By switching to a new and powerful e-commerce platform, you can meet the increasing B2B needs of your customers and create optimal conditions for further growth. Find out what is important in replatforming and which strategies lead to success!
Companies involved in e-commerce eventually reach the limits of their tried and tested e-commerce platform. In the worst case, you wait to evaluate a new commerce solution until your customers start complaining about the service or functionality of your old website. Do you know how many customers have already switched to your competitor without giving feedback?
E-commerce replatforming means swapping out the technology that powers online stores. Typically, these are so-called “legacy systems” that were developed years ago by the IT team themselves and are hosted and operated on their own on-premises servers. These technologies have long met the most important needs, but are struggling to keep up with modern requirements like further developments, security updates and integrations are expensive.
Outdated systems often no longer meet the growing requirements of digital commerce. That’s why e-commerce replatforming is your necessary next step in digital transformation. Go for it!
1. Is your growth limited by poor scalability?
Rapidly evolving companies quickly outgrow their legacy e-commerce solution. Additional products, more visitors, and increased volume of orders and transactions that need to be processed overwhelm the system in a way that it was not designed for. In this situation, instead of sticking with your old system, which entails costly and time-consuming adjustments, you should opt for a new solution that gives your business flexibility.
2. Do you offer a modern user experience and all the features your customers need?
Is your e-commerce solution lacking features that your customers take for granted? Are your customers complaining that your shopping experience isn't what they expect from a modern digital business? If so, that poor online experience will inevitably erode customer loyalty, ultimately leading to loss in sales and damaged reputation. To avoid this, you should critically review your current lineup and specifically ask your customers about the features they expect and think are essential.
3. Can you easily integrate all your technology, processes or data?
If your current solution is not capable of automatically exchanging data with external systems - e.g. Enterprise Resource Planning, Customer Relationship Management, payment or suppliers - there is a risk that inconsistent information will arise, which will confuse and irritate your customers and employees. In such a scenario, e-commerce replatforming can bring great efficiency gains. In addition, if your new platform comes with the required APIs or even offers an out-of-the-box integration hub, you can avoid costly development work.
4. Is your online store slow when traffic is high?
Have you ever encountered situations where your current e-commerce solution wasn't able to smoothly adapt to your needs or has it not been able to keep up with the growth of your business and is it taking forever to provide new catalogs, price lists or product variants? Then it's time to switch to a new e-commerce solution that supports the use of additional resources as needed and can handle peak loads without requiring major investments or time-consuming implementations or adjustments. Otherwise, you run the risk of repeated system failures that result in significant loss in sales and damage your brand. If the loading time of a page is more than 3 seconds, the visitors of the online store will look for other websites!
5. Do you know the operating costs for your old platform?
Often, out of sheer habit, ongoing maintenance costs and recurring individual expenses for necessary adjustments, upgrades, failures or repairs of a (self-developed) e-commerce platform are tacitly accepted. It is estimated that the annual maintenance costs for old systems alone amount to around 15 to 20% of the current purchase price. This means that such companies repurchase their existing solutions every five to six years!
If the total cost for owning an old e-commerce software is higher than expected, migrating to a new platform could save you money. It is possible that your existing solution may require more customization than you anticipated if your initial analysis was flawed, resulting in unexpected and additional modification and testing costs, as well as significant maintenance overhead. Overall, you should consider all aspects of the solution throughout its lifecycle, gain visibility into all costs, and monitor costs at all times.
“We want to address our customers with a consistent brand experience - whether online, in our local store or in contact with the personal sales representative. We have obtained a detailed overview of various solution providers. It quickly became clear that Intershop could do everything we needed
out-of-the-box”, says Philipp Ehlert, managing director and responsible for e-commerce.
The short answer to this question is: happier customers and more sales!
But migrating to a future-proof e-commerce platform comes with even more benefits:
You open up new markets efficiently.
E-commerce enables companies to expand quickly and with low risk into new international markets by eliminating the need to invest in brick-and-mortar infrastructure like stores and warehouses, logistics, and local staff.
This requires a centralized e-commerce platform that can be adapted to country-specific conditions with minimal effort, from language, currency, and tax systems to the localization of unique cultural aspects. So, it’s all about the scalability, flexibility, and compatibility of an e-commerce platform.
