Magento Go shut down: How online retailers can seamlessly migrate to another platform
4 min readEarly this month, eBay inc. company announced that Magento Go will shut down on February 1st 2015. Magento Go, owned by eBay’s Enterprise division has announced it’s shut down but will continue its service and provide customer support until February 1st 2015.
Today, there are approximately 3,000 live stores in Magento Go platform and if you are one of them, you may be surprised by the sudden shutdown. New Magento Go store accounts are no longer available and existing users are asked to move to another platform. Magento is offering their existing users with an option to upgrade for Magento Community Edition or Magento Enterprise edition. This can be an easy switch but expensive to small and mid-sized retailers.
How online retailers can seamlessly shift to another platform?
To ensure customers can seamlessly switch to another platform before Feb 2015 (~7 months), eBay is constantly trying their best to help its clients decide what to do next and how to migrate their stores without any hassle. Here are the offerings the company plans to provide as of now.
1 – For existing Magento Go users who are looking forward to a self-hosted ecommerce solution, they can upgrade to more flexible platforms Magento Community Edition or Magento Enterprise edition, and take an advantage of Magento’s guide for an easy migration. Simply log in to the “Migration Centre” with your account. You will need to export data your data and change DNS settings. For more details, please visit Magento’s migrating guide which can be downloaded that allows useful checklists, content, links and FAQ’s for migrating your store.
2 – For all those merchants who aren’t the right fit for Magento Enterprise Edition or Magento Community Edition, Magento is working with Bigcommerce-which is a SaaS based ecommerce platform similar to what their existing users are used to. This partnering will allow cost-effective option, free migration and discounted services for existing Magento Go users. Today, Bigcommerce has over 50,000 clients and will offer existing Magento Go users a seamless shift. It also supports robust integration with PayPal and the ability for users to sell on eBay, which is what many of the booted merchants will be looking for.
In a statement from Bigcommerce, the company said Magento had carried out extensive due diligence and selected Bigcommerce as its exclusive migration provider. 50,000 companies currently use Bigcommerce, and it said 10,000 stores were currently hosted on Magento Go and ProStores.
Alternate platforms offering similar features that can be considered by Magento Go users
Shopify and CS-Cart are hosted ecommerce platforms that allows features, extensions and templates similar to BigCommerce. Some of their features include:
a – Hosted ecommerce platform
Both are securely hosted platforms offering 100+ features offering a fully packed ecommerce solution that includes inventory, order, contact management.
b – In-built tools for marketing and SEO
Includes effective and best marketing tools when compared to any other hosted ecommerce platform. Social media integration, coupons codes, site navigation are some of their exclusive features.
c – Dedicated customer support
Offers a dedicated team of customer support to assist you from the start till end. With more than hundreds of support article, webinars – they have got you covered.
Some useful tips for a successful migration
1 – Know your store’s need and decide whether you fit a self-hosted solution (like Magento Community Edition or Magento Enterprise edition) or hosted ecommerce solution (like Bigcommerce, Shopify and CS-Cart).
2 – Choose a trustworthy vendor for migration.
3 – Track and ensure your store is up-to-date before going live.
Ecommerce platform migration can be a real nightmare! You’ve probably lost plenty of time and money for designing and developing your Magento Go store. Besides that your customer reputation is at a risk, so ensure you research well and wisely switch to an ecommerce platform that best fits your need.
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2 Comments
Very interesting. Magento Go was not a competitive offering and people who choose Magento as a platform are more likely attracted by its power and able to tolerate its steep learning curve. If eBay could monetize the large Magento community with unique services that can benefit both the merchants and service providers, the potential would be limitless.
No worry! Magento GO accounts are ready to plug in with another eCommerce platform,
another most renowned auxiliary source Magento itself (either Magneto Community
or Enterprise edition).
E-bay is trying its best to provide more insights upon suitable options and tips for migration.
All that we need to do is to transfer an old store into new one in flawless & error-free steps. A partnership between Magento and Bigcommerce does also favor more positive migration results (especially, its robust integration with PayPal). Dissimilar to other eCommerce platforms available in the market, Magento proves to be quite worthwhile over all.