On July 1st 2014, Magento announced the discontinuation of the Magento Go platform. Everyone using this platform will need to migrate and the last date for this was announced as February 1st , 2014.
Magento Go is a hosted solution. The code base used is similar to the enterprise edition but is severely restricted. It does not enable too much customization. It cannot even be used to add features and functionalities available with extensions at Magento Connect or integration with any third party features.
Well, the good part is that this enables a straight forward migration to other platforms without too many elements to migrate and without too many complications. There is a deal going around with eBay and BigCommerce to move all the Magento Go Clients to BigCommerce. But a better option would be to migrate to Magento Community edition instead. It will offer clients with more flexibility and the robustness of the Magento platform.
What exactly will you need in order to migrate?
-
Web Hosting Solution
-
Payment provider like PayPal Pro or Authorize.net.
-
Finding the right Magento Development Company or partner to help set up the new instance on the community platform and help migrate designs, products and content.
The process is fairly simple in terms of migration from Magento Go to Magento. In the broad sense, the following steps will be carried out for migration:
-
A test environment of a fresh installation of Magento Community Edition
-
Migrate the design over to this installation
-
Copy the current content pages
-
Work in collaboration with you to move your products and categories to the new installation.
-
Import them to the new site.
-
Hook up with the payment provider
-
Select payment options, coupon codes, shipping options etc.
-
You will notice that you have more and better options than you had with the Magento Go installation.
-
The domain name will also be needed to be migrated to the live site.
Now lets look at some points to remember while we migrate
Data Transfer – Make sure that you transfer all these elements. Complete order history, customer information, SEO URL structure, reward points migration, special products, and customer data if any.
Design Transfer – You can transfer the design as it is, or add improvements in terms of page checkout, reward points, Ajax mini cart.
Functionality Transfer – All available as well as added functionalities need to be transferred.
Well, Migration of Magento Go to Magento CE or EE editions could be easy if all the planned steps are followed and each element is tested after migration on a test environment before going live. There were a few points to remember when trying to migrate Magento Go. Magento Go will be completely shut down after 1st Feb 2015. So, if you haven’t yet planned a migration, do it now!
You can also avail Magento Migration services and consultation regarding the same here www.ecomextension.com