You manage your demand.
Additional products and product variations, more buyers and transactions, new touchpoints and sales channels in e-commerce are often disruptive and force companies to react quickly to keep up with the competition and remain successful in their respective markets.
E-commerce platforms must therefore be highly flexible and scalable to meet changing requirements instantly. This is where cloud solutions are far superior to on-premises scenarios: They are constantly developed and updated by their providers and therefore always adapted to current demands.
You manage all your brands and channels via one platform.
Creating and offering new brands on an existing e-commerce platform will lead to new groups of buyers, greater reach, more sales, higher revenues, and a reduced business risk.
These great results can be achieved through projects which can be implemented quickly and easily with a powerful e-commerce platform. These platforms allow for easy channel setup for new brands, new markets and even new countries.
Imagine how easy it will be to enter even a niche market, since the cost of entry is so low. This flexibility will inevitably increase the entrepreneurial spirit.
„We have rolled out the most complex B2B features e.g., customer hierarchy, complex approval workflow, contracted pricing, product configurator, punch-out... in just a few weeks.“
To meet the high demand for online ordering, Highline Warren needed to establish a scalable 24/7 online channel. The existing solution limited the growth of the business, lacked flexibility and didn't have the self-service shopping features their customers needed. Therefore, the focus of the new online store was on enhanced product visibility and extensive self-service capabilities to increase customer adoption and strengthen market share organically.
B2B e-commerce develops rapidly. New market players regularly establish new functionalities to enhance the customer experience which quickly become table stakes for customers. In addition, new business models emerge that also require innovative e-commerce solutions. Rigid, legacy e-commerce solutions with limited functionality can’t keep pace and therefore dampen entrepreneurial spirit.
Future-ready companies with sustainable business models rely on technologies that adapt to growing requirements today. This not only ensures future security but also satisfied customers.
Modern B2B e-commerce systems offer end users a wide range of B2B functionalities tailored to the specific requirements of B2B businesses right from the start. This goes far beyond what is standard for B2C platforms. Today, with rapid communication between groups of buyers and sellers, complicated B2B transactions have to span many individual interests and motivations. The trick is to strike the right balance between digital and human interaction in these more complex relationships. In addition, there are special requirements when trying out new business models or expanding internationally.
Mobile devices are being used for over 50% of digital commerce, so the design must take that into account. Voice assistants like Alexa and Siri are adding additional customer touchpoints which B2B platforms must plan for to keep pace with the market. Future-proof e-commerce solutions can no longer do without appropriate conversational commerce interfaces.
Tailored, personalized shopping experiences increase customer satisfaction and loyalty, lower price sensitivity and ensure long-term sustainable business relationships. People buy the experience! In e-commerce this individualization is made possible through data analytics driven by business intelligence gathering.
Even though a large proportion of purchases in B2B are made online today, personal contact with sales staff remains a high priority—especially for complex products that require intensive consultation. This means that customers today expect personalized shopping experiences across different sales channels. Whether on a mobile device or a laptop, on the phone with a customer service hotline or speaking directly with a sales representative: All data must be identical in every channel and on every device.
Online research is a daily routine for B2B buyers. This is where the companies that present all facets of their products and services really stand out. Make this information easily accessible via powerful search engines: Instructions, CAD data, 3D views with augmented reality, explosion graphics—to name just a few. This saves valuable time and provides reliable, facts that help buyers make confident, well-informed buying decisions. Here, too, personalization leads to time savings when users can store information in the customer account and do not have to search for it repeatedly.
Even though B2B businesses know about the potential of personalized, yet standardized processes, they still lack the basics such as individual customer accounts to show purchase history, return options, smooth checkout processes and saved payment information which has been the standard in B2C for a long time now. Recurring orders, payment, discount and delivery conditions, approval limits for buyers and many other functions can be configured once and then used again and again. Digital customer portals, in which all customer information is stored centrally, offer the optimal solution.
Paperwork, multiple phone numbers for different services, and unique business hours: For B2B customers, these classic forms of collaboration with suppliers have become tiresome. Today, they have entirely different needs, and companies need to understand that.
