Even in the time of the global outbreak and a shutdown, Magento Community developers were ambitious and determined enough to roll out the new Magento 2.4 upgrade. With this latest update, Magento improved some of its key features that can prove to be a boon for both the user and Magento 2 development service providers. In total there are more than 90 new features, 68 bug fixes, 50+ security patches, 7 test cycles, along with PHP 7.4 support in the latest version.
With this article, we are trying to highlight some of the key features and their benefits from the perspective of Magento eCommerce development company and users.
Key Feature Updates
Default Search Improvement
Magento 2.4 minimized its dependency on MYSQL as from now on the site search option won’t be powered by MYSQL. Search is one of the most important features of any eCommerce platform and acts as the first interaction point for your consumers. Therefore, to make this first user interaction more seamless than ever, Magento 2.4 now offers you the support of ElasticSearch 7.6. Users now require to integrate their platform with ElasticSearch installation in order to enhance the consumer’s search experience.
Infrastructure Improvement
Magento also improved its infrastructure by introducing a lot of new features such as the support for PHPUnit 9.0, PHP 7.4, MariaDB, etc. It didn’t eliminate the full MYSQL from the framework, instead, they added MYSQL 8.0 support as well. With all the feature addition, Magento made changes to its existing framework as well by updating these modules: Customer Account, B2B, Catalog, Cart and Checkout, etc.
In-Store Pick-Up Option
In order to improve the overall performance of the checkout process, Magento introduces the In-Store Pick-Up option, where the merchants will be able to define the nearby pickup locations from the inventory management, add details like working hours, address, allowing their consumers to pick-up the order manually. This feature is available for both enterprise as well as the open-source version of Magento and helps in enhancing the checkout process.
Faster deliveries are now achieved by using this method as the consumer will be able to identify their nearby store, where their order will be available. The merchants, once the order is ready, will notify the consumer in a single click allowing them to pick it up manually.
Enhanced Media gallery
Media content is pretty much the lifeline of eCommerce businesses. New Media Gallery update lets merchants Media content as per the requirement of those contents within the webpage. Media gallery in Magento is now affiliated with Adobe stock, allowing the media function to work 30 times faster than the previous models. With the new Adobe Stock Integration, it is easier to filter, search, and sort images faster. It also allows you to select the stock images from the gallery itself offering a content-driven approach to enhance the user’s experience.
Two-factor Authentication
The key and most awaited Security Update in the latest update is Two-Factor Authentication for your admin panel’s security. It is the same as any other 2FA system, generating code from the system and sending it to either your registered mobile number or on E-Mail id. For now, this system is activated automatically and is mandatory, however, it is not available for the customer’s account.
The 2FA is something that was long overdue in the Magento Security system and is an essential feature as it protects your data from malicious attacks and threats. Therefore, it is advised that you never disable this additional layer of security feature.
Performance Improvement
After all the features update Magento needed to keep performance in check and hence, spent most of the time improving the performance of their platform. In order to achieve this Magento performed several optimizations such as increasing the caching capacity of SQL queries for faster execution, Redis Server Optimization, One-Click order to cart option, introducing Lazy Loading, etc.
The new Upgrade of Magento focuses majorly on enhancing the Security as well as the performance of the platform while keeping user experience in mind.
Conclusion
So the question arises, whether to update or not? If your system is still on Magento 1, then you probably need to migrate as soon the Magento 1 platform will go obsolete, which means Magento will be putting an end to security updates and support from this version. If you are still confused, get in touch with Magento developer Groups’ experts, highly experienced developers offering services of Magento Website Development and other related services, and have delivered numerous Magento 2 projects successfully. Check out our service page to get an understanding of our comprehensive range of Magento Development Services and let us know your thoughts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. How do I check my Magento Version?
Ans. There are several methods to check your Magento Version, like using a third-party plugin. One simple method is to use an online tool such as Magentoversion.com, where you just need to add the address of your platform.
Q2. Is Magento 2 any good?
Ans. If you are considering an eCommerce store, Magento 2 is currently the best store out there that promises flexibility and scalability for your product.
Q3. What are some requirements for Magento 2 installation?
Ans. Magento 2 Installation generally requires an OS, sufficient memory, and a compatible browser. Further, the system requirements in specific are:
PHP Support ExtensionApache Solr 4.0MariaDBMySQL 5.6RabbitMQ 3.5
