Your eCommerce platform is the backbone of your retail business, allowing you to build, launch, and manage an online store. The right platform scales with you, enabling greater speed and performance as your brand grows.
What are the different types of eCommerce platforms?
There are several different types of eCommerce platforms:
- Software as a Service (SaaS): These are cloud-hosted platforms with monthly fees, typically a more affordable option for smaller brands that need to get set up quickly.
- Open-Source: These platforms are downloadable software that requires hosting and coding skills, ideal for brands with a strong internal team looking for total customization and complete ownership.
- Headless: By separating the front-end design from the back-end database via APIs, these platforms enable multi-channel selling and customer user experiences.
- Enterprise or Platform as a Service (PaaS): This option provides cloud-hosted systems for large, high-volume businesses and is best for large catalogs and complex eCommerce needs.
No matter which type of platform your site is built on, your team is counting on it to perform. If it’s not, it might be time to consider replatforming.
What is eCommerce replatforming?
Replatforming is the process of migrating an online store from its current technology stack to a new platform.
Why do eCommerce businesses decide to replatform?
There are several different reasons why an eCommerce business might want to replatform, but they typically come down to one or more of the following:
Disjointed data
If you can no longer rely on your platform data because it is disjointed or inaccurate, it is time to replatform. When inventory counts, customer data, or other histories live in silos or sync unreliably between systems, it makes everything from forecasting to customer service harder than it should be. The right platform should add value to your workflows, providing clean data that reduces manual effort from your team.
Slow performance
Page speed directly affects conversion rates and search rankings. Yottaa’s 2025 Web Performance Index found that site speed drives intent, with buyers in their dataset experiencing the fastest page loads at 3.1 seconds and bounces experiencing 8.7 second load times. And Google considers website speed as a direct ranking factor for their search engine. If your platform struggles to load pages quickly, handle traffic spikes during peak sales periods, or keep up as your catalog grows, now is the time to address it. Otherwise, these performance issues will continue to erode both revenue and customer trust over time.
Clunky admin tools
Your eCommerce team shouldn’t have to fight the backend of your platform to get simple tasks done. If adding products, updating pricing, managing promotions, or pulling reports requires workarounds, spreadsheets, or a developer just to complete everyday tasks, your platform is costing you time and productivity. A modern admin experience should be intuitive enough that your team can move quickly and independently, not add friction to the work they’re already trying to do.
Restricted functionality
Customers are now asking for more from retailers and are no longer satisfied with the status quo. They are looking for flexibility and convenience in their shopping experience, with features like Buy Now Pay Later, Buy Online Pick Up In Store, alternative payment methods like Apple Pay and Google Pay, and an omnichannel experience that connects mobile, desktop, in-app, and social commerce. If your business can’t offer the capability or functionality to keep up with market trends and customer expectations, your platform might be holding you back. The end user experience should be the primary consideration for your eCommerce platform.
Limited scalability
A platform that works well for your business at a smaller order volume may not hold up as your business grows. If you are hitting ceilings on catalog size, traffic, transaction volume, or international expansion, it’s a sign your current platform wasn’t built to grow with you. Replatforming to a solution with room to scale means you won’t have to relive this same disruption again in another year or two. Tory Burch came to Virid with this exact problem, and we replatformed them to marketAgility, helping to grow their revenue 1400% in three years.
Security risks
Outdated platforms with a lack of regular security patches can expose your store, and your customers’ data, to unnecessary risk. If your current platform is falling behind on compliance requirements or security updates, that’s a strong signal to move on.
High maintenance costs
Legacy systems, heavily customized code, and outdated infrastructure often come with a growing bill to maintain the status quo. When maintenance costs start outpacing the value your platform delivers, replatforming can actually reduce the total cost of ownership over time.