Marlies Wilms Floet of De Nieuwe Zaak shared her thoughts on the "Ultimate Customer Experience" during Intershop Inpulse 2022:
Personalization is a key component of a future-ready user experience. It can increase customer retention, loyalty to your company, and sales.
Quick and easy access to their own installation guides, tutorials, contacts should be available around the clock, as should information on the availability of spare parts and consumables.
B2B personalization needs to be sophisticated. It is unlikely that a B2B customer will spontaneously go through a procurement process. To be precise, B2B personalization must focus on providing efficiency to customers.
The relationship between your customers and your company changes over time. Your customers interact with you when they place orders, talk to sales reps, learn about new products, search for documentation, or ask for quotes.
All of these processes can be brought together at one point to make the interaction between you and your customers more transparent. If customers are having trouble placing an order, finding a document or contact information, they are increasingly likely to turn towards your competitors.
Customers interact with your products, creating a unique product history. Examples include generating data when a machine is used, configuring service agreements that can be modified later, and changing accessories through upgrading or repair.
In a customer portal, the product can be digitally mirrored, giving the customer access to a detailed product history (purchase date, specification, repairs, service agreements, etc.). As a supplier, you can use the e-commerce platform to offer additional services, such as (predictive) product maintenance.
Customers love efficiency. They want the buying process to be as efficient as possible. They benefit from relevant search results and smooth and reliable online booking of services (e.g. maintenance).
Self-services and easy access to information reduce the customer's administrative burden and allow them to maintain their existing internal processes. B2B buyers no longer want to be dependent on your company's sales schedule. Positive online experiences are valuable because customers expect seamless service 24/7.
Keeping pace with today’s rapid technological developments becomes even more challenging when companies work with on-premises e-commerce solutions.
Since it requires an entire IT department to stay up to date, on-premises systems are costly. But even though IT may be doing its best, the solution will decline in performance over time because of numerous adjustments, extensions, and point-to-point integrations.
The online store becomes slow, updates take ages, and new features which customer demand cannot even be integrated because proper interfaces are not available.
One way to avoid scenarios like the above is to replace on-premises systems with cloud solutions. Besides that, cloud solutions offer further performance benefits:
Fast roll-outs
Cloud commerce allows for rapid expansion into new markets and shorter innovation cycles. The resources can be accessed quickly without the need for major investment in time and material. And by eliminating the lengthy implementation and customization phases, all these factors contribute to the ability for your business to launch faster.
Automatic updates
With a cloud solution, your online store will always be up to date, so shop owners can leverage the latest technology and features that customers expect.
Scalability at minimal costs
When occasional peaks in traffic occur, the cloud solution can easily be scaled up. For the rest of the time it can be scaled down to reduce
costs.
Flexibility
Cloud solution providers keep their systems as flexible as possible by providing their customers with API technology to extend their platform with third-party software.
Data security
Cloud providers take safety extremely seriously and guarantee the highest security and legal standards. And they are in a far better position to adapt to changing laws and regulations than legacy, on-premise solutions.
This question can be answered with a clear “YES”. Operating digitally has a massive impact on organizational efficiency. Automating repetitive tasks and offering self-service options for your customers will free up human capital that can be invested in other ways to support your customers. The communication will be more efficient, costs per contact reduced and the time to market will be shorter.
Companies that rely on their legacy systems to their legacy systems often are often confronted with situations in which they are no longer able to adapt to current market events and trends: A significant increase in the overall volume online sales of goods and services, rapid technological development, new customer touchpoints, and higher expectations of B2B customers when it comes to comfortable online shopping experiences.
And although the exact calculation of the total cost of ownership (TCO) and the return on investment (ROI) is highly complex, the experience of the last few years shows that legacy systems cause almost always high—albeit hidden—running costs: Individual adaptations, updates, maintenance work, point-to-point integrations, a lack of flexibility and scalability, high fees when connecting third-party systems via interfaces, and unhappy customers looking for alternative vendors. On the other hand, a fully integrated, open e-commerce platform of the latest generation, always leads to savings the areas above. So, replatforming will pay off in any case.
