Are you running an eCommerce website but not quite satisfied with how your eCommerce website is performing? This is when you start wondering about migrating from one eCommerce platform to the other one.
But changing the platform on which your website is built has to be a very careful and thoughtful decision. You cannot move the platform again and again. Because there are several risks involved here. You have to carefully transfer every bit of data from your existing site to the new location. In addition to that, you have to take care that complete data is transferred. What are you going to do if one of the fields is not migrated? This can disturb the functioning of your whole website and can entirely disturb your site’s user interactions.
Another risk is – What if you transfer your entire site data to another platform that proves to be more disappointing. This happens when you hastily switch the platform without inquiring much about the new one. Therefore, knowing what you want, and if that platform you’re choosing to move to provides all the features you need, is important.
But how would you know it? In this article, we’ll discuss some of the reasons that indicate that it’s time for you to change the eCommerce platform. Along with that, we’ll also see what is the best way to transfer your data from one platform to another.
So as decided earlier, you should only consider moving the eCommerce platform if the issues are vague. The following are some of the reasons when you should probably consider re-platforming.
When should you change the platform?
Running and maintaining an eCommerce website is not a child’s play, right? Doing so has many important decisions involved. And the most important of all is choosing the platform.
Because choosing a platform for your eCommerce has to be a one-time decision. You have to consider all the pros and cons of the platform and choose the one that promises to serve you the best.
Read Shopify Plus review.
You’ve started feeling insecure
If you are not satisfied with the security of your eCommerce website, or if you think they are charging you enormously for the security service, then you should probably change the platform.
Generally, hosted eCommerce platforms don’t cause such problems. They take the security of your eCommerce data to be their responsibility. Therefore when you are using hosted eCommerce platforms like Shopify, you don’t have to worry about the security of your website. Instead, you can concentrate on the other aspects of your business.
The problem typically arises when you go for CMS or eCommerce framework that requires you to choose the host. Sometimes, the choice of the wrong host may lead to some serious performance or security issues. Also, most of the hosting service providers charge extra for security services.
So in anyways, if you are concerned about security issues of your eCommerce website, you should wait no more. I would advise you to move to a platform that takes the responsibility of security without any additional expense.
You’re customers complaint about security or performance
Are you getting emails about the performance issues of your website lately??
- Site not reachable
- Large product page load time
- Checkout problems
- Complaints about data theft
Finding it difficult to manage and use
Are you finding your existing eCommerce platform difficult to use? Then it is a problem. If the dashboard of your eCommerce platform provides you options that are hard to understand or doesn’t provide you enough buttons to tweak your website, then you’ll need a lot of time to learn how to use.
However, if you don’t feel like learning how to use the existing platform, and rather go for a new one, you may consider switching to Shopify.
Because when you use platforms like Magento to create your eCommerce website, it still requires a bit of technical know how to operate it. So Shopify clearly is the better idea as it is really easy to use. Also considering the 24X7 telephonic/email support that allows you to get in touch with the experts that can help you out of your confusion.
Not enough flexibility to introduce new features
With time, your website needs to grow. As your business expands, you would want to add new features and functions into your website. And that is where the flexibility of your eCommerce platform matters.
If your eCommerce website builder does not provide you with enough flexibility to add new features that can enhance the usability of your site. Or if it makes adding features to your website difficult, that is w
Sometimes you may need a new feature, that can help you sell more, but your eCommerce platform won’t allow it. Or if it does, your system makes it difficult to implement it. Most of the eCommerce platforms nowadays provide you with extra functions in form of pluggable apps that you can download-install-use. This makes adding features to your website very easy. For instance – If you need a coupon module for your eshop, you can install the app to install the coupon module. If you want to show a countdown timer for the offers on your site, you can install the app for it too. Similarly, every eCommerce platforms mostly lets you integrate apps into you site and make it more feature rich and therefore
This makes adding features to your website very easy. For instance – If you need a coupon module for your eshop, you can install the app to install the coupon module. If you want to show a countdown timer for the offers on your site, you can install the app for it too. Similarly, every eCommerce platforms mostly lets you integrate apps into you site and make it more feature rich.
Therefore, if your platform, in any ways, restricts you to add features to your site, than you should probably look for a better platform.
Doesn’t fit your budget
Sometimes even the free and open source eCommerce platforms can cost more to you. Because you have to pay for a reliable and dedicated hosting service. Moreover, for advanced security, you may be charged extra. This all sums up to the price more than that you pay for professional eCommerce platforms for selling your website.
Moreover, sometimes the eCommerce platform becomes so difficult to manage that it will require you to hire personals for site maintenance. When your eCommerce platform is difficult to use and understand. And when your business grows and there are more products, more transactions, and more buyers, you will need more maintenance. And that is when you may even require more features.
To add more features, you may need professional help and that can be quite expensive. Therefore, if you feel like the expenses for maintaining your eCommerce website are more than your total earning, you need to make some major changes.
Very limited features
If you are using an eCommerce platform Generally, the eCommerce platforms have their plans with different features. So if you are choosing a basic plan, you will have very fewer features. For more features, you can upgrade your package.
If you think that you are not getting enough features for the price you pay, you should start looking for a new platform. But when you do so, keep in mind that the new platform you are moving to allows all the features that you are looking for.
