This is an article ‘Understanding Data Migration For Your eCommerce Business’ by Marc Primo
For entrepreneurs in the eCommerce business, a change of platforms may occur more than once if they have been running the venture for some time. Making such adjustments usually entails eCommerce migration, which has become an essential element of every serious business. Considering the increasing demands of handling more items, consumers, and workers, not to mention constantly changing industry trends, data migration is a critical solution that integrates all you need to run the business smoothly.
If you want to keep up with the rapid pace of today's business technologies, it will require a high-performance platform since experts anticipate that global eCommerce sales can reach up to $5.5 trillion by the end of the year. There is also a lot of competition in creating the ideal online store. According to a 2020 survey, 53% of retail financial officers stated that they had invested more in eCommerce technology in the last six months, while 64% intended to appreciate their eCommerce budgets within the next six months.
To ensure steady growth, your eCommerce platform should be reliable, adaptable, and scalable as it is the foundation of your online business. It should support both front and back-end operations as they develop and evolve. However, it might be time to switch platforms if what you are using runs slow, is missing essential functionality, or simply cannot keep up with your company's expansion.
Although moving all of your eCommerce data from one platform to another may seem like a complex and costly undertaking, here's a simple guide that can make the switch much easier:
A sharp focus on marketing
Every business's initial selection of technological stack enables them to concentrate on their marketing strategies. If they cannot do so right away, most opt to switch to better platforms so they can prioritize their campaigns while website upkeep and problem fixes are being solved.
Opting to switch to more dynamic eCommerce migration platforms proves to churn better revenue, growth, and sales results. On the other hand, an initial selection of tech does not necessarily mean you have to proceed with a 'business as usual approach.'
As your business focuses its activities on marketing and growth, selecting the best eCommerce migration platform counts a lot in terms of saving cost and time while making strategies easier. Such services as Ad Words, social media, and traditional channels like television and radio can be too expensive and require much work and staffing.
An eCommerce brand that relies on SEO strategies can save more resources but might find itself competing against more prominent brands or a broader range in the competition that already have a significant advantage over them. Additionally, each of these channels is becoming more and more crowded daily.
Checking your eCommerce migration potential
In an ideal scenario, an eCommerce website migration project would take around a whole year to implement with a sufficient budget and well-defined objectives.
However, re-platforming is not something that businesses consciously plan. Usually, one or more operational issues push an organization to shift into newer platforms.
The most frequent problems driving online retailers to re-platform usually include financial problems, technical issues, and marketing challenges. Some existing platforms may require high maintenance costs, or a business merger with new initiatives might entail a new system for data migration and tools integration. On the other hand, if existing platforms present low site speed and responsiveness issues, lack of scalability, or glitches in their systems, then it might be best to look for another migration platform to address your business's pain points.
Regarding marketing issues, some features you might want to look for when you re-platform are better analytics coverage, social media marketing capabilities, improved customer management systems, and mobile optimization.
eCommerce migration strategies
You're ready to start migrating to a new platform once you've determined how essential it is to shift and the same platform that would work best for your eCommerce business.
Hold an early ROI modeling session with your team and internally draft the request for proposal (RFP) process before committing the rest of the business to an eCommerce re-platforming project. You can change from one e-commerce platform to another by releasing an RFP, and you won't lose your current Google rankings, bespoke design, or legally required security protocol.
The first thing you have to do is review where your company is financially before creating a checklist of your requirements as stated on the RFP. In most cases, these will include unique visitors, gross revenue, average order value (AOV), conversion rates, number of transactions, number of units per transaction, gross margin, and net margin, among others.
If you have determined that the best way to go about your re-platforming process is via service as a software (SaaS) systems, discuss all of these facets with your vendor and request a quotation of pricing and performance.
From there, you can project a three-year forecast improvement based on the new solutions you've installed and the corresponding KPIs. Don't project any lift within the first six months of implementation to give allowances for site optimization.
Once you have your business forecast ready, you can review how much each eCommerce service will cost your business and decide which services you need the most and which ones you can scrap to save money.
Of course, you can also calculate your savings and the average SEO and social media management costs with your three-month business forecast. After that, you can add a revenue lift based on your vendor's services and an estimated increase for your business revenue.
Start migrating
While re-platforming can take a lot of work, the rewards far exceed the drawbacks. Do not allow your fear of technology to stop you from doing what's best for your company. Follow the guide above, and soon, you'll be prepared to start your migration process without a hitch and begin to improve your eCommerce venture.
If you're successful with your strategy, you can expect enhanced performance, scalability, and innovation for bigger bucks!
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