How do you avoid common pitfalls and mistakes in e-commerce platform migration?

Before embarking on a platform migration, it’s important to thoroughly assess your business’s specific needs and objectives. This step ensures that the new platform aligns with your current operations and future growth plans. Define your business goals, such as increasing operational efficiency, or expanding market reach. Do you operate in multiple countries and need to manage different currencies? Is your business structured around different billing locations or multi-warehouse inventory management? Do you need a system that can handle various tax rates by country and region? By understanding this, you will be able to select a platform that meets your requirements and supports your long-term strategy.

When considering e-commerce platform migration, it's essential to navigate potential pitfalls with precision. One strategy I've found effective is thorough planning and stakeholder engagement. By conducting a comprehensive analysis of current systems and future requirements, potential risks can be identified and mitigated early in the process. Additionally, establishing clear communication channels and milestones ensures alignment across teams and minimizes misunderstandings. Lastly, continuous monitoring and evaluation post-migration allow for prompt adjustment and optimization, further enhancing the success of the transition.

When I've tackled e-comm platform migrations in the past, I’ve learnt a few lessons that really help avoid the usual headaches. Here's my checklist: 1. Start with Planning 2.Pick the right platform. Look for one that fits not just our current needs but also future growth. 3.Secure Data: Before anything else, back up everything.4.Test everything. This includes checking that all functionalities work as expected. 5.Keep SEO in Check,ensure that all old URLs redirect correctly and that maintain the hard-earned search engine rankings.6.Prepare the team.7. Watch Closely After Going Live: Post-migration, keep an eye on everything.8.Communication: I’ve found that keeping everyone in the loop (team members, customers, or partners).9.Enjoy the ride!

One of the main problems about this topic is that people focus on technology and not the business itself. Its not about what the new platform can do, it's about what does your business really need to keep moving forward. The tools are tools but the team needs to use them, so I think that planning is the first thing first on this matter. After that, focus on keep everyone on the same page about the plan. At last, a benchmark of technology focusing on time to market and long term maintenance.

Getting an in-depth understanding of your requirements is absolutely critical to the success of any platform migration project. You can do a lot of the legwork yourself by pulling together a solid brief which focuses on the features, functionality and integrations you need now and in the future. But often times it's still essential to factor-in a paid Discovery phase with your development partner. Only then will you have a full understanding of project costs and timescales.

The partner dedicated to implementing the Digital Commerce solution is as important as the tech platform provider itself. Both must complement each other perfectly. The latter provides the product and technical support regarding functionalities and integrations along the process, while the integration partner or agency helps by deeply understanding the current business architecture (in terms of processes and technology); by defining scope, timelines and implementation costs; detecting what and when it's really necessary to customize or when to keep it standard; and also by contributing with their knowledge and experience in a specific industry (ours) as well as their project management capability to ensure the success of the migration.

If a partner is too quick to provide a solution or project cost then it should be a red flag for you as the client. Platform migrations are complex and inherently risky, to do them properly takes careful discovery, scoping and planning. Don't be forced into accepting a technology stack before you've explored all of the options. And make sure to ask questions about SEO. We hear a lot of sad stories from the SEO side of platform migration, so make sure that you fully interrogate your partner's understanding, capability and provision in that regard.

El socio debe ser un usuario de negocio más en el proceso. Además, desde un principio deben estar claras cuáles son las garantías y responsabilidades de las partes. Este es un trabajo en equipo, pero no libre de posibles disputas. Reglas claras conservan la amistad. Y estas reglas deben establecerse al principio de proyecto de migración, estar por escrito y revisarse en todo momento que sea necesario. El socio perfecto es el que entiende los objetivos conjuntos.

A critical element in the decision-making process is determining whether to implement a solution you will maintain and enhance yourself, or a true third-party solution that is hosted, maintained and enhanced by your provider. In the US, companies often go with a third party; however, in the EU I've seen more platforms that are owned and maintained by the business. The size of the company can make a difference. Smaller organizations might hire a third party with the expertise to keep a platform running, and a client base that collaboratively pays for enhancements. Larger organizations can potentially afford the expense of additional development staff, and benefit from the cost savings of a custom solution.

Data migration is also a critical element in the planning phase. This is when you'll determine which data needs to be transferred and how to securely move it from one platform to another. Data migration can be completed through a third-party service, API plugins, an application, or manual CSV transfer. Coordinating responsibility and timing is key, and it's also an opportune moment for significant content improvements in your catalog. If you don't already have one, apply a playbook that enables a qualitative leap in improving content quality post-migration. This is crucial for measuring online channel performance and its potential offline impact and relevance to consumers.

For data migration it's crucial to decide first on which data do you really want to keep and/or migrate. This could lead to a big difference in terms of timing and strategy for the migration itself. For instance: would you migrate customer data for such customers that have not bought for a year or more? Maybe, that's not worth the effort, and it's better they register again. Different is the case for your loyal customers, they deserve this process to be as smooth as possible for them, otherwise there's a risk of disappointment on their side. What would you do? Before performing any data decision, work on your data strategy.

Los especialistas en QA pueden guiar muy bien este proceso para los equipos de negocio. Hacer un checklist de tareas a evaluar, navegadores, dispositivos y escenarios es lo mejor para certificar la migración. Esto no sólo debe incluir los procesos en el sitio, si no también las integraciones y procesos end-to-end. Y lo más importante: no sólo probar los casos "felices" de compras, etc... Considerar también los casos de errores o flujos en que el cliente no compró... ?Está todo bajo control, tipificado??Podremos recuperar a ese cliente arrepentido?

I have learned that thorough testing is crucial for a successful platform migration. Before going live, it’s essential to run extensive tests on the new platform to identify and fix any issues. This includes checking the functionality of all features, ensuring the accuracy of data migration, and simulating various user scenarios to verify performance under different conditions. By investing time in rigorous testing, you can minimize disruptions and ensure a smooth transition, ultimately providing a seamless experience for your customers from day one.

Planning the SEO side of your migration strategy is critical. It's important to have a carefully considered plan and redirect map, which takes into account the true value of every page on your site and seeks to protect that - particularly where your business is well-established.

Developing and implementing solutions might be the easiest part of managing a digital channel today. The real challenge lies in maintaining and optimizing it, especially for unified commerce with varied business models (B2C, B2B, or D2C) and collaborative and conversational commerce strategies. Success requires discipline and data-driven team culture with a high capability to develop and manage campaigns focused on optimizing the conversion and operational funnel and continuously improving two key indicators that measure profitability and sustainability: DORO (Direct Organic Recurring Order) and NPS (Net Promoter Score). This approach goes beyond just having a dashboard for each funnel; it tailors it to the maturity of your channel.

Understanding customer behavior on your current e-commerce platform is vital. Analyze areas where customers face issues, like high cart abandonment rates on certain pages, to avoid replicating these problems in the new platform. SEO is critical; many businesses lose organic traffic post-migration due to improper URL redirects and metadata transfer. Custom features and integrations in your current platform, like unique inventory management systems, might not seamlessly transfer to the new platform and could need redevelopment.

The replatforming journey offers a *remarkable* opportunity to not just migrate, but to transform an e-commerce operation. While it's common to focus on the logistical aspects of platform migration, such as data security and integration capabilities, we should also emphasize the strategic benefits. For instance, custom solutions can adapt dynamically to changing business needs, offering scalability that is both responsive and tailored. This isn't just about handling more products or traffic; it's about ensuring that the platform evolves with a business strategy, enhancing everything from customer experience to backend efficiency. Each step in the migration process is a chance to better align with your always evolving Customer needs.