Magento migration in Switzerland: What makes the case in 2026
Planning a Magento migration usually raises two questions at once: Can the platform support your often complex product catalogue for years to come? And is the effort justified by what Adobe actually delivers, rather than what is promised on conference slides? For Swiss industrial companies and manufacturers with numerous product variants, attributes and system integrations, this is a long-term investment decision.
The short answer: Adobe completed its acquisition of Magento on 19 June 2018. The paid product line is now called Adobe Commerce; Magento Open Source remains the licence-fee-free foundation. A migration is particularly relevant where catalogues have complex structures, ERP (enterprise resource planning), PIM (product information management) and payment providers need to be integrated, and development capacity is already budgeted for. Version 2.4.9, released on 12 May 2026, adds official support for PHP 8.5 and Symfony 7.4 LTS (long-term support), expanded GraphQL capabilities and new payment options. Adobe's 2026 roadmap also focuses on agent-assisted shopping and Adobe Commerce as a managed cloud service. For small catalogues with few integration requirements, a migration is rarely the best first step.
Magento migration in Switzerland: What actually makes the case
The two product lines regularly cause confusion in consulting discussions. Adobe completed the acquisition of Magento Commerce on 19 June 2018. The paid line now operates under the Adobe Commerce name. Magento Open Source continues as the licence-fee-free foundation; its source code is covered, among other licences, by the Open Software License 3.0 (OSL 3.0). In practice, “Magento” often refers to both, although they are distinct packages with different feature sets.
As with any open-source software, “free” is only part of the story. Magento Open Source carries no licence fees, but hosting, implementation and ongoing development require internal or external development capacity. Its maintenance horizon is predictable: according to Adobe's official support calendar, version 2.4.9 receives regular support until 31 May 2029, while the preceding version 2.4.8 is supported until May 2028. Whether a migration pays for itself depends on the benefits, costs and ongoing maintenance of the specific project.
The platform supports API-based architectures. GraphQL can be used to access the catalogue, cart and checkout without relying on the traditional server-rendered storefront, enabling headless or hybrid architectures. For B2B requirements, Adobe Commerce offers a separate extension that is not included in the standard Magento Open Source package: company accounts with role-based permissions, customer-specific catalogues and price lists (Shared Catalogs), negotiable quotes, requisition lists and multi-stage purchase-order approval workflows. For companies with complex customer hierarchies, such as industrial businesses with distributors or branch structures, these features can replace substantial custom development.
The standard Luma storefront has aged technically and can make load-time optimisation more difficult. Hyvä, an independent, lightweight frontend framework for Magento, offers a way to address this while retaining the backend logic. We are a Hyvä Bronze Partner and use the framework where the standard storefront reaches its limits.
Swiss projects: Where Magento is running today
Real projects provide better evidence of day-to-day suitability than feature lists. Three of our clients have publicly documented Magento implementations:
Herzog Elmiger, an independent trading company in the canton of Lucerne with around 120 employees and a warehouse exceeding 150,000 cubic metres, runs its online shop on Magento 2. According to the public project page, connecting the industry-specific ComNorm solution through our integration layer enables direct data exchange. Customers can place orders through their own ERP systems without opening the shop interface.
Durovis, an owner-managed company based in Perlen with more than 40 years of experience, also runs its shop on Magento 2. According to the company, it offers one of the industry's largest ranges of springs and plastic parts. Spring configurators form the core of the offering, supplemented by Solidcomponents CAD models embedded in an iframe. The project page openly identifies the main challenge during the takeover: missing documentation for the existing ERP integration.
At Büchi Labortechnik, the project page describes Akeneo PIM as the source system for product data. Drupal serves as the CMS (content management system), and Magento provides the e-commerce functionality. Both access the data through the Arcmedia ESL integration layer.
All three project pages describe production use of Magento 2. They do not document the original platform or the duration of a migration. The Swiss reference pages reviewed here provide neither a verified migration timeline nor a before-and-after comparison. Our article of 25 June 2024, “So retten wir Ihren Magento-Webshop”, also illustrates our work on existing Magento shops, but contains no project-specific performance figures. We therefore do not invent any here.
What version 2.4.9 actually adds
Before considering roadmap promises, it is worth looking at what Adobe has already shipped. Magento Open Source 2.4.9 was released on 12 May 2026 with official support for PHP 8.5 and Symfony 7.4 LTS, alongside updates to several frontend libraries. For teams planning their infrastructure over the long term, this provides a current technical foundation.
The clearCart mutation, which empties a cart through GraphQL, became available in Magento Open Source after previously being limited to the paid edition. Other additions include the exchangeExternalCustomerToken mutation for external customer authentication and the OrderTotal.grand_total_excl_tax field for order totals excluding VAT.
