SA-634-ARTICLE-Ecommerce Platform Migration- Reasons, Benefits and Checklist (1)

1. Ecommerce Platform Migration- Reasons, Benefits and Checklist Ecommerce industry is blooming by the minute, never have I ever seen an industry grow so exponentially in such a limited time. Within a decade or so, it has successfully taken over and converted people from shopping in brick and mortar stores to online stores. This means that the demand is all time high and the old strategies, methods, platforms and ideas are becoming redundant. So what should be the first step when thinking about growing the business and becoming proactive about the future of your business? Well, the first and most important step is to make sure that your online store is operating on a platform that is robust, futuristic and supports growth. If your current platform is hindering your progress it’s time for a shopping cart migration! Every business goes through similar stages but it’s not necessary that all come out with flying colors or succumb to the pressures. The first step is always the launch of the business which helps set up the right tone for it in the market. If the launch has been successful, then the business will see immense growth and progression. After a couple of years, the business will reach its maturity and start to earn at a steady rate but then don’t be surprised to see a decline in the return of investments and profits. This is a very crucial time to reevaluate things and steer the car in the right direction. Now is not the time to be disheartened or self-doubt. If you’re successful in figuring out the cause and nipping the bud then you can again witness growth and that is your strength and it will always keep things afloat. When your business hits the decline stage, don’t panic, instead hire an ecommerce service providerthat can help you identify the root cause and come up with a strategy to combat the problems. Many times the problem is the platform which is hosting your online store. There are many ways you can be sure of that and this article is all about that. Let’s look at some of the reasons that can be a clear indication of the need to do an ecommerce replatforming. Also I will tell you the benefits of going through all the ordeal and a final checklist to be sure every base was covered. Reason You Might Want to Consider Re-Platforming Re-platforming is also known as shopping cart migration, data migration and many other similar terms. But they all boil down to the same, relocating your online store on a different platform for better performance. For example if at first you were on Magento but now after successful shopping cart migration you’re operating from BigCommerce, so you just re-platformed yourself. You’ll be migrating the orders,

2. products, customer information, posts, reviews, discount codes, gift cards, smile points and various other data. There are many reasons why you would like to do this task, below are some of the top ones. The reasons that might indicate to you the need of shopping cart migration can be subtle or can be alarming as well. Sometimes the constant need of maintenance or fixing of bugs can be an indicator, other times just the customers’ constant negative feedbacks about the page’s slow performance, poor integration of different apps, incompatibility with mobile devices, lack of essential modern features like omni channel presence, Live Chat, Coupon codes, reward points and other facilities can be a very good reason to re-platform to a better one like Bigcommerce. You can also consider re-platforming if you get a good deal for a new launch, the new platform offers better merger opportunities. Furthermore, if your site glitches or gets stuck at peak hours you need to take steps immediately. Benefits of Re-Platforming If the reasons for re-platforming are so strong then the benefits must also be amazing, right? So let's just dive right into them. 1.Reduction in Fixed Costs When your new hosting platform is working smoothly without any glitches or hold up, you wouldn’t need to outsource or pay constant maintenance chargers to any company or ecommerce service providers, right? This will save you a lot of money. The initial cost of re-platforming is surely high but the benefit is also exponential. 2.Scalability Scalability plays a very important role in the growth of your business. If your platform doesn’t allow you to grow then it's time to move on. As your business will grow over the years, you’ll be introducing newer products, your traffic will increase on daily bases and more and more orders/hour will come in. All this will need you to have a platform compatible with growth and allow you to provide a seamless and great user experience. Having a scalable platform is the first step towards your growth. 3.An Omnichannel Presence Nowadays, having an omnichannel presence is absolutely essential as customers like to interact with the business on every level and are assuredly to reach it whenever they want. A well-organized and integrated cross-channel integration provides the customer a seamless transition from in-stores to online to social media platforms to search engines. 4.Various Marketing Benefits

3. Not only does a good platform do all that I have mentioned above but it will also help you gain new customers. With a brand new appearance on a scalable, robust and enhanced platform, your site search is bound to improve. Furthermore, with various personalization options, mobile optimization and discount codes and reward schemes, people would just flock into your online store. Checklist To Be Sure All Bases are covered Before jumping the gun of re-platforming make sure you have a separate budget allocated for it as it can cost some serious money, time and effort. The best time to re-platform is when the business is slow and the market is calm. Always hire a company of ecommerce service providers or a third party to do it professionally and efficiently. Scan your website thoroughly so you don’t miss out on something important and lastly test run it from start to end to have the complete experience. Closure Re-platforming is a jarring and tedious process to go through for sure, but if the decision is taken in a timely manner and the chosen platform is correct then the benefits are amazing and so profitable.