Magento 2 is a completely different system and has different files & database structure and these differences make "simple" upgrade impossible.
Experience of our team shows that migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2 is more like developing a completely brand new website.
However, Magento developers have made a few migration tools which make this process simpler - they have developed database migration scripts which allow you to move all the data from Magento 1 to Magento 2.
So, at least all the data (products, orders, etc.) can be transferred using officially developed tools.
But that is it, everything else (theme, extensions, customization) needs to be done from scratch.
If there is no easy way, maybe it is better to use Magento 1?
And "Yes" and "No".Magento team is planning to end support of Magento 1 in 2018 year and it means that there won't be any new updates. So, if any security issue is found in Magento 1 - Magento team won't make new update to fix it.
Also during one or two years, developers of extensions will focus on the extensions development only for Magento 2, it means that Magento 1 will be using outdated extensions without new features and security updates.
What our team suggests:
If you are running your store with Magento 1 without any significant trouble - you don't have to migrate to Magento 2 ASAP.Plan it in advance, (e.g. in 4-6 months), think about it as a great opportunity to make significant changes in your platform.
Maybe you want to redesign Magento or want to change some core logic/features of your store. Such big changes have almost no influence on the timeline of Magento 2 migration process because it doesn't matter, old or new, design you want on Magento 2 - developers in any case, will have to create 90% completely new store from scratch.
3 Main steps to Migrate from Magento 1 to Magento 2
Theme:
If you have bought theme for Magento 1 there is a big chance that you can get the same theme for Magento 2 also. You just need to remember vendor of this theme and go to vendor's website. Some vendors even may allow you to download the same theme for Magento 2.It's a completely different situation if your theme was developed from scratch. In this case web-developers will have to convert the current theme into Magento 2 format manually.
Extensions:
You need to make a list of all extensions you are using on your current Magento 1 store and check if their vendors have the same extensions for Magento 2 too.It is very important to make sure that extensions exist for Magento 2 too, otherwise you will have to look for similar ones but they may not be so flexible or familiar while using.
Customization:
This is the most difficult part, because usually nobody remembers what exactly was customized during so many years of using Magento 1.Of course, if your web-developer has been supporting Magento 1 for a long time and has done most of the customization, it will be much easier for him/her to remember what exactly was customized, so this part may not be so tricky. Otherwise, if a new developer will be doing Magento migration, this step might take more time than estimated at the beginning.
How Magento 2 can improve Business?
Our experience with Magento 2 migration shows that this process usually takes 1-3 Months (depends on the complexity of the store) and has a positive effect on:1. Website performance - Magento 2 by default is faster compared to the old one. Also, it is a great opportunity to take into account performance issues of old store and develop the new one, much faster.
2. Stability & Additional features - Magento 2 has much more embedded functionality, some features which were created in Magento 1 with extensions is now included in Magento 2 by default and are more stable.
3. Support & Updates & Security - You can be sure that your store is always secured and new updates will be available as soon as possible.
