Replatforming Fears That Hold Your Business Back

By Ziggle Tech

Sometimes, it seems easier to stick with what you know, but your current ecommerce platform could be the main thing holding your business back.

Sadly, that’s true for many businesses. Even when you can see the obvious problems with what you’re using now, at least you know how to work around those issues.

Replatforming represents an entire new world of incredible possibilities, but fear of the unknown might be keeping you from seeing that the grass really is greener sometimes.

You’re Just Being Too Picky

There’s nothing wrong with wondering if you’re just having a case of shiny object syndrome. It’s often something entrepreneurs and ecommerce retailers struggle with as they try to gain a competitive advantage. However, sometimes it’s not just about wanting something newer and better, but absolutely needing something better.

A few signs that it really is time to migrate to a new platform include:

  • Current platform can’t keep up with demand.

  • No new features added in months or years
  • Support costs continue to rise
  • Slow performance
  • Issues for customers

If this sounds like you, replatforming isn’t something to be afraid of, but embraced.

You Can’t Afford A Lengthy Migration

No business wants to think about downtime. A common misconception is you have to immediately go live on the new platform. This isn’t true. Your current platform remains up and running throughout the migration. It’s only after considerable testing that your store goes live on the new platform. This means while the migration is in progress, you’ll experience little to no downtime. If downtime is necessary, it can be scheduled during your least traffic hours and you can warn customers in advance.

You’ll Lose Your Search Rank

You’ve worked hard to rank higher in search engines and replatforming might erase all that. While that can be true if it’s not down right, with careful planning and execution, this isn’t an issue. As Search Engine Journal explains you have quite a bit of planning to take care of before you start migrating. From ensuring all URLs and links remain the same to setting up proper redirects, it’s more than possible to retain all the SEO work you’ve done thus far and still benefit from a better ecommerce platform.

You Don’t Have The Budget

This is one of the biggest replatforming fears and understandably so. After all, you’ll want to work with professionals who fully understand the process, along with the platforms you’re using and migrating to, for the smoothest migration possible.

The right replatforming partner will guide you through timelines, what’s necessary and costs upfront. The contract should be easy to understand and outline any potential extras in advance so you’ll be prepared and able to budget accordingly. Remember, a newer, more efficient platform leads to more profits, making a successful migration a worthwhile investment.

d152aa99d19941e3828683f6deb1e4d4.png

You’ll Lose Everything

First of all, you can’t lose everything if you have recent backups. Before the migration process even begins, do a complete backup and test that it works. Then, continue to perform regular backups throughout the process to ensure your data stays safe.

It’s true that you’ll have a lot of data to transfer between platforms and there can be hiccups sometimes. However, your data will get transferred, even if it takes some ingenuity to ensure fields correspond correctly. And, since you have copies of all your data, nothing will actually get lost, even if it may take a little long to get some of it transferred.

Putting Replatforming Fears To Rest

The best way to help put replatforming fears to rest is to migrate to well-known platforms that are widely supported. These have risen to the top not just because of their features, but because they also have great migration success rates. They can also be customized to suit your business.

Some of the most popular options include:

  • Headless ecommerce – Allows for much more customization, making for a smoother migration

  • Shopify and Shopify Plus – Both platforms offer robust support and integration options. Plus is best for advanced customization and for higher revenue retailers.

  • Magento 2 – Ease of use, overall performance and ample integration options all make Magento 2 (both the Enterprise and Cloud editions) a welcome reprieve for many shop owners.

  • Spree Commerce – As an open source platform, it’s easy to customize to your specific needs, while still offering numerous built-in ecommerce features and extensions to not just run, but scale your business.
  • We know replatforming fears may be holding you back. If you still have questions or concerns, contact us today to learn more about our replatforming process.

Top 40+ Web Design Companies in Miami, Florida That Build Affordable, Successful Sites

Top USA eCommerce Development Companies – May 7th

Top Software Development Outsourcing Companies of 2020

eCommerce website designers, eCommerce website design company, eCommerce web design companies