Like discussed earlier, some platforms do provide you with the opportunity to expand the functionalities of your site with some dedicated apps. But what if those apps are really expensive. So every time you wish to add a new feature, you must be prepared to spend some more for your site.
Therefore, the better decision is to switch the platform and go for the one that provides you all of the basic features without having to spend more.
Advantages of using Shopify for your eCommerce website
Shopify is one of the best eCommerce platforms to move your website too. Magento, of course, is good too but Shopify has much more to offer.
The best advantage of Shopify over Magento is being self-hosted. You won’t have to look for a web hosting service provider. Moreover, you won’t even have to bear performance issue caused by poor host or server limitations. Because Shopify hosts your website on servers that are specifically optimized for your eCommerce websites. They promise you the best uptime and lowest page load speeds.
Moreover, you won’t have to struggle with complex installation and software setup processes. All you have to do is create an account at Shopify and start building your website by adding products. Plus, it promises security of your website without charging you extra for it.
There are many advantages of using Shopify as your eCommerce website. It has the best pricing packages from large to medium eCommerce websites. So it’s economical, safe, easy and very easy to use. Therefore, if you are using any other eCommerce platform and unsatisfied with it, you can migrate to Shopify easily.
Migrating from Magento to Shopify using the tools
All of the eCommerce platforms allow you to take away your data from their storage and move it to another. Therefore, at any point, if you feel like moving to another platform, you can do so. You can move your data from one platform to another using two techniques.
- There are a few tools designed to do so. For instance, cart to cart migration tool for Shopify easily lets you move all the data from the major eCommerce platforms like Magento, BigCommerce, Volusion, WooCommerce, etc to Shopify.
- Hiring professional experts to carefully move your data from your existing platform to Shopify.
You can move your data all by yourself, or hire someone to do that for you. If you are not confident about the operation, you should probably seek help from experts. Read this before you start your migration from Magento to Shopify. Either way, you should make sure that the platform switch does not affect users and that your data is safely backed up before the process.
Hiring experts to Migrate from Magento to Shopify
This is a convenient option for those who are ready to pay for the experts and get their site migrated. There are a number of IT firms that offer this service. They’ll safely carry all your important website data from one platform to another.
You just have to pay them and they’ll take the complete responsibility of safely exporting your important details like customer database, products, orders, etc. to the new platform.
Data transfer using the tools
If you have some technically skilled people in your firm who you can trust with the data transfer, you can migrate from Magento to Shopify without outsourcing the process.
This can be done by using the extensions and apps that you can integrate into your site to export the data. These tools lets you export all the data with just few clicks. The tools are specialized to pick up your important data from one platform, and install it carefully on the another. For instance- There are specialized tools that help you migrate from Magento to Shopify. The most popular one is
Only transfer the useful data
This is a step that you can easily skip and it won’t harm. But here’s why we recommend you to clean up your site data. If you have a lot of expired or invalid data on your website, eliminating them before you take backup is essential. With the unnecessary data removed, the process will come faster. Also, you don’t want your eCommerce platform Because it will unnecessarily increase the time of data transfer. And moreover, You don’t need useless and extra data on your website at all. It worthlessly consumes the storage,
Backup your website
Backup is your only hope when anything goes wrong while the operation. Once you are done with deleting the useless files and data from your website, you can backup your website.
While you are transferring your eCommerce website data from one platform to another, you want it to be absolutely safe. Therefore, it is a good idea to have your site backed up just before you proceed with the transfer. Therefore, in case of data loss or any such mishaps during your platform change, you can be assured that your data can be restored through the backup.
To backup your website data, you can use a relevant app or plugin, that lets you do so. Backing up process is usually very simple. You may or may not be asked to choose the data you want to backup. If you are not asked to choose, it means that backup will make copy of all your site data. Then confirming the process will back up your website data. This data can be restored to get your lost data back.
Reflect on the available options
This is one of the most important decisions to make when you decide to leave your eCommerce platform and go for another one. When you are quitting the existing platform, it implies that you already had enough with the first one. So make sure that when you switch to another platform, you don’t regret it again.
To choose the best platform, you can do the following
- Make a list of all the alternatives you have
- Read the reviews and features of all the considered eCommerce platforms
- Get in touch with their customer support team and ask questions
- Choose the platform that promises to solve the limitations of the previous platform
However, you have to make sure that the new platform you choose to migrate to doesn’t take away any of the flexibility.
Spend some time on evaluating the chosen platform
Before you actually move your platform, you should take out some time, and read out the reviews of users and make your decision. The reviews will help you know about the other’s users experience with the eCommerce platform and therefore decide if the platform is ideal for you or not.
Therefore, Read Reviews!!
We highly recommend Shopify for small to medium eCommerce websites and Shopify Plus for large eCommerce firms. Read our detailed review of Shopify Plus here.
Alternately, you can also try reading the reviews of other popular eCommerce platforms to see if they fit your requirements. Basically, if you want to massive eCommerce websites with lots of products and traffic.
Migrate and customize
Once you have checked all the details of the eCommerce platform you’re moving to, you’re are now ready to migrate to Shopify. You can use the automated tools or hire programmers to migrate from Magneto to Shopify. If you are a large store owner, Shopify has a better option for you. Shopify Plus is an enterprise level eCommerce solution that is ideal for large flourishing businesses. Even for the small eCommerce business owners, Shopify provides you with all the required features and functions.
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