Amazon Webstore to Close. Avoid pitfalls in Moving your Online Store.
Author: Charlotte Breen
Selling Platforms are consolidating and the timelines for migrating from one to another are short.
Last July, EBay confirmed it would close ProStores and MagentoGo. 10,000 Small Business customers were given until Feb 1st, 2015 to migrate to another platform. That was a 6 month migration deadline.
Yesterday, Amazon announced that it would close Amazon Webstore. This time, you will have over a year to migrate, with July 1st, 2016 as the announced deadline.
Here are some “best practice in data migration” pointers, to help along the way.
Data Migration is rarely a one-step process. You will need to export it, clean it, change it into the new format, and then load your data into your new store.. It’s called Extract, Transform and Load (ETL).
First: Clean it.
Much like moving house, you start with the intention of recycling, discarding and taking with you only the things that matter. You will have a smooth transition, where the boxes you have carefully colour coded as “Kitchen” end up in the kitchen.
What actually happens is that you leave it too late and end up either shoving everything in bin bags and boxes and promising you’ll clean at the other end of the journey.
Or you leave it so late, you need to pay for professional help in getting it done on time.
Plan on exporting your data and spending some time cleaning it. And while you are at it, try and make sure you improve it. E.g.
- Tidy columns and fields.
- Make sure your numeric identifiers are in text columns and your numeric measures are in number columns. You carry out calculations on numeric measures. Numeric identifiers, such as telephone numbers, or invoice numbers, are better stored as text.
- Ensure you have permission for the data you hold and are complying with all data legislation.
If you access your data at any stage, try and leave it in better condition than when you opened it. Ideally, try to spring-clean your data on an annual basis, or it will clog up with errors.
Second: Arm yourself with a Must-Have list.
- Do your research.
Ensure that your Must-Haves and Nice-To-Haves are listed and prioritized. Understand in advance where you can compromise. E.g. Theme, Transaction Fees, Point of Sale Options and Email/Newsletter capability.
Formalizing your list helps you avoid panic shopping and impulse spending.
- Know what your Must Haves are called.
Use comparison sites and reviews, to figure out what each of those Must-Have functions is currently called in the marketplace.
- Demo at least 3 platforms.
Armed with your list of function names, (Must-Haves and Nice-To-Haves), you should now demo at least 3 products that seem to match your list.
- Use your list to firm up the spin and sales patter.
Does it do what you need it to do? If so, does it also do things that are on your Nice to have list? Make notes or a scoring system on these points to keep track.
Working down your list, you can work through the demo to ensure you are getting all of the relevant information you need. E.g.
- Can I see the Newsletter functionality? (Tick Y/N )
- And how do I import into that? (Tick Y/N )
- And does it manage it’s subscribe/unsubscribe permissions? (Tick Y/N )
Third: Plan your Migration. All of it.
You need to export and clean your data. You need to transform it into the appropriate format for the new platform you’ve chosen. You need to load it, and test it.
You’ll need to plan whether your old store will close before your new store opens, or else you’’ have to decide on how you’ll integrate and synchronize live orders and events during your migration. If at all possible, put the store in maintenance mode to simplify matters.
This is not a one step process. There will be research and testing, and migration and testing, and reviewing and more testing. Or there will be “issues”. And bugs. And downtime.
When choosing your new Store Platform, you should do some research on portability and migration, both into and out of your chosen platform. After all, this may happen again, and next time, you’ll have a plan in place. You’ll be able to take your data with you.
Import links for Store Platforms
Export links for Store Platforms
Fourth: Your Go-Live Event is NOT the end of the process.
Once you have tested and confirmed your migration, and your store is working again, Carry out a post-migration data check. Make sure that your data transferred cleanly and didn’t leave any odd and unexpected issues, like turning a text field into a number field.
So you pointers to a successful migration are:
- Clean your data
- Research your options
- Plan your migration
- Realize that data maintenance is a cycle.
If you don’t maintain your car, it quickly becomes unsafe to drive. The same applies to your data.
Author – Charlotte Breen