Another Important topic about OpenCart is OpenCart Updates and Stability.
There is no system within OpenCart software itself for updates and upgrade; we will have to install new files for the updates.
OpenCart basically don’t support or encourage regular updates like WordPress.
A major reason behind this is that due to regular updates, the customizations done on any store are also required to be updated, Plugins updates are also required, and this all might result in the un-stability of your system.
So, A lot of people are of the mindset that they do not want to accept any changes once the software gets completed, because they find their software stable and as well as fulfilling all their requirements, so they don’t feel the necessity to update OpenCart.
Based on these reasons we can say that OpenCart follows the old mindset by not providing any system within the software for updates, it can not be updated on a one click like WordPress.
So if we still have to update then we will have to get a fresh install of the OpenCart and then we will need to import the customers, orders , and products data with the help of third party extensions, or we will have to acquire the services of any database engineer for data migration from database to database.
Likewise, we will have to rebuild the customized functionality on the newly developed store. You can’t move the functionality and code of the previous version to the new one, only.
if you have installed custom theme and extensions, and latest version updates for these themes and extensions are available, then you will get the store updated easily, but still in that case you will have to do the settings again.
So for updates, we recommend that if your store is stable and providing you with all the basic functionality and fulfilling your purpose of selling then you should not update the old store, rather you should launch a new store with a new rebranding or restyling concept, and then only migrate your data to the new one.
If you have a lot of customization on your store, then you must keep the cost of customization in your budget specially after major version upgrades, and if you have bought extensions and themes, and even there updates are also available, you will have do the settings again.
Above we have mentioned the details of OpenCart Upgrades system for merchants.
If you would like to upgrade your old stores versions or changing the look and feel of your store, we offer our service called “OpenCart Migration Service”, in which we carry out all the above mentioned procedures on your behalf, although this is a costly procedure, but it is not impossible and the systems stability can also be achieved, and your business keep going as smoothly as it is.