eCommerce has come a long way since I first started selling online in 1994. Back then there were no out-of-the-box shopping cart platforms like Yahoo! Store, BigCommerce, or shopify a/b testing. The first cart used on my store, TheFerretStore.com, was one that I built myself in UNIX and submitted the order along with the credit card information via email.
To say we’ve come a long way is an understatement.
It wasn’t until the late 90’s when that old, rudimentary shopping cart was retired and we moved the store over to Yahoo! and it continued to run on the platform until 2007.
There weren’t many platform choices for running an online store back then and functionality was pretty limited. Today, it’s quite the opposite with hundreds of platforms all vying for merchants.
Store owners who have been on the same platform for a while may think it’s time to switch to something new and using options like a high risk merchant account is pretty good for selling. While in some cases, stores can outgrow their current platform, that’s not the norm. Today’s eCommerce solutions are all designed for scalability. At the end of the day, store owners need to move due to a lack of certain functionality or costs.
On the Your Store Wizards blog, I recently discussed the pros and cons of moving platforms along with many of the common questions store owners have about re-platforming such as:
- Why should I consider changing platforms?
- Is it possible for me to “outgrow” my current platform?
- Can I save money by moving to another platform?
- Is it expensive to move platforms?
If you’re considering moving to a new platform for your online store, there are important things to consider and the decision to move is not one that should be taken lightly. Take a moment to read my article and feel free to reach out if you have questions about whether or not switching platforms is the right move for your business.