When it comes to businesses having an online presence, having a website is a must, either for just advertising their products and services or to also have a Store to offer products for sale. But with online technology constantly evolving at a quick and frightening pace, it can be hard for businesses operating online to keep up with all the changes and keep track of all the newest trends and techniques. This means, unfortunately, that the “shelf life” of a website or mobile app is seemingly growing shorter and shorter. For a small business with a simple site design, this might not pose much of a problem, but for companies with more complex websites and web applications, such as e-commerce sites, it can become a bit of hassle to manage site updates and revamps of sites. In this case, Replatforming might be a better option for them.

Replatforming is, in general, where a site is moved from one platform to another. The thought of it can strike fear into web developers and e-commerce managers as it can be quite a drastic and difficult maneuver, but it can be quite beneficial when done correctly. It is a way to provide a site a “fresh start” and is often a cost-effective move in the long run.

Older systems have been able to take advantage of “add-ons” and go through some redesigns, but that can only be done for so long before they start to become cluttered and look badly thought out. In this case, a fresh start can be a good move, especially when a business’s aims and objectives have changed from when the site was first started.

It is becoming an increasing trend to have e-commerce sites integrate with any number of complex and sophisticated partners and third-party systems. Many newer platforms come with this capability built-in via plugins. Older platforms that don’t have these plugins generally have to undergo costly development work in order integrate. So replatforming can help in this instance.

Many online retailers are thinking of replatforming in 2016 as a means to increase mobile functionality,  website flexibility, take advantage of easy integration with existing software and increase vendor reliability.

If you are going to replatform your e-commerce store, you need to keep in mind a few things:

How do you want the store to function, and be sure to research available tools and various functions

Decide who will be doing the design, and do you need new design work done

Have realistic timelines, as this is not something that can be done overnight

Get a solution partner to help you understand the functions of the new platform and meet project deadlines

Assign a team lead to head up e-commerce Marketing and have them keep in contact with the solution partner

Set priorities to determine what is needed to get the new site up and running and keep track of them

Avoid adding things outside the scope of the project. You can always add things later, once it’s up and running

Avoid a lack of communication, as this can just set the project behind schedule