1. PUTTING METHOD TO THE
MIGRATION
MADNESSThe True Cost of Implementing a New Ecommerce Platform
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2. Embracing Change while
Minimizing Risk
Investing in an upgrade to your ecommerce system represents a significant
milestone in achieving scalable growth for your business and your brand.
Understanding that the status quo is no longer enough to support the needs of
your organization — and your customers — signifies the first step of the journey.
However, the process of documenting your needs and
identifying, researching and evaluating possible solutions can
pose a formidable challenge. According to Forrester Research,
43% of companies underestimate the cost of their ecommerce
platform. How can you ensure your big move delivers the kind
of results you’re looking for at the cost you’re expecting?
One way is to look at Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). This approach refers to the
lifetime costs of the various assets used to support your investment. In the case
of ecommerce, ownership not only brings specific platform costs like a monthly
subscription fee, but might also include costs for installation, deployment and
maintaining your online store.
With that in mind, TCO analysis can be very helpful in supporting and planning a
decision to move from one ecommerce system to another. A methodical, strategic
approach will ensure that you understand how the capabilities of any new solution
stack up against your existing ecommerce system. It also helps reveal any “hidden
expenses” that may make a seemingly cost-effective option less attractive within the
framework of the overall business.

3. Your Foundation: Hosting
& Infrastructure
Just as a manufacturer or retailer focuses on improving operational efficiency,
increasing customer satisfaction, and launching new products, the underlying
technology powering your ecommerce site must deliver ever-increasing resiliency
and performance over time.
Your beautiful new site may look great, but if it’s live and unavailable, shoppers
won’t buy from it. Yes, 99% uptime sounds impressive, but consider that just 1%
translates to approximately 3.5 days of downtime over the course of a given year.
What if those three days were Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Valentine’s Day?
Could your business afford the missed sales they typically deliver to the bottom line?
Availability shouldn’t be the only point of consideration when looking at
infrastructure. According to analytics company Kissmetrics, almost half of all
consumers expect a webpage to load in under 2 seconds. Similarly, a recent study
by Aberdeen found that a 1-second delay in page load time can result in an 11%
loss in conversion and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction. For an ecommerce
site making $100,000 per day, a 1-second page delay can potentially cost $2.5
million (6.85%) in lost sales every year.
Resiliency: No Time for Downtime
Performance: The Need for Speed

4. • Do you want to maintain your own infrastructure, or is a SaaS
(software as a service) solution a better fit?
A study published in CIO reported that 60% of businesses surveyed
acknowledged that the move to cloud computing has reduced the need
for their IT team to maintain infrastructure, giving them more time to
focus on strategy and innovation. The survey also found that 62% of the
companies who report cost savings reinvest those funds back into the
business. Additionally, 56% of respondents agreed that cloud services
have helped them boost profits. With an ecommerce solution based
on SaaS, you’re free to focus your time and money on growing
your business.
• What does downtime mean to you?
Quantify the true costs of downtime by multiplying (percentage
downtime) times (365 days in a year) times (your average daily sales).
Is it worth losing that potential revenue because of technical issues?
Infrastructure: Points to Consider
365
THE COST OF DOWNTIME

5. • Who is available to help?
In the event you do experience issues, are there SLAs (service level
agreements) that guarantee a response within a certain timeframe?
When sales are on the line, you’ll want to be sure your provider has
a responsive support team ready to jump in at the drop of a hat. Is a
dedicated support staff available to help you quickly resolve issues?

6. Going Live: Costs to Launch
and Maintain
Upgrading to a more sophisticated ecommerce solution can leave even the most
experienced buyers with a case of sticker shock. Surprisingly, it’s not the technology
that has the highest cost. Rather, things like agency fees and ongoing internal
support can quickly eat through a budget. When researching a migration, you need
to consider these additional costs as well.
Because each platform has its own way of handling front-end graphics, migrating
could require the creation of new visual assets. Since aesthetics probably helped
make your brand so successful in the first place, you’ll need to think hard about
redesigning graphics, shooting new product photography and copywriting. All of
this can be timely and expensive.
Considering open source to save up front? While highly customizable, you’re
responsible for maintaining, enhancing and customizing the application to meet
your needs. Unless you’re prepared to commit to managing your ecommerce
platform’s code yourself, you may need the support of a consultant or developer
for ongoing or one-time use. And if your ecommerce platform is hard to customize,
Front End Facelifts: New Platform, New Look
Know-How On Call: Ongoing Support Expertise

7. • Will you need to hire an agency to get your new store launched?
Launching a new site can include coordinating many project streams.
New graphics will need to be created. All of your existing content will
need to be migrated. And there will be some QA to make sure it’s ready
for shoppers. You might need to hire an agency to help you manage the
workflow. Who on the agency side will be involved and at what cost?
• What will need to be done from a design perspective to prepare your
new store?
A migration is like moving houses: It’s a great opportunity to get rid of
things you don’t need. Before migrating to your new store, you’ll need to
do an audit of the old store. Content will need to be marked for deletion,
migration, or refreshing. Will you need a new design, photography or
copy? Knowing ahead of time will help you budget appropriately.
Going Live: Points to Consider
you could lose any potential long-term benefits because it’s just too difficult for
a marketing person to update a product listing. It might also be too difficult to
integrate with existing applications critical to your business.

8. • Does the new system require professional service fees for
maintenance and upgrades?
Before you buy your new high-powered ecommerce platform, take
a moment to check whether the backend will require a developer or
designer for ongoing maintenance or upgrades. If the new site takes
more than a couple clicks to update, you’ll need to add labor to the total
cost of the new platform. Alternatively, you may need to hire a third-
party resource to handle those regular costs.

9. Features Functionality
When it comes to finding an ecommerce solution, you have two options. You can
either build an entire site from scratch, or you can partner with a platform capable
of supporting the features and functionalities you need to grow your sales and your
business. At Bigcommerce, we’ve created a platform around best practices that
have been tested and proven to be successful. Why recreate the wheel when you
can tap into years of experience that have driven billions in sales?
Increasingly more shoppers demand a seamless mobile experience. But building
a mobile app specifically for your store can be an expense that only adds to the
overall price of your site. We’ve found that an experience that translates across all
devices is not only more cost effective, but better serves your customers. That’s why
all of our themes are mobile-enabled or responsive.
With the online space becoming increasingly more saturated with stores, search
engine optimization (SEO) is crucial to help potential customers find find you and
your products. If you’re building your new site from scratch, you (or an internal
specialist) will have to handle all the technical work. To make it easier, we’ve built
our backend with SEO in mind. Don’t worry about redirects, link structures, or
canonical tags — they’re all baked in.
Mobile Ready
SEO Friendly

10. Having a beautiful site is nice, but if your customers don’t have a smooth path to
buy, it may be worthless. That’s why we’ve built a checkout flow that provides a
great user experience and creates a smooth, seamless drive to convert.
And that’s just the beginning. Your company’s
ecommerce solution should also include:
Built-in blogging functionality to help you further boost your store’s visibility
and your SEO
Easy ways to integrate with your social media accounts, including Facebook,
Twitter and Pinterest
Solutions for ratings, reviews and loyalty to help drive repeat business from
existing customers
Tools to help you streamline the day-to-day management of your store,
from flexible payment options to integration with the shipping tools and
apps you use every day
Optimized Checkout
Request a quick tour of Bigcommerce and learn
how our ecommerce platform is designed to help
you sell more: bigcommerce.com