Operating digitally reduces your costs on different levels: You spend less on traditional marketing costs because you will likely print much less, send fewer snail mailings, and maybe even transform your paper catalog into a printable PDF version or—even better—digitalize it and make it ready for mobile devices your sales force can use at the customer’s site. Online sales will boost your margins because you will sell more (the buying process is much easier) and upsell related products. With e-commerce, you are open 24/7. Customers can place their orders anytime, anywhere and on any device.
A powerful e-commerce platform will serve as a single source of truth by providing all business units with the same information. As a central information hub, the platform is accessible through one single frontend which can be configured for individual business roles. This will break up silos, so data does no longer have to be entered several times. Data becomes visible in real-time or can be processed directly by several departments such as the the warehouse and purchasing department.
Customer information from a CRM, product details from a PIM, or business data from an ERP are integrated and become more than the sum of their parts.
Digitalization allows for the automation of numerous business processes that have previously been performed by humans. This leads to a higher degree of precision, frees workers from simple, repetitive tasks, and allows them to concentrate on more sophisticated jobs. For example, purchasing processes can be triggered automatically when the ERP system reports that the stock level for an item falls below a defined threshold. At the same time, the system can independently generate an invoice for the article sold, initiate its dispatch to the customer, and set an open item in accounting. Meanwhile, procurement can research markets for new vendors, negotiate prices and conditions, and intensify existing business relationships on a personal level.
A digital sales channel comes with a wide range of business benefits, which in total generate more revenue and greater competitiveness. Learn how to invest right and achieve a quick ROI.
Composable Commerce is the evolution of e-commerce technology. It leads away from "all-in-one" suites that generate revenue quickly but are limited in their ability to adapt to changing needs. Customizability through microservices and the separation of front-end and back-end are standard today, but one price for maximum flexibility is that e-commerce implementation projects become time-consuming and costly. Composable Commerce is the answer. Composable Commerce focuses on bundling microservices to solve business problems through Packaged Business Capabilities or PBCs for short.
Learn how to gradually transition to a new platform, run two solutions in parallel and/or retain fundamental parts of the old solution and incorporate them smoothly into the new system.
As legacy e-commerce platforms age, they often no longer meet current requirements, both in terms of technology and increased customer expectations of modern systems. And because they have been adapted and extended again and again, their architecture is too complex and even small changes require a significant financial and time investment. This is what we call the replatforming dilemma.
The real problem arises when the company understands that its existing e-commerce platform is no longer able to meet the changing needs of customers, who now expect a personalized and seamless user experience. At the same time, the old system has become so complex that it would require enormous amount of programming to replicate company-specific features that are not available in a standard off-the-shelf software product.
The project could take months or even years to complete and tie up valuable budgetary resources, but offers no immediate benefits—all in the vague hope that it might eventually lead to a modern and flexible e-commerce platform that mimics the old one as closely as possible. This already confusing situation is further complicated by the fact that software providers and implementation partners won’t be able to give reliable estimates on the feasibility and costs of replatforming.
The first step in overcoming the replatforming dilemma is to create the necessary internal structures, i.e., cross-departmental digitalization teams with management representatives from IT, Sales, and Marketing. For a replatforming to be successful, it’s essential that all team members have a common goal and work towards it together. Once this is the case, there are several ways to solve the replatforming dilemma.
These are the three most important ones: proof of concept, heatmap and pearl strategy.
A proof of concept (PoC) determines the technical feasibility of replatforming an existing e-commerce solution. This method is ideal when there are technical uncertainties, and the company wants to assess and minimize risk.
The first step is to identify the key technical issues that must be solved. These challenges can vary widely, such as integrating specialized internal IT services, implementing very specific logic, or managing unusually large or complex data sets.
Identify application scenarios
Once the technical challenges have been defined, the next step is to create a brief list of simple application scenarios, e.g., how messages are transmitted between systems, how a product price is calculated for a specific customer, or how search filters are implemented. All other aspects such as user interface, easy parts of the checkout process or catalog are not technically complicated and should be implemented later.
Once the preparations are completed, the PoC can be executed and the new platform implemented for the selected application scenarios—not yet for any other ones. Important notice: The new platform doesn’t have to be fully implemented in order to recognize whether it’s the right product for the job or not. In addition, the project team can set a timeframe and see how many of the selected and prioritized application scenarios can be covered in the time available. This ensures that PoC costs are clearly defined and don’t exceed an agreed limit.
