How to run a successful eCommerce migration: Here are 6 best practices

Why enterprises are migrating faster to modern commerce

As enterprises accelerate their migration from legacy to modern commerce platforms, the reason is clear: The faster adoption of AI technologies. 

Indeed, the report The State of eCommerce: Replatforming and Migration Trends for 2025 revealed that 97% of decision-makers agree that AI will be crucial in shaping the future of eCommerce. At the same time, business leaders see composability as key to AI readiness:

• 87% of them already have a favorable perception of composable commerce. 
• 94% report that composable commerce will be even more relevant to their business model in the future.
• 78% of leaders say “speed of innovation” is a key consideration for switching eCommerce platforms.   

The eCommerce decision-makers who understand the need for flexibility and scalability to adopt new technologies, such as agentic commerce, are better positioned to embrace emerging technologies that set them apart from the competition. Composable commerce has become a prerequisite to the extent that Gartner considers it one of the critical capabilities for digital commerce. 

So, how can businesses transition from legacy systems to a composable ecosystem? And how can they make this transition as smooth as possible? These 6 best practices can help.

Best practice #1 — Create a clear communication strategy across the organization

Before starting your migration plans, create a clear communication strategy to ensure all project stakeholders are informed about what is happening and who is taking the lead. It’s vital to choose leaders for their domain experience and connection to their teams.  

Here are a few steps that can help prepare your team for the migration project kickoff:

• Communicate the vision clearly and constantly: Articulate why transformation is necessary and how it aligns with the company’s strategic goals and long-term success. Host interactive town halls, Q&A sessions and/or internal webinars to address concerns, clarify misconceptions and reinforce the shared vision.
• Get all stakeholders engaged. This can be through discovery sessions, pre-meetings and brainstorming get-togethers. These meetings should involve feedback from everyone in the organization.
• Engage with the product owner. This is important because they will ultimately determine the outcome. 
• Delegate duties. Form a multidisciplinary core team of in-house employees with the required knowledge and experience to be headed by a project manager. You may need to supplement this team with external experts or rely on an external agency to manage your eCommerce migration project, especially if the existing team is already busy. 
• Keep your leadership in the loop. Provide updates on your progress and milestones to your executives, as well as issues you’ve resolved. This will help increase the confidence leadership has in you and your team.

Best practice #2 — Define your eCommerce data migration strategy

When embarking on a migration process, use this opportunity to think ambitiously and long-term. This is the time to contemplate how your business should function with the data setup and efficient processes you need to support your vision. It’s crucial to avoid duplicating quick fixes or workarounds from the previous commerce solution. 

In a way, the migration process is akin to moving into a new house. When transitioning to a larger house or apartment, bringing all your possessions from the previous, smaller place is possible. However, does it make sense? Wouldn’t it be more better to envision your dream home and then decide which elements of the old house should be retained and which areas should be completely reimagined? For instance, you may choose to transport your old bed while opting for a brand-new kitchen with state-of-the-art appliances.

You can think of a migration process in the same way. When starting your assessment, identify the areas that cause the greatest business pain, ascertain the aspects customers frequently complain about or recognize the most promising business opportunities. This is the opportunity to “clean house,” so the specific needs of your company should dictate this evaluation, paving the way for a comprehensive digital transformation tailored to the uniqueness of your business.

Best practice #3 — Plan your migration project

Get started by assessing the state of your current eCommerce platform, from experience (frontend) to performance and functionality (backend). List your current differentiators and any missing features and areas of improvement. 

• What are your current platform limitations and barriers to innovation (things you can’t do)?
• What are the most time-consuming activities (things you want to speed up or eliminate)?
• What are the automation and optimization opportunities?
• What are the biggest risks or reasons that can cause lost revenue for your business? 

Next, identify your replatforming priorities and requirements based on your brand’s strategy and opportunities. Take this opportunity to design a tailored solution for the unique needs of your business. 

• Must-have functionality.
• Customization and extensibility requirements.
• Integration requirements.
• Risk mitigation (security, compliance, etc.).
• Workflows and automation requirements.
• Data migration plan (i.e., product catalogs, customers, etc.).
• Desired migration timeframe.

Once you have a complete understanding of your requirements, assess different options, such as sending a request for proposal (RFP) with your list of requirements to potential vendors and engaging with them. This can be a lengthy process, but it’s extremely important, as you want to ensure your future solution meets your business needs today and in the future.

After selecting an eCommerce partner, the next step is to define a realistic scope of work and set a timeline for the migration. As you proceed, be sure to outline all major milestones and identify the necessary resources to achieve each one. A crucial prerequisite for this step is to bring a project manager on board early. 

There are many important steps during the migration planning, and data migration is one of them. During this stage, you'll identify which data needs to be transferred and establish how to securely move it from one platform to the other.

