Change is inevitable, especially in ecommerce. Customer needs, marketplaces, and products are in a permanent place of evolution, meaning that ecommerce platforms must do the same.

This can be small changes like messaging — or they can be massive changes like replatforming.

Migrating to a new platform can be voluntary or a requirement to keep up with the speed of business, but migration becomes more common the more mature a company becomes.

Platform switches are becoming more common. One study states that 61% of B2B ecommerce sites are considering platform migrations within the next 12 months.

They can be challenging, but they don’t have to be scary. Following a thoughtful approach will increase the chances of success.

Ecommerce Migration Options to Meet Business Needs

Migrations can take on many forms. The only constant here is a simple lift and shift of the current ecommerce platform does not happen. All approaches take time and include data migration services.

Platform to platform.

This is moving your site from an existing solution to another and may include moving from SaaS to SaaS, monolithic solution to another or from on-premise to cloud.

Monolith to headless.

Here, the frontend and backend are decoupled, giving developers more options and flexibility. Often, third-party APIs are included as part of this process.

Phased migration.

For a phased migration, pieces of the platform are transitioned piecemeal. Instead of moving everything at once, it’s done a few modules at a time.

Why Ecommerce Businesses Migrate to New Platforms

While every case study is unique, there are some typical reasons why ecommerce businesses elect to take on a website migration. These can be simple functionality in the checkout process or specific digital marketing needs.

Website is performing poorly.

For ecommerce companies, their website is the front porch of their business and is arguably their most important asset. Especially for young companies, the current platform may simply reach the limits of its capability, which holds growth back.

Current site isn’t scalable.

As mentioned above, growth is everything for ecommerce sites. A platform cannot be the reason why company growth is undercut. If it cannot quickly and efficiently scale up, it’s time to make a change.

High total cost of ownership (TCO).

Some older platforms can be more expensive than newer, more streamlined competitors. A high total cost of ownership means that more resources are being used to simply keep the site running, which stunts innovation.

Gaps in your existing solution.

Customer needs are constantly shifting and your platform must be able to add features to meet them. If your current solution is unable to, say, provide an omnichannel selling option, it may be time to find a platform that can.

Migrating to BigCommerce

Migration can be challenging, but BigCommerce can help

BigCommerce offers a full suite of implementation services including implementation project management, data migration, solutions architecting and training and education — including developer training.

Whether you have an in-house development team or intend to bring in an agency partner, BigCommerce is experienced in bringing together the right teams to ensure a successful launch.

Types of Ecommerce Platforms to Consider

Each of the below have their own advantages and disadvantages. Which you choose is dependent on your needs and current tech stack.

SaaS.

These are subscription-based platforms created by third-party vendors. These are particularly useful for growth companies who need to get a platform up and running, but don’t have a ton of resources on hand. These shift much of the burden for security and maintenance to the vendor, although there is less control over the platform.

On premise.

On-premise solutions are built and maintained in-house. They use company resources to develop and are often built by internal employees. Businesses have complete control over on-premise solutions, but that also comes with a high burden, in both maintenance and talent.

Cloud.

Cloud options are a sort of mix between SaaS and on-premise. They often follow an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model and are hosted by third-party cloud providers like Amazon or Google. The central platform is often built internally, although hosting and security are mostly handled externally.

Headless.

Headless systems can be any of the above, but must have the frontend and backend separated from each other. Most SaaS-based systems are headless.

Building Your Ecommerce Migration Plan

A sound plan will make the ecommerce replatforming and migration process much smoother. A well researched and thoughtful approach will avoid many of the problems that can be caused by rushed development. This ecommerce migration checklist will bring some clarity.

Examine the needs of your business.

You should start with a full inventory of what your business can and cannot do. Then get a full understanding of customer needs and how you are able to deliver on them.

Draft an RFP.

A Request for Proposal (RFP) is a good first step for signaling to vendors what your requirements are. It allows these providers to pitch their solutions in response to your specific needs.

Forecast revenue and Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

The TCO includes the initial development and deployment, as well as ongoing costs. This forecast will help determine what you have to invest in the platform.

Which integrations, functions and third-party apps are necessary for the business.

This is a technical as well as usability audit. What can be done with current resources and capabilities and what do you need to source? Do you need plugins? Identifying these business needs early will provide clarity in your new ecommerce solution.

How will data be transferred?

Data transfers — including potentially sensitive information like customer data — can be stressful. They don’t have to be, however, as long as there’s an effective plan in place to handle the ecommerce data migration.

Manual

This is done in-house and can often be done with smaller sites.

App

Some providers include a data migration application that automates most of this.

API/microservices

These can be developed in-house or externally to provide a case-specific application.

Connecting with all stakeholders.

Replatforming impacts most parts of an ecommerce business and should be taken with care. All impacted parties should be included as part of the decision-making process to ensure that it’s an organizational decision and not one made by a select few.

Replatforming Myths Debunked

Before undertaking such a transformative project, it’s important to understand what replatforming means — and what it doesn’t to online businesses. These are some common misconceptions about ecommerce lift and shifts.

You miss out on sales while you transfer our data.

Downtime during transitions are often minimal, although the total process is time-consuming. You’re not tearing down a building to rebuild a new one, you’re building a new one next to the old and then moving in. The old site stays open for the duration of development, until the new site is ready to go live.

You’ll lose our design if we replatform.

A good ecommerce website can replicate much of the look and feel of a site, if that’s what you want. If you’re happy with the current design, you’ll find that quality platforms are remarkably flexible and can handle most design needs.

When you move the store to a new host, you’ll lose all your traffic.

If done improperly, a migration can have a negative impact on search engine rankings. However, this is typically a temporary issue. Often, you’ll find new, modern platforms to have more robust SEO tools than older solutions.

Migrating means you can clone your store exactly.

This is unlikely. An exact one-to-one copy of an existing site, built from scratch, isn’t likely to happen.

When replatforming, you should look at this as an opportunity to take a critical look at your site and identify pain points. If there’s a time to refine the customer experience with a redesign, this is the time.

You have great engineers. You can replatform yourselves.

Even the most experienced engineer hasn’t seen everything. Replatforming involves integrations that can have an untold number of unintended consequences. You’ll likely need outside expertise in your new platform to have a smooth and error-free transition.

Most modern platforms have migration service teams that can help ensure a successful migration of your online store.

The Final Word

Consider replatforming part of your company’s natural growth. Just as you take on more resources (headcount, tools, etc.) to develop new products, you’ll need to do the same to keep pace with or surpass the market.

Customer expectations for user experiences are high and it’s up to you to meet them. Replatforming can be daunting, but it doesn’t have to be crippling. Taking a measured approach will help ensure a more simple process.

FAQs About Ecommerce Migration