As the world of eCommerce shifts from monolithic to composable applications, businesses are racing to modernize their infrastructure. So, how can businesses successfully make this critical leap? Discover six essential best practices to help make your eCommerce migration to a composable platform smooth, efficient and rewarding.
Why migrate to a new eCommerce platform?
Business and technology leaders know that they must adapt to the rapid ongoing technological advances or risk being left behind. According to a survey, 67% of online store owners have identified platform modernization as a top investment priority due to ongoing issues with outdated systems. Furthermore, in the same survey 61% of B2B eCommerce sellers stated they are actively seeking to migrate their platforms within the year.
The push for modernization is driven by various factors, including the need for enhanced security, improved customer experiences and the integration of advanced technologies, such as AI and cloud solutions. As businesses aim to keep pace with evolving consumer expectations and technological advancements, the trend towards upgrading eCommerce platforms is expected to accelerate throughout 2024.
At the heart of modernization is composable commerce, a modular approach that gives companies flexibility and freedom to build and run outstanding shopping experiences. So, how can businesses migrate from legacy systems to composable? And how can they make this transition as smooth as possible? Let’s delve deeper into best practices to help you on this journey.
Want to see the real numbers that prove migrating to composable is worth it? Read our Migration Report
When is the right time to migrate to composable commerce?
Wondering if it's time to upgrade your eCommerce platform? There are several signs you can spot that indicate migrating to a composable commerce platform makes sense for your business, from dealing with inflexible systems to missing out on revenue opportunities due to poor scalability. We've prepared a checklist to help you identify any shortcomings in your current system:
How many boxes did you check? And how many more do you need to mark before it’s time to migrate? Here’s a hint: If you’ve checked even one box and that issue is holding back your business growth, it’s time to make the move to a new eCommerce platform.
I do like what the [commercetools] platform has allowed and the enablement that it provides for our future growth and future agility. We’re in a very complex space; we may have to shift where the customer experience needs to be, and having a platform like this allows us to make those moves much easier.
CIO, WILD FORK FOODS
Why composable commerce is the only solution
So, why should you choose composable commerce as your architecture of choice? Because otherwise, you’ll be essentially moving from one monolithic platform to another, for example migrating from Salesforce to Shopify. This won't resolve your issues in the long-term as moving between monolithic eCommerce platforms can actually do more harm than good. Although many legacy platforms are trying to decouple components, their single-database structure remains monolithic, limiting agility, flexibility and growth.
Today’s fast-moving commerce world demands that brands and merchants keep up with shifting customer demands and emerging touchpoints. For that, you need a modular architecture, enabling agility, flexibility and faster adaptation to change. Composable solutions like commercetools are the only eCommerce architecture that can meet such demands.
Modularity and extensibility were paramount for us. Not only did we have peace of mind because we can realize future requirements, it also enabled us to launch changes to our users incrementally, running commercetools in parallel. Although this cautious and risk-averse approach may take a little longer, it results in a smoother roll-out with happy users while also minimizing the shock to internal operations – often compared to an open-heart surgery by our senior leadership.
CTO, LoveCrafts
Migration in a nutshell
Before we jump into the nitty gritty, here’s a very high-level overview of the migration steps:
Build a communication strategy: Ensure all vendors and stakeholders are aligned.
Plan early: Build a migration roadmap for timelines, milestones and business requirements.
Choose a migration strategy: Options include big bang and strangler pattern.
Audit and backup data: Review data to migrate and create a backup for safe access.
Import and verify data: Migrate product, customer and order data manually or through third parties.
Test before launching: Check all functionalities to avoid issues.
Launch: Enjoy the freedom and benefits that a flexible, composable solution brings.
Your eCommerce platform migration checklist: 6 best practices
Now that you know what steps are involved in migrating your platform to a composable commerce architecture, it’s time to start planning more in-depth. Let’s dive deeper into best practices that will help you in this process.
