Change is inevitable. And so is the retail industry. Merchants are getting new options due to changes and improvements in technology. Technology advances rapidly, the eCommerce site you built a few years back, will lack essentials advanced features and longer be apt for the clients now. So, upgrading to a new eCommerce platform with advanced functionality is normal to enhance user experience.
Replatforming your eCommerce site is for sure a Big Decision. We’ll break down everything you need to know about replatforming to ensure you’re adequately prepared to choose an ecommerce site and migrate your online store data.
Before we dig more to know how to migrate, we will discuss what ecommerce replatforming is, why it’s essential, and why you may benefit from replatforming.
Let us see whether it is worth taking the risk.
What is Replatforming?
In simple word, the migration from one technical system to another is replatforming. Mainly retailers do replatforming to increase the performance and usability of their business. Replatforming is used to enhance the functionality of the technology you use.
Eventually, every sound system become outdated with time and need to be upgraded and so to scale your business, you need to adopt replatforming. To avoid a replatforming again shortly, you need to plan while considering your current business.
What is eCommerce Replatforming?
eCommerce replatforming refers to “The process of selecting and migrating to a new eCommerce platform is known as eCommerce replatforming”. At the most basic level, it is only migration of data from one online store to another. The steps include – installing new eco-system, migrating data and setting up a new eCommerce site.
Online retail is evolving rapidly, so you need to replatform to keep up with customer demands and market changes.
Importance of eCommerce Replatforming
With time you may find your previous platform slow, incapable of meeting customer needs and sluggishly designed. Whether the tool is provided by a third-party or built in-house., the maintenance and upkeep become a burden as you may be paying for some features you never use. In this scenario, eCommerce replatforming is the only option remaining for retailers to compete.
Few Specific reasons for eCommerce Replatforming:
- Unsatisfactory performance: Poor customer experience can slow down the purchase rate and even can stop them buying.
- Responsiveness and speed of the site – A fast, responsive site is imperative. If it doesn’t load within 3 seconds, maximum shoppers abandon the site. To keep your site streamlined and efficient, use high-quality website hosting service and limit your plugins.
- Disparities in your existing system – one of the most common reasons for re-platforming is covering the current site’s shortcomings. As this can bring the exact improvement of what you need most.
- Admin functions poorly – A clunky admin panel ultimately results in less output, which means poor navigation which slows your team down and increases frustration. Switching to an intuitive admin will ensure your team can work effectively.
- Repetitive tasks: Replatforming can be a solution to cut out repetitive, duplicate tasks.
- Maintenance issues: Costly, or time-consuming maintenance issues can be eliminated by re-platforming to a more suitable option.
- Streamlined, accessible analytics: Only meaningful insights can make significant improvements. A new advanced platform can ensure that you can collect, measure, and display meaningful data.
- Integration issues: The legacy system can face extreme difficulty to integrate with new plugins or adding extensions. Upgrading to an ecommerce platform can solve this.
- Customer feedback: Customer feedback plays a vital role in upgrading your platforms. Suppose they are not happy with the site experience you need to replatforming.
Key things to consider before switching ecommerce platforms
Replatforming is a critical process in terms of time, effort, and costs. It is no doubt a tough decision, so you should plan out your migration thoroughly. Prior to initiating the actual migration there are several things you should think. Before you make the switch, here are some things you should consider:
eCommerce Platform Migration Steps
1. Impact on your business
When preparing for re-platform, the critical thing to consider is the impact of improved efficiency, performance, and design on your business. Re-platforming will be worth the effort and additional costs if it can ensure that you will get a direct benefit from the migration.
2. Total costs
Total costs include the cost of the new platform, migration cost, maintenance costs, training cost of the staff, and miscellaneous cost for any type contingencies during further adjustments. So it would be best if you plan accordingly.
3. Integrations between new and old systems
Do a complete technology audit of all extensions and tools you are using, before re-platforming, so you will get an idea about the tools and extensions which are compatible on the new platforms and which are not. Make sure that without losing its performance level, you will be switching to a new platform which will support all the integrations you already use.
4. Technical Skill of your team
While carrying out the re-platforming, you have to gauge your team’s technical skills and know-how quickly, you will be able to adapt. This team includes all the experts who are installing the new platform, migrating data, and the new CMS users.
5. Features and capabilities
The main reason behind migrating to a new platform is enhancing the functionality. The feature of the new platform is an essential deciding factor. Before migrating compare the features of the existing and new platform, then choose the perfect match for your business which helps you grow to evolve and improve.
6. Future required maintenance
Replatforming is a long-term investment, so you have to look ahead and make the purchase decision that will not be outdated soon. You should always look beyond the initial features. Simultaneously, you may want to find an immediate solution to a problem with existing ecommerce tool, and buy the best-suited product that will meet needs if any new disruptive technology is introduced.
7. Customer service and support
Regardless of your team’s capabilities, if you get a full-service platform, you can solve errors quickly and appropriately when they arise. So, choose the platform wisely so you should have adequate customer service and support available.
8. Best time to run the migration
The best time to migrate is when your eCommerce site is experiencing the lowest traffic. And you will have the least impact on your business if any problem arises during the migration process.
9. Before migration crawl your site
You should crawl your ecommerce site prior to migrating store data, to make sure you catalog all of your existing content. It can save you significant problems down the road as it can ensure that nothing essential slips while migrating.
10. Migrate only up-to-date content
Check and recheck all the content and sort out what you no longer needed – remove those pieces and transfer only those content that are current and relevant.
Conclusion
In recent years, eCommerce has redefined the purchase pattern of the customers. For the retailers, choosing the right eCommerce platform is the gushing challenge as it depends on what you want out of the platform and of course the cost of installation, migration and maintenance. You will need to consider the benefits of each platform and choose based on your business’ needs. Fortunately, you have ETG Digital hire us to analyze your requirement for you. Our eCommerce software consultants create the blueprint of your smooth digital transformation and ensure you to avoid costly mistakes. Talk to our analysts today, which makes your replatforming relatively easy.
About ETG Digital
ETG is a Crest Level Salesforce Partner headquartered in Plano, Texas. We are ISO 9001:2015 certified company with a global delivery center in Hyderabad, India. We have dedicated teams of professionals spanning continents located in US, Canada, UAE, UK, Australia and India. Our ability to maintain talent hubs in multiple locations and working on projects for clients from various domains gives us a very unique advantage. An advantage to leverage proven technologies like Salesforce Commerce, Sales, Service, Partner and Marketing Clouds and using them to deliver tailor made solutions for clients to suit their business requirements.
If you are looking to take your business into the next league, you are at the right place. Connect with us at info@etg.digital or call us at +1 469 666 1119