Evaluate the results
After running the PoC test, the next step is to evaluate the results:
In a worst-case scenario, i.e., when it wasn’t possible to meet certain basic requirements, the only costs incurred are those of the PoC itself—which are known in advance. If the results are positive, the company can be sure that the new e-commerce platform is a good replacement for the old system. In addition, the results of PoC analysis help executing the final project and accelerate implementation.
The more comprehensive the PoC is, the lower the risk when it comes to the actual replatforming project. The additional investment of the PoC pays off as soon as the new e-commerce platform is implemented.
Next steps: Prototype and MVP
A proof of concept determines if certain issues can be solved by e-commerce replatforming. After that, the project team can prepare a prototype, which is usually a “draft” version of the new platform, that focuses on many important features, but is not yet sufficiently tested to be rolled out. A next step would then be to derive an MVP (Minimum Viable Product) from all what has been learned—a well-refined subset of functionalities, ready to be rolled out to a specific audience in order to generate initial revenue.
A heatmap visualizes business areas with easy-to-achieve results as well as pressing pain points. In contrast to the PoC method, a heatmap enables the rapid rollout of a usable product. To do that, it’s necessary to first focus on a limited and clearly defined set of requirements, e.g., specific customer segments or individual processes.
Instead of completely replatforming the existing e-commerce solution, the new platform is only deployed in areas where the existing system no longer meets the needs of users. Any processes on the old system that are still usable remain in operation, so the old and new systems run in parallel and communicate with each other as required.
Follow these steps:
1. Create a business matrix
The first step in the heatmap method is to put the digitalization team together (representatives from IT, Sales, Engineering and Marketing) and conduct a workshop to create a business matrix. In such a table, each column represents a specific customer segment. The segments are subdivided and defined using combinations of key attributes that are relevant to the company, e.g., scale (small, medium,
large), market (manufacturing, distribution, logistics), geography, and business relationship (partner, sales partner, direct customer).
The left-hand column of the table lists the most important features of the current e-commerce platform as well as those the company wants to introduce. The data cells in the body of the table indicate the importance of the various features for the respective customer segment. To keep it simple, this can take the form of relative values, such as “not very important”, “quite important”, and “very important”.
Ideally, the company should use empirical data from its business intelligence (BI) resources, i.e., the data cells will have percentage values indicating the relative importance of each segment and features. This matrix (or heatmap) is a valuable tool to help companies identify priorities or new areas to develop.
2. Find the pain points
The next step is to determine the pain points for customers in the various categories. The digitalization team should select two or three typical customers from each of the segments and conduct a workshop with them to identify the main pain points. The goal is to find out what can be improved, what would make life easier, and what the customer likes or dislikes about the existing e-commerce platform.
Ideally, the company should also hold workshops or surveys in all internal departments that are directly or indirectly involved in the sales process, such as Sales, Marketing, Customer Acquisition, Logistics, and Accounts.
When these internal and external pain points are added to the matrix, you can see the course of action at a glance. Cells with high pain point values (i.e., dissatisfaction with existing platform features) that also have high business impact are the ones that should be addressed first. After completing
this step, it can also be useful to identify areas with significant growth potential, although addressing pain points should remain the immediate focus.
3. Migrate gradually based on priority
The heatmap results can then be used to specify a partial replatforming project that focuses exclusively on a subset of critical features or customer
segments while omitting all others. A limited project of this kind is much more
affordable and much quicker to implement than a complete replatforming. By eliminating specific problems or pain points and opening up new opportunities, the project will pay for itself from day one. The old platform can be retained for all low-priority features and customer segments, thereby saving time and money.
After completing an initial heatmap project, the company can repeat the exercise, using the matrix values to identify the next most important customer segments and features. The new solution will be expanded step by step until the entire platform has been migrated.
In this example, e-commerce is a huge business area for a lot of customer segments. Even small changes would have a significant impact on the overall revenue. Since professionals also struggle with fax/mail and call center, the new e-commerce site should also take care of these processes by offering self-services to relieve the call center, and improving the ordering process
through order templates, order history, and quick order capabilities.
