 

And if you haven’t performed a Magento 2 Migration before, we strongly recommend getting professional help.

At MageDelight, we’re proud to be one of the best Magento 2 Migration Service providers in the market. We bring along a proven track record of helping eCommerce businesses migrate their stores to Magento 2 with zero data loss and zero downtime of their existing store.

So, if you’re serious about migrating your store to Magento 2, feel free to contact us anytime. Our Magento migration experts will get in touch with you as soon as possible.