About replatforming

Replatforming in general is the process of migrating from one technical system to another, including the transfer of all data. When we talk about ecommerce migration, it’s the process of switching to a new shop platform. Some examples of ecommerce platforms are BigCommerce, Salesforce, Shopware, Commerce Layer, Shopify and Magento. Which platform is best for you depends on your wishes, budget and business goals.

Online businesses choose to migrate to new platforms to reduce expenses, to improve performance and capabilities or because their current platform is outdated and can’t keep up with their growth anymore. And with global online sales on the rise to hit 6.2 trillion U.S. dollars by 2023, keeping up with customer demands is harder than ever. 

Eventually, it all leads back to the main goal: unrestricted ecommerce growth. 

Things to consider

Replatforming can be a challenging endeavor. To help you make an informed decision, we’ve listed 5 things you should consider when switching to another platform.

How much do you have to spend 

First of all, determine your budget. This will allow you to look for the platforms that best fit your goals and the stage your business is in. 

Must-haves and Nice-to-haves 

Decide what’s crucial for your business and what’s nice to add when the possibility is there. Think of: What themes do you want, how important is flexibility, scalability and speed, what are the differences in ecommerce platform security, does the platform support multiple payment options and is the platform easy to use. 
Each online retailer has its own requirements so in order to make the right decision, you have to look at your business goals, growth opportunities and the stage your business is in right now.

Integrations 

Before migrating to a new platform, make sure you have a clear understanding of what integrations you are using now, what integrations you would like to start using, and ensure the solution you want to switch to supports these integrations. 

Shop architecture 

Take a deep dive into your shop architecture. How does it look? Is everything deeply interwoven? Then you might want to consider a modular setup that gives you complete freedom to build a fully customizable ecommerce stack. That’s what’s called Composable Commerce: decoupling for unlimited flexibility, scalability and freedom.  

Progressive web apps 

Headless commerce or PWA, you’ve probably heard of it. A PWA is a web application that uses the latest web capabilities to deliver a native app-like experience. They are reliable, incredibly fast, and highly engaging. You might want to consider this technology! 

Step-by-step transition

Now that we know what’s important to consider when switching from one platform to another, what’s next? Replatforming doesn’t have to be a long and stressful process. When you add Deity’s commerce composer to your shop architecture, you can gradually transition without it affecting your current setup. How does that work? We change your monolithic, one-size-fits-all setup into a modular, composable architecture that consists of different, stand-alone services in the backend. This way you have complete control and freedom to add pieces to your ecommerce puzzle and also replace the pieces you don’t want to use anymore, now and in the future. 

So, how to get started? One of the key things to do is evaluating your current platform and setup. What do you have, what works for your business, what doesn’t work and what are the gaps in your current system? If you have this mapped out properly, you can start looking for the best solution. In addition, not everything needs to be replaced. You can gradually transition to a new setup without throwing away everything you've acquired over the years. Replace the parts that need improvement and keep the good stuff. Last but not least, plan ahead. You don’t want to do a replatforming again in the near future. 

Deity offers a platform to enable any fast growing online merchant to break away from the restrictions of their current ecommerce platform, and allow them to finally grow again without limitations. We do this by connecting our unique Commerce Composer to your shop system, which unlocks endless opportunities on both back-end integrations and front-end. We offer a true Enterprise stable solution, with the ease and speed of SaaS, while keeping the agility and freedom of an Open Source platform. 

In short...

Never worry about replatforming again if you do it right the first time. With the right architecture, your shop is ready for tomorrow.  And last but not least, don’t build everything from scratch, there are many services out there that already did the hard work for you.

Are you considering a replatforming? Let’s find the right solution for your business. Contact us.