Ecommerce Replatforming Guides

Our ecommerce replatforming guide series covers important replatforming topics. The guides give you practical advice gained from delivering replatforming projects for brands including The Wine Society, Dr. Barbara Sturrm, House of Fraser and RSPB. All content is free; if you like what you read, please share the links via LinkedIn, Twitter etc.

1. What is replatforming?

An introduction to replatforming guide, helping you understand the language used by ecommerce professionals and get a clear definition of what replatforming means.

In this guide you will learn:

  • What replatforming is and why it’s important
  • When you need to replatform and when you don’t
  • The different types of ecommerce platform
  • Key terminology

2. What’s the best ecommerce platform?

No platform is 100% perfect fit for your business; you need to compromise to deliver a solution within budget. With compromise, you can align your business & technology needs with a platform that delivers the core functionality you need to scale your business in a cost affordable way.

In this guide you will learn about:

  • Ecommerce platform models
  • Your business and technology principles
  • Platform architecture & scalability
  • Functional requirements fit
  • Platform cost models
  • Business admin control
  • Risk management

3. Project management for replatforming

Ecommerce replatforming projects are complex and require project management discipline to ensure they are well structured and adhere to a clear process.

In this guide you will learn about the seven key project phases:

  1. Project planning.
  2. Vendor selection.
  3. SI partner selection.
  4. Discovery.
  5. Development.
  6. Go live stabilization.
  7. Continuous deployment.

4. Resourcing for replatforming projects

Many organisations struggle to know which resources they need to successfully deliver an ecommere migration project.

In this replatforming guide you will learn:

  • What determines your team size
  • What are the key roles and responsibilities
  • How to create an appropriate team structure
  • Example team structures

5. Creating a TCO ecommerce platform cost model

Businesses often struggle to understand the true costs of replatforming. This guide walks you through a structured process for identifying cost implications.

You will learn about:

  • Project management costs.
  • Project development costs.
  • Support and maintenance costs.
  • Internal resource costs.

6. Identifying and mitigating risk

Building an ecommerce website is a complex project with inherent risk. Accepting risk is important and putting plans in place to mitigate this risk is a core part of project management

You will learn about:

  • Key project challenges
  • Common project risks
  • How to mitigate each risk
  • Setting up a risk log

James helped me with our recent vendor selection process for a new e-commerce platform. From start to finish James offered sound advice and demonstrated great market knowledge. He grasped the luxury ecommerce space very quickly. His work on our RFP was invaluable.

Mike Burnett, Digital Director, Theirworld

What’s my experience?

Over the past 16 years I have delivered high profile ecommerce replatforming projects:

  • Client side – as Head of Ecommerce in retail, I had commercial/financial responsibility for two replatform projects for Microsoft Commerce and IBM Websphere.
  • Agency side – as ecommerce consultant at EIBdigital, I helped Client teams shape their platform requirements.
  • Independent consultant – at Digital Juggler I have helped Clients like Sweaty Betty and Victoria Beckham scope ecommerce requirements, write high quality documentation and project manage the vendor and agency partner selection process.

I know what it takes to make a project work. I know the trials and tribulations of this detailed process and my knowledge will help improve your project delivery.