Pssst…want in on a commercetools implementation shortcut? Then check out commercetools Foundry for B2C Retail and commercetools Foundry for B2B Manufacturing.
Before starting any migration plans, create a clear communication strategy to ensure all project stakeholders know what’s happening and who’s 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:
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 as they will make the final decision on the end result. Challenge them to think outside the box.
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 have to supplement this team with external experts or rely on an external agency to run your eCommerce migration project, especially if the existing team is 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.
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.
To provide an analogy, consider the process of moving houses. When transitioning to a larger house or apartment, bringing along all your possessions from the previous, smaller place is possible. However, does it make sense? Wouldn’t it be 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.
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 your company’s specific needs should dictate this evaluation, paving the way for a comprehensive digital transformation tailored to the uniqueness of your business.
Before [companies] can even think about utilizing their data, they need to make sure they have access to all their data. While tech teams get super excited to start using the flexible data model commercetools offers as quickly as possible, it’s important to first take a step back and spend some time assessing the data they have and consider how they can clean and enrich it, as well as creating strategies to leverage it better. It’s really important to do this in the beginning.
Vice President of Product and Customer Marketing, commercetools
Get started by assessing the state of your current digital ecosystem, including the frontend user experience, backend functionality and third-party systems. Take this opportunity to think outside the box, designing a tailored solution for the unique needs of your business.
After an initial discovery process, build a migration roadmap that explicitly defines timelines, milestones to be achieved and business requirements. An important prerequisite for this step is bringing a project manager on board early. Having a clear plan of action will ensure that the migration process flows as seamlessly as possible.
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:
Strangler pattern: The strangler pattern (aka phased migration) is a popular migration approach that gradually transitions your monolithic application into microservices, replacing functionalities piece by piece. In digital commerce, the strangler pattern has become a popular migration method because it reduces the chances of system disruptions. At the same time, businesses can reap the benefits of new applications without waiting until the entire solution is complete.
Big bang: The big bang approach is a more traditional method of system migrations designed to make the switch from the current system to a new one at a single point in time; the go-live. In short, your platform remains in place until the new infrastructure can be switched on in a single “big bang” event.
What’s the best approach for your business? It’s entirely up to you. When considering what approach to take, take into account how easily can your current system be broken down into smaller components, how experienced your team is with microservices, and whether it makes to create a proof-of-concept (POC) and pilot it with a subset of your buying journey.
Before migrating to a new eCommerce platform, carefully review your legacy platform's data to determine what is necessary to migrate and what can be left behind. This process ensures your new system remains lean and efficient.
Backups are essential for safeguarding your business during migration. Create a full backup of your data before starting, and decide which third-party apps you’ll carry forward and which ones to leave behind, as some may be outdated or redundant.
For migrating data, commercetools offers robust Import/Export capabilities, allowing you to seamlessly manage data via APIs, CSV files or integrated tools. For instance, our Import & Export modules enable streamlined, scalable data transfers, whether you're handling catalog data, customer information or inventory updates. You can also use a structured migration blueprint, such as the commercetools Foundry B2C Retail blueprint, which outlines a step-by-step approach to planning and executing your data migration effectively.
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.
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.
Your customers are the ones who will use your commerce technology — plus, they shop online with other brands every day. It only makes sense that they’d have an opinion of what they want from your experience.
Get ready for your new composable commerce 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.
Ready to dive deeper into the world of composable commerce? Download our white papers Composable Commerce Migration Guide for B2C or The Composable Commerce Migration Guide for B2B now.
Diya Bag is a Senior Content Writer at commercetools. Previously, she has worked as a Copywriter in advertising for a wide range of brands, as well as an Editorial Manager in publishing for magazines and both fiction and nonfiction books.
Manuela Marques Tchoe is a Content Writer at commercetools. She was a Content and Product Marketing Director at conversational commerce provider tyntec. She has written content in partnership with Facebook, Rakuten Viber and other social media platforms.