Lack of omnichannel customization
Customization is key for an eCommerce team managing their online store. If you can’t easily modify your store’s features, make adjustments to the UX, or update the checkout experience, your platform is holding you back. Customers expect a consistent experience whether they’re shopping on desktop, mobile, social, or in-app, and your platform needs to support that flexibility. When Peltz came to Virid with this challenge, we helped the footwear retailer transform their tech stack to deliver a true omnichannel customer experience, driving a 15% increase in conversions and improving average page load times by 66%.
Maybe you’ve been burned by a failed implementation in the past. Many of Virid’s customers come to us from this exact scenario. Hear from Virid CEO Steve Deller about why eCommerce replatforming often fails. The right partner gets in the weeds to fix what’s broken and get your site back on track.
Considerations before an eCommerce migration
Once you’ve decided that you need to replatform your online store, there are several key considerations to keep in mind before selecting a new platform.
Determine the true total cost of ownership
Before entering any conversations with platform providers, you will need to determine what your budget is for the total cost of ownership. Platforms can be expensive, but you are typically also accruing costs outside of just the platform. You will need to budget for the initial setup costs, which include platform and licensing, design and development costs for custom storefront design and UX, systems integrations with your existing systems, and data migration.
Evaluate your timeline, scope, and internal bandwidth
Replatforming is a significant undertaking that will pull focus from other priorities, so it’s important to map out a realistic timeline before you begin. You will need to determine how much time your internal team can dedicate to the project without disrupting day-to-day operations, whether you have the in-house expertise to manage the migration or need outside support, and how the scope of the project will affect your timeline. Underestimating internal bandwidth is one of the most common reasons migrations run over schedule.
Assess your risk tolerance
Every migration carries some risk of downtime, data loss, or disruption to the customer experience, so you will need to determine how much risk your business can absorb. Consider what a worst-case scenario would cost you in lost sales or damaged customer trust, and whether that risk is acceptable during your peak sales periods. Even if your risk tolerance is high, we recommend planning migrations during slower seasons and investing in a longer testing and QA phase before going live. This will ensure the smoothest possible launch.
Account for All Existing Integrations
Your eCommerce platform won’t operate in isolation, so you will need to account for every system in your tech stack it currently connects to, like your ERP, CRM, inventory management, shipping, marketing automation, and payment processors. Before migrating, audit which integrations are business-critical, whether they’re natively supported by your new platform or will require custom development, and how much of your existing data and workflows depend on them. Missing this step can result in broken workflows and a lot of manual work post-launch.
Build a long-term roadmap
Replatforming should set your business up for long-term growth, not just solve today’s problems. Consider where your business is headed over the next three to five years, including any plans for international expansion, new sales channels, or product line growth, and whether your new platform can support that trajectory. Choose a platform with your long-term roadmap in mind to avoid going through this process again too soon. Not sure where to begin with building your eCommerce roadmap? Connect with our team and they can help walk you through it.
What does the eCommerce replatforming process look like?
If you’ve determined that it’s time to replatform, you’re likely wondering what the process looks like. Below, we walk through the steps to a full eCommerce replatforming.
1. Set scope and governance
Before you can begin thinking about replatforming or data migration, you need to align on your business objectives and project goals. In this stage, determine your budget and how much you can dedicate to this process. Decide the key stakeholders who need to be involved in the project (marketing, IT, eCommerce, etc.) and put a clear governance structure in place before any technical work begins.
2. Select the platform
With scope and goals defined, the next step is evaluating platform options against your requirements. Don’t just focus on features, but consider the total cost of ownership, flexibility, and long-term fit with your tech stack. Conduct a gap analysis between your requirements and each platform’s capabilities, review documentation and professional reviews, and weigh your architectural options (SaaS, headless, open-source, PaaS). And as you evaluate different platform providers, be sure to get into the weeds on what post-implementation looks like. What will the data migration process look like? Will you have a dedicated account manager you can reach out to if things break? Come prepared with a list of questions, so key details don’t get missed in the discovery process.
3. Prepare your data
Starting the replatforming process with clean data ensures an easier implementation process later on. Prepare your data by making note of all current third-party applications, plugins, and custom integrations. Review the pieces of your current tech stack and identify how data will flow between each existing element and the new platform. If you have concerns about data cleanliness, go through the process of cleaning up your data before the migration begins. Be sure to also create backups of data where possible in case an issue arises during the migration process.
