As with any major business change, migrating your E-Commerce platform carries risks. You need to identify and understand the potential risks involved in transitioning from one system to another. When you migrate your e-commerce platform, you’re moving your site and all its content from one system to another.
Migrating your E-Commerce platform can be tricky, but if done correctly, it doesn’t have to be a scary process. Keep reading for everything you need to know about migrating your E-Commerce platform and how to do so with as little stress as possible.
What to Look for When Selecting an E-Commerce Platform
Before you start to migrate your E-Commerce platform, make sure you select a suitable new E-Commerce platform. The first step is to create an inventory of the features you need in your new E-Commerce platform. Here are a few key questions to ask yourself.
- What are your long-term goals for the E-Commerce website?
- What do you want to accomplish with the site (i.e., increase revenue, sales volume, etc.)?
- How many products will you sell, and what categories do you plan to use?
- What is your budget for the migration?
- What are your technical requirements?
- What are your hosting requirements?
- Are there any special features you need?
Decide on a Migration Strategy
The next step in migrating your E-Commerce platform is to decide on a migration strategy. There are two main approaches to consider when deciding on a migration strategy:
- Shut down your old E-Commerce platform and launch the new one. If you decide to completely shut down your old E-Commerce platform and launch the new one, you’ll need to be prepared for a short-term sales hit. There are a few ways to mitigate the initial sales drop.
- Hybrid approach. You can also choose to keep both E-Commerce platforms running for a period of time. This hybrid approach is helpful to ensure that you don’t experience a sales drop. You can then slowly migrate customers from your old E-Commerce platform to the new one. Keep in mind that this approach involves maintaining two separate platforms for a period of time.
Create a Rollout Plan
Once you’ve decided on a migration strategy, you’ll also need to create a rollout plan. The rollout plan outlines when you’ll launch the new E-Commerce platform and when you’ll start migrating content to the new platform. Depending on the size of your E-Commerce platform, a content migration could take a few hours to a few days.
The rollout plan can also outline which steps you’ll take before and after the migration to ensure a seamless transition. For example, you might want to start migrating product images, product descriptions, and customer information prior to the migration date. Consider how the migration will impact your customers, and create a plan to minimize disruptions.
Determine Which Content to Migrate First
Before you start migrating content to the new E-Commerce platform, you’ll need to determine which content to migrate first. You’ll want to migrate the core content first. For example, you’ll want to migrate products, customers, and orders first. The core content is the content that your customers interact with most often. The content that is used on every page on your E-Commerce platform. Once the core content has been migrated, you can then migrate additional content.
Set up Monitoring and Analytics Tools
Another important step in migrating your E-Commerce platform is to set up monitoring and analytics tools. There are a few monitoring and analytics tools that you may want to consider setting up before and after the migration.
- Website monitoring. You may want to set up website monitoring to monitor the uptime of your new E-Commerce platform.
- Search engine crawler settings. You may also want to check your search engine crawler settings to ensure that search engines can access your new E-Commerce platform properly.
- Website traffic tracking. You may also want to set up website traffic tracking tools to monitor how many people visit your new E-Commerce platform.
- URL redirects. Finally, you’ll want to set up URL redirects to ensure that your customers are rerouted to the appropriate pages on the new E-Commerce platform.
Confirm the Final Migration Date and Plan
Once you’ve completed all the necessary preparation and have a general idea of when you’ll migrate, you’ll need to confirm the final migration date. Before you migrate, make sure you’re prepared. Confirm that your hosting provider is ready to handle the increased traffic. Double-check your URL redirects to make sure they’re working properly. You should also confirm with all employees that they’re ready for the migration.
Migrate the Data
When you migrate your E-Commerce platform, you’ll want to make sure that all your content is migrated to the new system. The first step is to check the settings on your old E-Commerce platform for backup files and links. You should also make sure that none of your links don’t have broken or broken redirects. Once you’ve confirmed that all backups and broken redirects have been fixed, it’s time to migrate the data.
Checklist for a Successful Migration
As you get ready to migrate your E-Commerce platform, keep these tips in mind to help you prepare for a successful migration.
- Communicate with your team. Make sure everyone is aware of the migration date and knows how they can help make the transition as smooth as possible.
- Test the new E-Commerce platform. Before you launch the new E-Commerce platform, make sure to test it thoroughly for any bugs or issues.
- Identify risks and take action. As you prepare for the transition, make sure you identify and understand the potential risks involved.
- Plan for downtime. If you’re shutting down your old E-Commerce platform to launch the new one, make sure you plan for any potential downtime.
Call E-Commerce Experts
Migrating your E-Commerce platform is something that is best done while you still have a steady flow of customers so that you do not interrupt their shopping experience. When migrating your E-Commerce platform, there are certain considerations that you need to be aware of, including making sure that you have a contingency plan in place in case something does go wrong. To minimize the risk of something going wrong, make sure to follow all the necessary steps when migrating your E-Commerce platform.
At KitelyTech, we build and migrate E-Commerce sites every day. Contact us at (800) 274-2908 to schedule a consultation.
