The migration process can be a minefield which can even be a challenge to know where to start. In this webinar, our team addressed key areas of the migration process and challenges when migrating. We also spoke to Liam Lennon, the Head of Online at Intersport Elverys, as he shared their recent migration process.
Proven Practices
To kick off the webinar, CEO and founder of StudioForty9, Ger Keohane shared proven practices for a webinar migration. This examined the entire procedure and provided crucial guidance for various stages. Here are the key takeaways:
Reasons for Migrating: Firstly, we explored common reasons for migrations including:
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Ageing platforms
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Hosting Requirements
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Scalability
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Cost Considerations
Discovery and Scoping: Ger emphasised the importance of the scoping and discovery phase, advocating for a “measure twice, cut once” approach. A comprehensive scoping will act as a blueprint for migrations and help to identify existing customisations that may need to be considered early in the process.
Beware of Future Proofing: A common misconception is to go overboard by incorporating all the latest features and trends. However, Ger advises a more strategic approach, aligning technological advancements with specific business needs. “Given the rapid pace of technological change, it’s impractical to future-proof indefinitely.” Essentially, the best strategy is to prioritise features based on immediate business requirements and a defined timeframe, i.e. 2 years.
Prepare for Change: Effective change management is crucial. Collaborate with relevant departments to understand their reliance on the current site’s features and consider the best solutions to these as part of the migration plan. Even minor changes can have ripple effects through the company so it’s essential to identify potential impact areas and communicate changes clearly with stakeholders.
Timelines: Typically migrations take 5 -6 months to complete. Having these realistic timelines is essential, allowing for contingency and testing. Avoid scheduling migrations during peak periods.
Customer Journey: Start by mapping out your customer journey on your site to help identify data migration needs. It will also help to consider touchpoints across your site such as order fulfilment, payments processing, refunds, returns and merchandising and help you to plan for recreating these procession in the new platform.
Prioritise: It can be overwhelming to consider all aspects of a site migration. Create a list of priorities with all stakeholders: must haves, should have, could have and will not have — this is known as a MoSCoW analysis. This will help maintain focus and allocate resources efficiently during the migration process.
Ecommerce Platform: The Hidden Costs
While Total Cost of ownership(TCO) is a crucial factor, it’s essential to consider the hidden costs of using either legacy or inefficient platforms, such as ongoing maintenance, scalability limitations and reduced team productivity. While legacy platforms may offer initial cost savings, their inability to keep pace with industry trends can severely limit a business's competitive edge. Shopify is easy to use, can be customised to suit your business needs and has access to a third-party application ecosystem. This helps your business grow quickly and stay ahead of the competition. A key statistic from this webinar highlighted Shopify's potential value as a 20%+ conversion rate uplift and 5%+ Shop Pay uplift. The key questions to ask yourself is “It is worth considering how the impact of a 25% revenue increase for your business by choosing this platform?”
Lessons from the Frontline: Intersport Elverys Migration Experience
Overall, Liam highlighted how the Intersport Elverys migration experience was a positive one, from initial set up and build time to the immediate uplift in results that they saw. Here are some key takeaways:
Length of Build: The initial set up and build time was relatively quick compared to legacy systems. However, Liam cautions that significance preparation is necessary, including preparation of a thorough business case, internal alignments and rigorous testing of various platforms before deciding upon one. Developing a detailed list of requirements and mapping out expectations is crucial.
Why choose Shopify: Intersport Elverys chose Shopify primarily for its cost-effectiveness, as it had lower licensing fees compared to their previous platform and a wealth of out-of-the-box features and apps. The platform's user-friendly interface was also a key player for the Elverys team, making it easy to add products, create marketing content, and process refunds.
Data migrations and Scoping: Careful planning and workshops created a clear blueprint for the migrations. Although the process of migrating data from legacy systems presented difficult hurdles, having this blueprint to understand what data was vital to migrate was valuable.
Immediate results: Following the migration, Intersport Elverys experienced immediate benefits, including increased conversion rates, decreased bounce rates and improved overall performance. The platforms' ability to handle high traffic during peak periods, such as Black Friday, which saw 200 orders per minute, further solidified its reliability for Liam.
Unexpected Benefits: One unexpected benefit was the ease of learning and using Shopify. The intuitive interface and comprehensive user guides allowed the team to quickly become proficient, making the transition smoother.
You can watch the full webinar below.
Looking to migrate your ecommerce store?
If you are planning a platform migration, why not reach out to us at StudioForty9 to discuss your next steps. Our team will look at your individual business needs and help you build your strategy with you to ensure a smooth and successful migration.