Checkout payment features have also expanded. With Google Pay vaulting enabled in Braintree, customers can store Google Pay cards in their accounts for later purchases. A Real Time Account Updater keeps stored card details current; Pay Upon Invoice adds an invoice-payment option for German shoppers; and Apple Pay now works in Chrome and Firefox as well as Safari. Administrator two-factor authentication has been simplified: one enabled provider is sufficient, rather than every enabled method. Adobe lists 580 core-code fixes for this release, illustrating the continuing maintenance effort that an open-source platform also requires.
Not every attractive feature belongs to the free foundation. According to official documentation, Live Search and AI-based product recommendations are exclusive to Adobe Commerce and are not part of Magento Open Source. Choosing these functions therefore also means choosing the paid edition.
The roadmap: Agent-assisted commerce and a new Merchant Center
Roadmaps describe announcements, not delivered capabilities. Adobe's Vision Forward roadmap, updated in April 2026, identifies several priorities: native integration with Adobe Experience Platform for data and personalisation, a redesigned Merchant Center for everyday administration, AI-assisted catalogue management and greater developer flexibility through Adobe Developer App Builder.
At Adobe Summit in April 2026, Adobe's business blog announced a Commerce MCP Server. MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard for exchanging data between AI systems and applications. The server is intended to give developers real-time access to catalogues, carts, pricing, inventory, promotions, checkout and order fulfilment for their own shopping assistants or third-party AI integrations. Adobe also described a Commerce Developer Agent as “in development”, intended to accelerate adoption of Adobe Commerce as a Cloud Service and Adobe Commerce Optimizer. The Optimizer uses a Composable Catalog Data Model that can support an independent headless storefront. The Summit session “Adobe Commerce Roadmap: Growing GMV in the Agentic AI Era” reflects this strategic focus.
For Swiss companies with established system landscapes, the direction is clear: more AI-assisted automation, more cloud operation and a more open catalogue model. Adobe has not consistently provided availability dates for every component. A migration decision should therefore be based on delivered capabilities; the roadmap provides context.
Who should consider a Magento migration in Switzerland?
The preceding sections suggest a pattern rather than a blanket promise. Magento Open Source or Adobe Commerce is worth evaluating when several factors coincide: a complex product catalogue with many attributes and PIM integration, as documented at Büchi Labortechnik; an established landscape of ERP, payment providers and industry-specific software such as ComNorm at Herzog Elmiger; B2B requirements for company accounts, individual price lists or approval workflows, which require additional extensions or custom development in Magento Open Source; and internal or external development capacity for continuing maintenance.
A migration is less compelling when the catalogue is small and simple, integrations extend no further than the payment provider, and no ongoing development budget is available. Our technology pages position other systems for these profiles, including Shopify for smaller and medium-sized companies with strong design requirements, and BigCommerce for companies needing extensive integrations with less customisation. These platforms address different starting points.
Conclusion
A Magento migration in Switzerland makes sense where product complexity, system integration and B2B requirements come together. It is not automatically the right choice for every company considering a change. Version 2.4.9 offers a current technical foundation through PHP 8.5 support, expanded GraphQL capabilities and a support horizon extending to 2029. The roadmap points towards AI-assisted, agent-enabled commerce, but does not yet provide dates for every component. Assess your own catalogue, system landscape and development capacity before budgeting for a migration.
Considering a Magento migration for your business?
Arcmedia has supported digital-commerce projects since 1995, from analysis and implementation to ongoing operation. Our specialists would be happy to discuss your plans.
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Sources
- Adobe, “Adobe Completes Acquisition of Magento Commerce”, 19 June 2018
- Adobe Experience League, “Released versions” (Magento Open Source 2.4.9 and 2.4.8)
- Adobe Experience League, Magento Open Source 2.4.9 Release Notes
- Adobe Experience League, “Introduction to Adobe Commerce B2B”
- Adobe Experience League, “Get Started with Live Search”
- Adobe Experience League, “Business Growth with Adobe's Vision Forward Roadmap”, updated 24 April 2026
- Adobe business blog, “Reduce time-to-value with agentic upgrades in Adobe Commerce”, April 2026
- Adobe Experience League, “Why the Composable Catalog Data Model (CCDM) Exists”
- Adobe Experience League Community, Adobe Summit 2026 session list
- Arcmedia project pages: Herzog Elmiger, Durovis and Büchi Labortechnik
- Hyvä, official agency directory (hyva.io/find-an-agency)
- Arcmedia, Magento technology page (arcmedia.ch/en/technologies/magento)