All in all, having a clear plan of action, a team of aligned stakeholders and well-selected vendors will ensure that the migration process flows as seamlessly as possible.

Best practice #4 — Choose an eCommerce migration strategy

After the decisions involving the platform of choice, delegation of duties in the team and business requirements have been made, the next choice is what migration strategy to use. 

While many businesses prefer the “big bang” method, which is designed to make the switch from the current system to a new one at a single point in time (the “big bang” event), choosing a phased migration process is quickly becoming the preferred method for businesses that want a gradual approach to implementation while accelerating time to value. 

A phased model, also known as the strangler pattern, enables businesses to gradually transition from a legacy system to a composable platform, replacing functionalities piece by piece, reducing the risk of system disruptions. With this model, enterprises can implement a pilot approach, which helps test assumptions, collect data, refine solutions and mitigate risks by starting with a small-scale approach. 

Best practice #5 — Migrate the data you need and ALWAYS keep backups

Before migrating to a new eCommerce platform, carefully review your legacy platform's data to determine what needs to be migrated and what can be left behind. This process ensures your new system remains lean and efficient.

1. Identify the data you intend to migrate. Primary data types include product order and customer data. It may also encompass category taxonomy, graphical and multimedia elements, as well as marketing content that enhances the customer experience. 
2. Clean up your data prior to loading it into a new system. Ensure that unnecessary data is discarded. 
3. Ensure structure compatibility. The data structure should be tailored to the eCommerce utility and in accordance with our Product Modeling Guide. We suggest prioritizing essential attributes, especially those crucial for search functionalities or specific features.
4. Export/import. Export product data from your monolithic platform and import it into commercetools, leveraging our data integration tools and APIs: 
   • Data import/export with commercetools Merchant Center: The Merchant Center’s built-in import and export capabilities are designed to support a wide range of workflows, such as customer onboarding and data updates. Check more details. 
   • Subscriptions API: For event-driven integrations, you can subscribe to Messages for changes to resources in Composable Commerce. Check the Subscriptions API documentation.
   • Import API or Java Sync for bulk integrations: When using the Import API, monitor the container summary and operations for error detection and to confirm the process completion, especially before starting dependent processes. Alternatively, consider using tools like the Java Sync Library.
   • Products, Inventory and Prices APIs: When using the Composable Commerce APIs for integrations, design each API Client with the necessary permissions for its specific role. By having dedicated API Clients for each process, you can enhance security and prevent unnecessary permissions from being granted.

A best practice is to maintain an up-to-date copy of your product catalog in your legacy platform, ensuring references to products, categories and other assets remain intact. It’s ideal to continue pushing raw catalog data from your ERP, PIM or other sources to both the old and new systems during the migration process. This dual approach minimizes disruptions and ensures data consistency.

Finally, rigorous testing is non-negotiable. Comprehensive testing throughout the migration process helps identify compatibility issues, ensures data integrity and prevents errors or corruption. This ensures smoother performance, reduces downtime and mitigates the risk of system crashes.

Best practice #6 — Capitalize on the feedback of your customers

Engaging customers early provides direct feedback on pain points and unmet needs, ensuring that proposed changes align with real-world demand. Involving customers also strengthens the business case by demonstrating market demand and helping internal stakeholders see the tangible value of transformation. 

Engaging with customers directly and listening to feedback from your sales teams and customer support staff can shed light on pain points that may not be immediately visible in data alone. 

After your migration, keeping open and continuous communication with customers is key. Constant interactions with customers will help you stay on top of expectations and demands, so your innovations can cater to the people that matter the most in the years to come.

Get ready for your new eCommerce platform

While a migration process is always a project that demands time and effort across your organization, one of the benefits of a composable architecture is that you don’t have to replatform ever again; after all, you can replace best-of-breed components easily without having to change to yet another platform. 

With careful planning, open communication across the organization, a strong data migration strategy and the ability to incorporate customer feedback into your commerce experiences, your business is primed for continued success and growth. 

FAQs

1. What is the biggest challenge in eCommerce migrations?

The biggest challenge is aligning teams and processes to manage both technical and organizational change, especially when moving from monolithic systems to composable architectures.

2. How long does a typical eCommerce migration take?

Timelines vary, but most enterprise migrations take several months depending on scope, data complexity, integrations and the chosen migration strategy (big bang vs. phased). 

3. Should I migrate all historical data to the new platform?

No. Only essential data, such as active products, recent orders, and customer profiles, should be migrated. Historical data can remain archived in existing systems.

4. What migration strategy reduces the most risk?

A phased approach using the strangler pattern is generally the safest, as it allows you to replace components gradually without disrupting the full system.

5. How does composable commerce future-proof your infrastructure?

Composable architectures enable you to swap or upgrade individual components without requiring full replatforming, allowing for faster innovation and long-term flexibility.