Platform Migration

This article is a synopsis for a Blog article entitled "redeveloping and migrating your online store."

Introduction

I have worked on numerous ecommerce website developments and the thing that has made the biggest impression is how often they run into difficulties. Usually because of a lack of planning.

Throughout the lifetime of an online store it is essential to update the site in response to changing customer demands and competitive pressures. Some modifications can be minor - such as the tweaks to the design, some major - such as the introduction of new functionality and some fundamental - such as migration to a totally different ecommerce platform.

One of the most important things to remember when you redevelop your online store is to consider every change very carefully, as an accident waiting to happen.

This article explains how to increased your chances of success and minimise the risk of damaging your business.

Planning your project

In any ecommerce project, inadequate planning is the same as planning to fail.

Before you ask for any kind of quotation, you need to be very clear about what you are trying to achieve in terms of:

• Generating website traffic
• Increasing conversion rates and revenue
• Business efficiency

Any request for tender document should document and quantify what you are trying to improve and what you want to leave as they are. Without this it is difficult to determine what a sensible budget.

Most request-for-tender documents fulfil the first requirement in spades - after all, it is the exciting bit of the project. Where they tend to fall short is in documentation the things that need to be left as they are.

Conclusion

Every project carries with it risk, but with good planning you can mitigate this risk substantially, simply by evaluating all of the challenges you will need to overcome.

The good news is that all you have to do to keep ahead of your competitors is spend more time at the beginning of the project evaluating the total impact of the project on the business.

That way you increase the likelihood of achieving you goals and reduce the risk of failure.