If your business is quickly outgrowing your Ecommerce infrastructure, it’s time to replatform. Limited functionality, suffering performance levels and mounting technical costs can also be good reasons to look elsewhere for a new platform. But what is replatforming? And how can it help me cut costs and improve results?
As we know, all businesses are different. Therefore, that means that they may need a unique, bespoke platform to meet their needs and requirements, right? Correct. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses fall into the trap of choosing a platform on brand name alone, just because it works for their competitors. They’re then left with an unsuitable platform, poor results and a big bill for their troubles.
This post will outline everything you need to know about replatforming your Ecommerce store and will include helpful guidance to aid you along the process throughout.
We’ll cover:
- What is Ecommerce replatforming?
- Alarming signs that you need to replatform
- The key benefits of Ecommerce replatforming
- Replatform your Ecommerce to Aero Commerce with Red-Fern
What is Ecommerce replatforming?
As a definition, replatforming is the process of researching and choosing a new technology platform to host your Ecommerce needs and requirements. Sounds simple, right? Well, just as all Ecommerce platforms are different for each business - so is the replatforming process. Some platforms make it tricky for their customers to up and leave, including migration costs or long, drawn-out processes.
Businesses tend to replatform their Ecommerce store when it’s not performing as well as it should be, it’s costing too much, it’s too hard to use, hindering conversions or it’s hampering other areas of their site - for example, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). If you’re going to operate as efficiently and as profitably as possible, you’re going to need to utilise an Ecommerce platform that’s tailored to your individual needs.
When replatforming, there are various considerations you should assess before taking the plunge and investing in new technology. You mustn’t rush this decision, as it can leave you back at square one - with more capital being wasted and stuck in a hole that you’re struggling to get out of. You should consider capabilities, functionalities, costs (and hidden ones too) and ease of use - just to name a few.
Alarming signs that you need to replatform
Unaffordable rising costs
Each Ecommerce platform is different - and with that includes different costs. For example, Shopify is notorious for its above-market average transaction costs. Plus, it doesn’t matter which payment gateway or merchant you use, there’s no avoiding paying these costs as they will hit you with a transaction fee in addition to the third party merchant gateway costs. Automatically, your Ecommerce platform is eating into your profits - this can soon add up and take its toll on overall profit margins over time.
Magento is an infrastructure-hungry platform choice. While it has many benefits for scalability and customisation, maintaining it comes at a premium price. It’s mainly popular with medium-sized businesses to large enterprises, but if you don’t have the capital to invest, you’re going to end up with a lacklustre platform that doesn’t perform well. If you’re struggling to invest the money required for the most efficient product, you should look to change to a more affordable option.
Plus, with platforms like Magento, they’re constantly releasing updated versions of the technology that you must adopt for security and gateway compliance reasons. These don’t come cheap either - so, just as you think you have your finances under control, they can hit you with an updated version that includes various security patches. Not downloading these can leave you wide open for even bigger problems ahead.
Slow development times
Good things come to those who wait, right? Well, unfortunately, that couldn’t be less true in the Ecommerce world. If you’re waiting for prolonged periods of time for your store to be developed, it means you could be losing out to your competition. A lot of platforms require a lot of development work from outsourced agencies, which is another added cost.
Magento is a complex system that will always need expert development work. We’re not talking any normal agency work either - specialist Magento developers are few and far between. With little availability and high demand, you can expect longer development times and a premium price. Both of these factors are signs that you need to choose a new platform that will allow you to get your products and services to market quickly, but without compromise on the quality of your bespoke system.
Poor performance
One of the main reasons you should look to replatform your Ecommerce store is because it’s not performing as it should be. Site speed has a huge influence on customer experience, which in turn, impacts conversion rates. If your customers are experiencing slow site speeds, it’s likely that they’ll get fed up and look elsewhere.
Slow site speed can be the result of padding out your Ecommerce store with plug-ins and added features. Sites often become bloated with too many functionality layers, which makes the whole site slow down. Increased load times are frustrating and, as we’ve briefly mentioned, can be the difference between your customers checking out their basket to discarding it and opting for your competitors’ instead.
Site speed is vitally important for SEO purposes. So, if your Ecommerce platform is hampering your overall speed, it won’t just be that part of your site it’ll be impacting. It’ll be affecting it all completely. In that case, you need to choose a platform that’s fast, intuitive and one that’ll support the other areas of your site to propel it forwards.
The Key benefits of Ecommerce replatforming
Implementing an easy to use platform
Your Ecommerce store shouldn’t just be easy to navigate for your users - it should be simple and straightforward for businesses selling on them too. If your platform is hard to use, that automatically gives you a hurdle to get over. You’ll be required to extensively train your staff on the new platform, which will cost precious time and money for the business.
If all staff aren’t trained on using the platform, it can cause problems. Should the normal operators be on annual leave or out of the office for any reason, you won’t be able to make any changes to your store if any problems arise. That means you’ll have to wait until they’re back in, which could leave your users with a poor experience for a lengthy period before things are sorted.
Cut costs dramatically
Outsourced agency support, plug-ins and added features and transaction fees are all examples of present costs that you may be facing from your Ecommerce store. These costs can add up, on top of the initial investment that you’ll have made into the platform. Replatforming allows you to research into new platforms that are more suited to your budget and will be a more cost-efficient solution for your business.
By streamlining your Ecommerce site, you’re avoiding bulks of added plug-ins. With the majority of platforms, these plug-ins will often come at a cost and they’re not always guaranteed to work as advertised. For example, WooCommerce is well known for plug-ins being poor quality. If you’re a business that can’t afford to take a punt on an investment, this isn’t a cost-effective platform solution for you.
If you can save money on your Ecommerce platform, you can then reinvest this money into areas of the business that need it the most. If you choose the wrong Ecommerce platform, it can sometimes seem like an endless pit of costs and outgoings - but it doesn’t have to be. If this is the case, you should look to replatform to save you valuable time and money.
Replatform your Ecommerce to Aero Commerce
If you’re unhappy with your current Ecommerce platform, replatforming should be one of your main priorities. As with anything, before you set out to replatform, you need to set yourself goals and ask yourself why you’re going through with it. Otherwise, how can you gauge whether the switch is financially justifiable, a success and worth it?
At Red-Fern, we’ll work alongside you to ensure that the replatforming process is as smooth as possible. Replatforming and migration is often a laborious task that can take a while, but when dealing with us, you’ll receive nothing but transparency and honesty. Once we’ve outlined your goals and agreed on all the pre-replatforming necessities, we’ll get underway with providing you with a completely bespoke system.
Aero Commerce has worked tirelessly to provide businesses with an intuitive, user-friendly and lightning-fast platform that’s guaranteed to deliver results. Investing within the Aero platform, that’s exactly what you’re getting! We care about the constantly evolving needs of retailers, so you needn’t worry about outgrowing our scalable platform at all along your business journey.
Find out more about how Red-Fern and Aero Commerce can help
As you’ve just read, replatforming is a necessity if you’re not seeing the results that you forecasted or if you’re spending far too much money. Good news! Red-Fern can help you with all of your replatforming needs. But don’t just take our word for it, let our previous work speak for itself.
We’ve worked alongside many partners who’ve found themselves in a similar situation and desperately needing to change. So, for more information on how we can help, please don't hesitate to get in touch today. Our expert team are always on hand to answer any questions or queries you may have. We're looking forward to speaking to you soon!