It is not a good practice for ecommerce companies to change the platform, as it is adopted on the basis of research and planning. On the growth of business, conditions of market changes and firms dealing with electronic commerce sometimes need to change the components so that they could sustain in competitive market.
Re-platforming is a crucial task as it involves great deal of expense, risk and time. A perfectly accomplished re-platform can drive operational efficiencies & revenue to height, consequently a poor accomplishment of re-platform can off track the business. Therefore, business owners should be watchful and hard to please about replacing platform. Before we discuss the hazards that may be involved in switching ecommerce platforms, let us briefly discuss the role of ecommerce platform in online business.
How role of an Ecommerce platform can be defined?
An ecommerce platform is the medium for technologies in order to make online storefront. In other words, an ecommerce platform can be a combo of technologies. Moreover, it can be said that a standalone module that integrate with other platforms of technologies. Critically components of an ecommerce platform depend upon the size of the company and its requirements. Here is a precise list of factors involving ecommerce platform.
- Content Management (CM): It involves management of textual, pictorial and nonproductive form of data or information.
- Search about Trend: Searching is a crucial step and most of shopping carts lack in area. Basic aim is to deliver to the customer to such kind of experience that is demanded by shoppers nowadays.
- Shopping Cart: Shopping cart is used for the purpose of registration, checkout, and to manage payment.
- Product Management (PM): It can be an information management system of a product that is backed by an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, or may be a simple content management system. In every scenario, it is an interface where one can manipulate information, which is to be presented to customers.
- Pricing Factor: This module manages pricing of products. Like general commerce rules, business-to-consumer pricing for an online store does not involve complexity. It may intricate in case of multi-channel selling. However, in case of business-to-business generally possess high complexity as many tiers, customized pricing, and business logic play part in it.
- Order Management (OM): This module manages orders from receipt to deliver a delivery, by permitting owner to make modifications, selection of shipping carriers, management of fulfillment process etc.
- Payment Systems: Payment system may comprise of gateways for the processing of credit card along with substitutive payment systems like Google Wallet, PayPal etc.
- Inventory Management: Inventory management enables owners to administer the availability of product. According to current market scenario, it must have multichannel support available.
- Involvement of Business logic: The ecommerce platform should be supportive to business rules for various kinds of customers.
- Involvement of Merchandising: Merchandising involves complex promotions, personalization, recommendations, cross sells, A/B testing, up-sells and other advanced techniques of merchandising are involved in it.
- Management of Social Media: Social media is modern emerging technology that can be used to influence & compel buying decisions of consumer.
- Integration with other Platforms: Some owners may require integration of current business platform with other business platforms and systems, likewise accounting, marketing automation systems, management system for customer relationship, analytics etc.
Ecommerce stores at small and medium scale periodically have integration with systems that converges for content management, taking orders and web page delivery. After the growth of business if a store has a need to integrate order management system, inventory management system other modules. Then it will be a demand of the company to integrate system with more functionalities across desired areas.
Why there is a Need for the Replacement of Platform?
- Enhancement of Customer Experience: Customer experience can be enhanced by providing improved search & navigation options, better speed, enhanced merchandising options, more meaningful images, option for checkout from one page, dynamic landing pages and mini-carts.
- Support for Mobile: In order to manage how much design of an online store is responsive to device like mobile.
- Situations & opportunities for Market: It can be due to accumulation of multichannel sales, multi-site or micro sites and more products in online store due to new opportunities in the market.
- Enhancement of Major Performance Indicators: It may tend to replace for the sake of tasks like improvement in average order values, increment in the conversion rates, enhanced search engine optimization and decrement for bounce rates.
- Scalability of Platform: It may be due to the support which current platform lacking support, poor integration of platform and depletion of technology.
- Integration requirements: By the accumulation of new modules, which are required to be integrated likewise content management system, customer management system, order management system etc.
- Cost Factor: Different costs like hosting costs, hardware investments, human resources a thing whose cost may be affecting business model.
What should be taken care while Replacing Platform?
- Do not change the platform without plan and clear strategy for long run.
- Define your goals and parameters of success.
- Analyze and identify the strengths and weaknesses of current platform.
- Analyze functional & technical requirements, customer experience. Moreover, how much different platform can benefit you?
- Ask the other Ecommerce merchants about their experiences.
- Identify the solutions feasible within the budget.
- Lastly conduct research and refer to vendor i.e. you are definite about requirements and objectives of the business.
Risks While
Following are the risks while replatforming:
- It might be a time taking task and might be costly over business.
- Replatforming may affect processes of business, in a sense that it might require training of staff for new platform.
- It can affect your SEO techniques and strategies; consequently, it may lead to lose traffic when URLs are changed.
- Integrations are hectic and complex tasks and may involve extra efforts in order to do so.
Needs & Risks for Ecommerce Platform Replacement is a post from: Technshare
