How do you tell when it’s the right time to upgrade your webshop?

Monitoring key performance indicators such as shopping cart abandonment rate and gross profit margin makes it possible for e-commerce entrepreneurs to pinpoint progress in terms of sales, marketing, and customer service goals.  If your webshop doesn’t provide an outstanding experience, it will hinder you from attaining success. Rather than navigating around the obstacles and struggling to offer value, you should better upgrade your e-commerce platform so that it sustains positive customer experience and handles consistent growth.

At times, it becomes necessary to upgrade to a professional plan to overcome challenges. If you’ve outgrown your webshop, it’s recommended to switch to a more efficient e-commerce system that is capable of meeting the specific needs of your business. It’s no longer the right platform for you. Re-platforming isn’t as costly nor time-consuming. Perhaps it’s time to upgrade your online store. But how do you know for sure?

If you find yourself dealing with any of the following issues, you’ve outgrown your current webshop:

1. Your webshop isn’t responsive

Your e-commerce website must look good on all devices – in other words, it should have a responsive design. Mobile usage has increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers spending lots of hours on devices like smartphones, tablets, and iPads. People are deploying mobile devices instead of desktop computers to browse the Internet. Basically, prospective customers are coming to your webshop with the intention of making purchases using their mobile devices. The online store should accommodate all commerce activity at the device level. More exactly, it should be usable for shoppers to deploy mobile devices.

Mobile-friendliness is one of the most important features of e-commerce websites in the next upcoming years. Even if your online store offers numerous responsive theme options, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get the maximum impact. Should the HTML or CSS of the theme be altered in any manner, it will no longer be mobile-friendly. An upgraded webshop offers a better responsive design for mobile shoppers. When a merchant struggles with the limitations of the chosen platform, the business doesn’t look trustworthy. The data and access to mobile commerce is a great way to expand market share.

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2. Manual processes require too much time and resources

E-commerce facilitates commercial transactions by utilizing various technologies, of which mention can be made of omnichannel support and chatbots for customer communications. Besides your web-sop, you can generate sales from social media, mobile apps, customer support, and so forth. All these channels come together to make it easier for people to purchase from your shop. Voice-powered assistants provide customers much-awaited details about order status, payment details, etc. As technology becomes more intricate, it bears more weight in the e-commerce value chain.

If your current e-commerce platform relies on manual processes to finalize simple operations, you’ll find it impossible to run day-to-day operations. Instead of focusing on new growth opportunities, you’re stuck with recurring tasks that you can’t eliminate from your to-do list. It’s important to enhance your e-commerce process flow so as to maximize sales opportunities and remain competitive. The only way of doing this is to upgrade your webshop. This will enable you to offer a fast turnaround, so customers can place an order through each touchpoint.

Case in point 

For the purpose of illustration, let us imagine the following scenario: You’re a Shopify platform user, adding it to your existing sales structure to improve and simplify services. You can make the transition to Shopify Plus, which is conceived for fast-developing merchants and brands. This solution is aimed at businesses that require advanced features and a platform that grows along with them. As opposed to the standard version, Shopify Plus offers more control, in addition to better site performance and omnichannel experiences. It automates operational tasks, so you can keep up with small tasks such as product releases of inventory updates. You can automate processes and, what is more, implement the latest website features that customers expect and demand.

3. Your webshop doesn’t allow for growth and expansion

With the right marketing and growth tactics, your business can reach $1 million in revenue. If your e-commerce system can’t process high-volume transactions, you ought to upgrade to one that can handle the stress. As your sales increase, your online store won’t be able to keep up the pace. What you need is a robust webshop that can cope with traffic while ensuring reliable customer experience. Given today’s competitive online environment, you should make sure your webshop can sustain consistent growth.

Consider upgrading to a new platform or migrating to a newer version. It will better serve the needs of your business, being especially scalable. Advantages include but aren’t limited to unlimited products, bandwidth, and support. You can manage frontend sales and backend operations while integrating core business tools. Plus, you can enter new markets, get more people exposed to the brand, and beat the competition. You’ll be in a better position to handle a sustainable business. Many are rethinking their e-commerce strategy understanding the need for a lean and agile webshop.

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4. There’s a lack of adequate security

A data breach can immediately transform into a crisis. Within the past years, cyber-attacks have taken place more frequently than companies would have liked. It’s the responsibility of the merchant to take every single precaution to protect customers’ personal information. Malware can steal your website’s user account information. If your current e-commerce platform isn’t secured against cyber threats, an upgrade is of the essence. Maintaining safety is important for maintaining trust, as well as a positive perception from partners, product suppliers, and more.

If you’re deploying an e-commerce platform with numerous plugins for additional functionality, your risk increases. This is precisely why an upgrade is required. You should be able to accept credit card and debit card payments without fearing that a data breach might take place. With an enhanced point of sale software, you don’t have to worry about safety. Some e-commerce solutions (Shopify Plus, for example) let you analyze the risks of fraudulent orders and cancel activity that seems suspicious. In other words, you’re able to identify high-risk orders and decide whether or not to fulfill them.

5. Reporting is completely inadequate

If you want to get a good idea of how your business is doing, look over the reports. They will show you what categories are bringing in the most money. To put it simply, you’ll know which items are flying off the shelves and which ones aren’t selling. If you experience difficulty in obtaining reporting information, you need an e-commerce solution that simplifies analyzing and sharing business data. You shouldn’t have to copy and paste in between documents. The data translates into actionable insights that come in handy when it comes to managing inventory, setting prices, understanding seasonal trends, and enhancing the bottom line.

Coming across the right reports and uncovering actionable insights can make the difference between steady growth and massive sales. Examples of valuable e-commerce reports include sales reports, sessions by device, profit margin reports, and retention analysis. Enjoy the simplicity of setting up reports that support data-backed decisions. The solution you’re currently using doesn’t have the features you need, regrettably. You need to know how your online shop is doing in real-time from your desktop or mobile device. If adequately used, the information can lead to new levels of efficiency.

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Start planning your webshop upgrade

You should strongly consider making a change. You require more functionality around key areas, you’re growing surprisingly fast, and you can’t integrate important business applications. E-commerce re-platforming is a sturdy project that involves the migration of data. The data doesn’t suffer modifications, but not the same thing can be said about the system that manages and organizes your data. You’ll need a developer to create the webshop for you. If you’re struggling to choose an expert, take into account the following aspects:

• The portfolio must contain qualitative examples.
• The developer should provide full support during the re-platforming process.
• A clear outline of the plan should be provided.

Needless to say, upgrading your webshop brings about new business goals. Don’t worry about the cost of the implementation. What matters is selecting the right e-commerce platform software. The re-platforming partner ought to have a track record of experience and the necessary technology to fill in the gaps. Work with a qualified agency to develop the storefront of your dreams. Having a poorly performing online store can harm your brand, not to mention your search engine rankings.

To sum up, upgrading your existing web shop makes perfect sense. It will make your future more secure and you can enjoy business growth. You’re able to save countless hours and resources owing to automated processes. Most importantly, you can make the buying experience more enjoyable for your customers. If you’ve been hesitating to make changes, get the courage, and give your e-commerce platform a much-needed boost. You can upgrade your online store at any time of the year. It will take some time to finalize the migration, but it will be sooner than you think.