The pearl strategy is always an option in cases where it’s extremely difficult, time-consuming, expensive, or even impossible to replace or update a key component of an e-commerce system. In a typical scenario, the element is technologically obsolete or driven by the growing expectations of customers and employees.
This can happen when the platform is based on proprietary technologies that are difficult to modify or no longer compatible with current software, e.g., older mainframe systems, such as the AS/400. If these systems are still in service, they are used for fundamental and thus vital components in the company’s IT ecosystem that are difficult or impossible to adapt.
Embed old components
The aim of the pearl strategy is to retain these components and build a new ecosystem around them, just like an oyster creates a pearl around a grain of sand. The first step is to take the data stored in the proprietary database and replicate it on a more up-to-date platform, preferably in the cloud. A number of useful tools are available for this task, some of them are open source.
If the data is arranged in complex schemas across a large number of tables, it’s possible to create translation microservices to restructure the data in more easily accessible logical objects. However, this “data view” should always be read-only.
Create new services
After the data has been synchronized, the latest technologies can be used to create new services that are able to read and, in some cases, merge the data with other information. This enables implementation and delivery of the required customer experience and customer-centric processes.
If data needs to be looped back to the legacy system, the company can create export microservices that are capable of using any proprietary connection or available interface, e.g., RPC, MQSeries, or even keyboard emulation.
Run coexisting systems
The advantage of the pearl strategy is that the old and new systems can coexist. Over time, the old system can be gradually “emptied” of all functions and features that have been superseded by the new storefront. The core of the old system will continue to live on, like an old grain of sand inside a shiny new pearl.
All functions and features that cannot be migrated will remain unchanged and will actually benefit from the reduction in system maintenance workload and cost. When the old system is eventually shut down completely, the replicated database and translation/export microservices can also be discarded. All e-commerce processes will now be running on the new platform.
The pearl strategy keeps outdated key components alive in a new environment.
As a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), your B2B webshop can boost your online sales and customer satisfaction quickly.
Dynapac's e-commerce replatforming project was a huge success. Only 6 months from signing the contract, the site went live (along with a new ERP) and is now being rolled out to 12 countries (and counting). What was the key to success? Agile project management! These are the five benefits that emerged.
Your entire organization has to participate to get the most value. Marketing, HR, logistics - they all need to understand how to work agile and apply it wherever it is makes sense.
Agile development means that there are very frequent small releases. Clear communication and reports provided weekly allow to continuously steer the project in the right direction.
Waterfall-style project management is mainly chosen for projects where the outcome is fixed in advance, while Scrum is better suited for projects that are more exploratory - and that is often the case in digital business. For example, in e-commerce projects, customization, flexibility, and customer feedback are of significant importance.
Regular reflection allow for a quick identification of obstacles and possible disputes, that can then be discussed at an early stage. In Scrum, this reflection is called a retrospective. It takes place at the end of each sprint and enables the team members to recognize what went well in the collaboration and what did not.
Diversity and inclusion are an essential aspect of how people and teams work together.
Teams with great diversity are more innovative. They have more different perspectives, which leads to a more intensive exchange of ideas. More new ideas are developed that lead to new products and innovations than in homogeneous teams.
"With ready-to-use features delivered every 2 weeks, we were also able to continuously add content to the platform instead of having to wait until the end of the development phase. This was a huge time saver".
Replatforming an existing e-commerce environment in a large international B2B organization can be a challenge. At Dynapac, implementation partner Evident managed to finish the project in six months. The platform is now being rolled out to 12 countries, and counting.
Practical guide: ROI of B2B commerce platform
Read moreReplatforming in B2B commerce: Success factors and best practices
Read moreReplatforming legacy e-commerce systems: A technical view
Read moreHow to measure your ROI in B2B e-commerce
Read nowHow to select a future-proof commerce platform
Watch now!Replatforming in e-commerce: It’s about time! Practical tips inclusive!
Watch nowThen treat yourself to a platform change! Our experienced e-commerce strategists will tell you what's important and how to ensure a fast ROI for your e-commerce replatforming project.