Illusion or finally possible with the new migration tool from Syncer®.
Switching to a new e-commerce platform is not a decision you make lightly. It affects every part of your business and requires support from colleagues across various departments. Yes, it can be challenging for the systems you currently use. But make no mistake: a smart choice for replatforming can yield significant benefits in the long run. It's an investment that pays off through savings and the growth it can bring to your business.
In this blog post, we will explore several important aspects of platform migration:
- Making a thoughtful decision about replatforming
- A comprehensive checklist to share with all stakeholders
- Selecting the right new e-commerce platform
We'll provide you with the necessary resources and questions to distribute within your team or to external partners. This will keep the project streamlined and ensure everyone is aware of what needs to be done.
Additionally, you'll receive a clear, step-by-step guide that will lead you through the three pillars of an e-commerce replatforming project: data migration, system integration, and user experience design.
By keeping everyone involved and informed, you can turn a potential logistical nightmare into a well-organized project. Address challenges as they arise and set up your new platform quickly and efficiently. Then, you can refocus all your attention on what truly matters: helping your customers and growing your business.
Key Factors for a Replatforming Decision
The driving forces behind the decision to switch to a new platform are often outdated technology, high operational costs, and limitations in scalability and security. The latter is mainly applicable to custom shops or when using open-source systems where you do not benefit from the advantages that, for example, apply to SAAS platforms like Lightspeed and Shopify.
In the dynamic landscape of e-commerce platforms, where technology and customer expectations are constantly evolving, it is crucial to choose a platform that performs not only today but can also grow with you tomorrow. We are at an interesting juncture where an increasing number of webshops are transitioning from Lightspeed to Shopify. This shift is largely driven by Shopify's significant investments in expanding features and strengthening the core system. Such advancements offer an enticing prospect for Lightspeed users who increasingly feel limited by what feels like an aging platform. By transitioning to Shopify, retailers embrace a world full of new possibilities and freedom that aligns with today's demanding e-commerce landscape.
However, it is not an automatic choice, especially since Lightspeed has fully evolved in recent years into a platform that seamlessly aligns with Dutch e-commerce parties, whereas Shopify still appears to be more focused on the North American market in many aspects.
In the rest of our blog posts, we also address points that may not be immediately obvious. VAT rates, SKU and EAN numbers, or other matches between both POS systems have led to many unforeseen situations in the past.
The following checklist will help you gather information within your organization about these factors.
Ask your colleagues to assess the impact of these points on your company and invite them to share relevant data or additional comments. The outcome of this evaluation is crucial in determining whether replatforming is necessary for your business.
Outdated Technology
- Instability or issues with high traffic on the site.
- Slow product offerings that do not provide much variation in properties.
- Difficulty integrating with third-party applications due to custom solutions.
- Challenges in making API requests to essential external applications, hindering sales promotion.
- Current platform limitations hinder the development of new features or quick and cost-effective updates due to limited resources and high costs.
Operational Overhead
- The e-commerce platform struggles with integrating ERP, OMS, WMS, and other systems within the ecosystem.
- The platform's inefficiency in synchronizing new orders with the WMS leads to an increase in order picking errors.
- The platform's server performance is heavily dependent on the hosting service.
- Customer service response times are inadequate.
- The platform's complex, customized architecture requires significant technical resources for maintenance. Linking to middleware and APIs is costly and demands a lot of available resources.
Investment in (Maintenance) Costs
- Calculating total maintenance costs is quite challenging due to unforeseen expenses for maintenance and upgrades.
- The substantial costs on the current platform impede the company's ability to expand with new product lines and brands.
- The number of IT employees or the costs for external development are increasing faster than revenue. Revenue per employee stagnates or decreases instead of exponentially growing.
Marketing and SEO
- The marketing team faces challenges in conducting essential tests for conversion, traffic generation, and sales.
- The lack of crucial integrations, such as personalization, site search features, social purchases, and tag management, makes it difficult to compete in the rapidly changing marketing landscape.
- The inflexibility of the current platform and the inability to implement key mobile-first SEO changes have resulted in a significant decline in SEO performance.
Scalability
- The current platform is not ready for omnichannel approaches.
- The platform cannot keep up with the company's growth.
- A merger or acquisition necessitates the search for a new e-commerce platform that offers new opportunities to acquire customers and increase revenue.
- As the company expands internationally, an agile platform is needed to accommodate new target markets.
Security
- It is becoming increasingly difficult to comply with Payment Card Industry (PCI) standards and GDPR.
- Security vulnerabilities in the current platform have accelerated the search for a versionless e-commerce solution.
- The company has recently experienced a serious security or compliance incident.
User Experience (UX) Checklist
Both the user experience for you and your team are important. But also, the UX for visitors to the webshop is crucial.
- What positive experiences do customers have when interacting with our store?
- What negative experiences do customers have when using our website?
- What experiences do website visitors (non-current customers) avoid when interacting with our website?
- What type of experiences are necessary for customers to feel comfortable making online purchases or visiting a physical store location?
- Determine which features should be retained in the new platform and which features need improvement?
In the current market, merchants and webshop owners desire autonomy and adaptability when it comes to their online presence. The ability to take control of the design of their webshop is not only a matter of aesthetics but also an essential element in increasing conversions.
Shopify cleverly caters to this need with its highly flexible themes. Unlike Lightspeed themes, which can sometimes lag behind, Shopify themes ensure that users always have access to the latest features and designs.
Furthermore, Shopify opens the door wide to a range of customization options that are available at a modest price. This allows merchants to make specific customizations without large investments, enabling them to make their shop unique and optimize the user experience to drive sales.
Download the Whitepaper for a complete Migration Checklist (coming soon)