4. Migration and setup
Once your data is ready, it’s time to begin the migration and setup process. You’ll want to create URL redirect mapping to reduce the amount of error pages later on. To do this, create a spreadsheet pairing the source (old) URLs with the target (new) URLs. For orphan pages without an exact match, map them to a relevant category or homepage rather than letting them 404. When it’s time for implementing redirects, you can apply your redirect mapping based on the platform you are using. For example, you might be able to set up redirects directly in the platform, or you may need to use a plugin. Ensure you have a staging environment to test out pages before they go live, and then migrate the data to the new platform.
5. Integrations and testing
If you had built-in or custom integrations on your old platform, you will likely need to rebuild those on the new site. You will also need to conduct User Acceptance Testing (UAT), which is the final phase of software testing where your team validates that the new system meets their operational needs. Conduct performance testing to ensure all the pages are displaying properly and the checkout flow is working correctly.
6. Launch and post-launch
When testing is complete, it’s time to go live. Before launch, run a final SEO check to confirm that meta titles, meta descriptions, alt text, and structured data have all carried over correctly. Losing this on-page SEO equity is one of the most common and avoidable replatforming mistakes.
Once you’re confident that everything is in place, coordinate the DNS switch during a low-traffic window and have your team on standby to catch anything that slips through. After launch, monitoring doesn’t stop. Keep a close eye on site performance, checkout conversion rates, error logs, and search rankings for at least the first few weeks. Set up alerts for 404s and broken redirects so you can catch and fix issues quickly and be prepared to make adjustments along the way. A successful replatform shows up in how the platform performs in the weeks and months following launch.
Common pitfalls of eCommerce replatforming
No eCommerce replatforming goes perfectly, but there are some common pitfalls that can be avoided with the right partner and preparation from your team.
Data migration failures
One of the main pain points we see from retailers who have replatformed in the past is data migration challenges. Moving your eCommerce database to a new platform while keeping your store running is a complex process. Not only do you have to migrate existing data successfully, but you also need to account for the data your system is accumulating during the actual replatforming process, which for some businesses can take several months.
SEO equity loss
Replatforming often means new URL structures, redesigned page templates, and altered site architecture. Search engines have to re-crawl ad re-evaluate those pages from scratch. Without a comprehensive migration plan (proper 301 redirects, preserved metadata, and matching content hierarchies), retailers can see their SEO metrics take a significant hit in the months following a launch.
Integration breakdowns
Most eCommerce tech stacks involve more than just a storefront. They are a web of connections to ERPs, PIMs, CRMs, payment gateways, shipping providers, and marketing tools. Replatforming can disrupt these connections overnight if they aren’t mapped and rebuilt with care, leaving retailers with broken order flows, out-of-sync inventory, or manual workarounds while fixes are put in place. This is why when Virid replatforms clients to the marketAgility eCommerce platform, we act as the owner of the integration layer, so retailers can swap solutions in and out easily.
Budget and timeline overruns
Replatforming projects have a way of expanding beyond their original scope. Custom development requests, unexpected data cleanup, third-party delays, and scope creep can all push a project past its planned budget and go-live date. Retailers who don’t build in contingency buffers, or who lack a partner experienced in flagging risks early, often find themselves choosing between delaying launch or cutting corners on testing and QA.
User adoption and training
Even a smooth platform migration can fall apart if your internal team isn’t equipped to use it. New admin interfaces, workflows, and reporting tools require a learning curve, and without proper training, teams may revert to old habits, underutilize new features, or introduce errors into day-to-day operations. A successful replatform includes a change management plan that gets your team comfortable and confident in the new system well before (and after) launch.
Replatforming options
When it comes to replatforming your online store, there are a few different strategic approaches you can take. Each option has its benefits and potential drawbacks, and the right choice ultimately depends on your unique business needs.
