Migrating From Magento Go: Your Options

As we blogged earlier this month, Magento announced that it is planning to close two of its eCommerce platforms: Magento Go and ProStores.

The company, which is owned by eBay, will close the products on February 1st 2015 – affecting around 10,000 small and medium-sized retailers around the world. In an email that it sent to customers, it reassured them that it was “not as easy decision and we understand it may not be welcome news”.

Magento said that it chose the date so that “customers could plan for it before the holidays”.

So what are the options for eCommerce stores on Magento Go?

Migrating from Magento Go: your options

Migrating to Enterprise or Community

Magento hopes that some of the businesses will choose to upgrade onto its Enterprise and Community platforms. However, these options are markedly more expensive than Magento Go – although prices are bespoke and so fluctuate with each project the typical business will still expect to pay roughly $15,000 more per annum on Enterprise and Community.

Migrating to Bigcommerce

While Magento is trying to push its Go clients onto more specialised platforms, it’s also aware that many smaller businesses aren’t able to become part of something more substantial.

During Magento’s ‘switching off’ stage, the provider has struck a deal with Bigcommerce to offload many of its customers. Steven Power, the President of Bigcommerce estimates that half of his company’s 12,000 total migrated clients have come from ProStores and Magento Go and he’s confident that a heavy percentage of Magento Go’s remaining 10,000 customers will choose Bigcommerce.

As a result, Bigcommerce is ramping up the promotion with a number of exclusive offers to Go clients. However, there’s no way to find out exactly what its $900 of discounts actually represents unless you enter your details.

Migrating to Shopify

Although Shopify isn’t an official provider, it too is pulling out all the stops to entice Go clients to set up shop with them. What’s more, customers are being tempted with slightly more concrete product offers:

• 10% discount on its plans

• Free transfer from Magento Go

• A one-hour call with an ecommerce expert at Shopify

• A free 14-day trial

If you’re moving on from Magento Go, there’s some good news and some bad news:

The good news…

…there are plenty of better platforms out there. Although other factors were at play, Magento Go looks set to fold chiefly because it wasn’t as popular as the likes of Shopify or Bigcommerce. Businesses and online shops voted with their feet.

So if you are moving on from Magento Go, you’ll be pleased to know that there are better ecommerce platforms out there – with better aesthetics, more comprehensive conversion tools, greater marketing options and simpler back-end functions that can help you maximise your turnover.

The bad news…

…you’ll have to decide whether Shopify, Bigcommerce or another provider have the best platform for you. But we can help with that.

To chew the fat about your ecommerce needs and how we can help, give us a call today on +1 305-762-0130 (US) or (UK) +44 (0) 2920 837 438.

(Image: Serge Melki under CC BY 2.0)