5 Things Retailers Need To Know About Magento 1 End Of Life

1. Website functionality is likely to become broken

When it comes to online shopping, customers have more choice than ever before. If a site doesn’t provide a seamless and enjoyable experience then they are likely to purchase from somewhere else instead.

For Magento Community 1, and many versions of Magento Enterprise 1, quality fixes have already ended. Without maintenance, the features and functionality on these websites will gradually become more and more broken.

The longer retailers leave it to migrate, the more likely they’ll be left with a non-functioning website while they complete the eCommerce replatforming process.

2. Magento 1 websites will be vulnerable to security breaches and hacks

By far the most worrying aspect of Magento 1 End Of Life is the end of security patches. This will leave websites vulnerable to security breaches and hacks, regardless of how well they have been developed.

Hackers are likely to see Magento End of Life as an opportunity to automatically hunt out security holes on the remaining Magento 1 websites. DDOS attacks, spam registrations and brute force penetration attacks are just a few of the ways that Magento 1 sites are likely to be targeted.

3. There will be no official support for merchants

Retailers who continue to use Magento 1 after June 2020 will be on their own. No official support means that developers and merchants will need to rely on forums and community support to resolve any technical issues with their websites.

By this point, Magento 1 will be seen as a dead platform so it may also be difficult for retailers to find developers or agencies willing to help them.

4. There will be no way to protect customers’ data and payment details

As security patches will end in June 2020, Magento 1 checkouts may no longer be secure. This means that hackers may be able to access customer data and payment details held in the eCommerce CRM. Not only will this result in lost sales and a damaged reputation, but could also see retailers in breach of GDPR so having to pay large legal fees, fines and compensation to customers.

5. There will be no new features or improvements to existing features

It’s an exciting time for eCommerce with technology evolving at a rapid rate. Offering new features such as subscription models, chatbots, mobile payments and same-day delivery can help retailers to differentiate themselves from their competitors.

With no first-party platform improvements or third-party extensions being developed, retailers who remain on Magento 1 will find it hard to keep up with consumer demands in terms of performance, convenience and functionality.