Work with a third-party implementation partner
Many retailers choose to bring in a specialized partner who has managed multiple replatforming projects across different platforms and industries. This approach typically gives you access to proven processes, technical expertise across integrations and data migration, and a more objective perspective on which platform and features fit your business, rather than a one-size-fits-all recommendation.
The Trade-Off:
Third-party agencies have less of a vested interest in the platform, and if something goes wrong along the way, scope creep and rising costs quickly become a concern.
Manage internally with your own eCommerce team
If you have an experienced in-house team with bandwidth to spare, managing the replatform internally gives you full control over the process, timeline, and priorities without adding external costs. This approach works best for businesses with a relatively simple tech stack, minimal custom integrations, and staff who already have hands-on experience with the new platform.
The Trade-Off:
Most internal teams are managing a replatform for the first time, so the risk is budget overruns, integration breakdowns, and data migration issues covered above.
Work directly with the platform provider’s implementation team
Some platform providers offer their own in-house implementation services, giving you a single point of contact who knows the platform’s architecture inside and out. This can streamline communication and ensure the technical build aligns closely with the platform’s best practices.
The Trade-Off:
The platform provider has a vested interest in your success on the platform, which can mean being shoe-horned into a solution that isn’t right for you. Large providers also use tiered support systems, meaning getting help fast for urgent fixes may be difficult.
Common replatforming questions
There are a few remaining questions you may have about the replatforming process. Below, we tackle the replatforming questions most commonly asked by retailers.
How long does eCommerce replatforming take?
The timeline for your replatforming will depend on which approach you take (working with an implementation partner, platform provider, or handling the process in-house).
- For smaller brands with a straightforward migration, the process typically takes around 2-4 months.
- For mid-market brands or those with more complex needs, the process typically takes 4-6 months.
- For enterprise brands or those requiring a fully custom build, the process can take 6-12 months or even more.
Who should be involved in the replatforming process?
When you take on a replatforming, your team should include the following stakeholders:
- ECommerce Team – Anyone who works on the platform day to day or has a say in eCommerce strategy should be involved. This is typically your VP or Director of eCommerce, Head of Merchandising
- IT Team – Your CTO and IT team will need to assess the technical requirements and security of a new platform, as well as how it integrates with your existing tech stack.
- Marketing and Merchandising Team – Your CMO or Director of Marketing and your merchandising teams will need to be involved in the process, particularly during QA to ensure the end-user experience aligns with your brand strategy.
- Operations and Customer Support Teams – A lead from your operations and/or customer service team should be involved to define requirements for considerations like inventory tracking, shipping and fulfillment rules, tax compliance, and payment gateways.
What do I do if the replatforming process is running over the timeline?
If you’ve begun the replatforming process and you’ve overrun the original budget or timeline, it can put a lot of stress on your team. This is why building buffers in early on is critical. Once overruns happen, it is critical to align with your internal stakeholders and any external partners. Reset expectations and hold platform providers and partners to your original agreements. If the process will take longer than expected, adjust you launch plan to ensure you’re not going live during a peak season or holiday. Then focus on what is mission critical to get right at a minimum, and what can wait for later.
How Virid helps retailers replatform
Virid has been replatforming retailers from outdated legacy platforms for nearly 30 years. Our eCommerce platform, marketAgility, handles high traffic, complex catalogs, and custom requirements without forcing brands into rigid templates or limits. Deep commerce expertise lets us connect every system for smooth performance across every channel, and hands-on support from our team delivers the partnership needed for complex commerce projects from end to end.
We’ve replatformed leading brands like Zippo, Tory Burch, Journeys, and more, driving digital transformation and long-term revenue growth. See examples of our work.
For some retailers still in the early stages of growth, Virid can also help bridge the gap on your current platform. As Shopify Plus partners, we help optimize your site, increase conversions, and migrate to a new platform when you’re ready to scale.
If you’re still unsure if it’s time to replatform, check out Virid’s Replatforming Readiness Scorecard for personalized guidance on your next steps.
