B2B E-Commerce Replatforming: When & How To Migrate

Six signs it’s time to replatform.

Start by asking yourself the following 6 questions. If your answer to any of them is “yes”, you might want to consider replatforming e-commerce solution providers.

1. Are you spending too much time, money and effort on your current platform?

The cost of an e-commerce platform does not stop at the initial implementation. You also need to factor in maintenance. Combined, these make up your e-commerce TCO (total cost of ownership).

If you need to invest a significant and unexpected amount of money and resources to maintain and run your web store, then you should consider migrating to a new e-commerce platform.

Where do most companies experience unpredictable costs and operational inefficiencies?

Database maintenance: Do you spend hours on repetitive manual data entry and importing orders due to a lack of automation?
IT management: Are you spending too much time maintaining multiple systems — such as both an ERP and e-commerce platform — and replicating data and logic across both systems?
Development: Does your e-commerce platform require continuous and costly development?
Order errors and return management: How many order errors do you have? Are the costs of return management impacting your bottom line?
Content and other front-end management: Is it time-consuming to change something on the front end of your web store? Does every single change you want to make need to go via a web agency?
Licenses and hosting: Are you experiencing high and/or rising licensing and hosting costs?

2. Is your e-commerce platform struggling to scale with your business?

As your business grows and your strategy evolves, you need an e-commerce platform that can keep up with your increasingly complex business needs.

Whether you’re looking at:

International expansion and the need to support multiple currencies, languages, business divisions, tax rules, shipping options and more via your web store
Changing business models, such as D2C, which involves more channels and different target audiences with varying needs
Acquisitions and growing product portfolios
Changing customer needs
Expanding integration capabilities and/or extensibility options

A lot of complexities come with the growth of a business. So, you need to determine whether your current IT environment fits in with your strategic roadmap. If your e-commerce platform is too rigid to scale with your business or leads to too many errors due to the complex nature of your growing business, it’s time to consider changing your e-commerce platform.

3. Is your online customer experience falling short?

In 2025, more and more B2B companies are waking up to the fact that it is no longer enough to just offer a web store. The focus is now on improving the online customer experience. Customer experience in B2B e-commerce is essential nowadays, and it is often a key reason why companies choose to change their e-commerce platform.

E-commerce platforms must meet the following criteria in order to fulfill B2B customers’ needs:

Display real-time information 24/7, such as pricing, product information, and inventory levels, but also customer-specific payment terms.
Offer advanced e-commerce functionalities, including the ability to quickly and easily place, track and return orders.
Handle the complexities of B2B orders, including those based on complex pricing and discount structures.
Prevent order errors, by displaying accurate product and inventory information, as well as customer-specific order history and account data.

4. Are you missing key B2B e-commerce features and functionalities?

As mentioned above, having the right B2B e-commerce functionalities is key to offering your customers a better online buying experience. But it also helps you process orders faster, with more accuracy and with less reliance on offline customer support teams.

Are you missing key features for your business and customers? Is your e-commerce solution unable to accurately present your B2B business rules in your sales portal? Or is the information displayed in your web store not always accurate? Then replatforming might be a good choice for you.

5. Have there been impactful changes in your organization’s tech infrastructure?

Changes in your organization’s tech stack have implications on your e-commerce. For example, if your organization is switching to a new ERP because support for your current ERP will end soon, (e.g.: SAP ECC 👉 SAP S4/HANA), you need to look into an e-commerce solution that supports your new ERP.

6. Are there security issues in your current e-commerce platform?

As e-commerce continues to grow and evolve, ensuring the security of online transactions and protecting user data has become increasingly important. Unfortunately, many e-commerce platforms fall short in terms of security, leaving users vulnerable to cyber attacks and data breaches.

For example, your current e-commerce shop might not have patches for known vulnerabilities or it might not provide adequate features to comply with new regulations, like GDPR laws or e-privacy.

By switching to a new e-commerce provider, you can take steps to improve the security of your e-commerce site and protect both your business and your customers.

Once you’ve identified why you want to replatform your e-commerce platform, you’ll be able to better understand what your current issues are. You’ll also be able to better structure your replatforming project now that you know exactly what needs to change.

How can you reduce your e-commerce TCO and reduce operational costs?

One way to reduce your e-commerce TCO and save valuable time is to opt for an e-commerce solution that automates the entire ordering process, based on one leading database (such as your ERP).

Such automation will cut back on hours of data entry, manual importing and syncing of systems, as well as reducing costs related to human errors. Your team will then be free to focus on driving revenue through service and sales, instead of repetitive administrative tasks.

Check out the video below on why leading clothing and accessory manufacturer and distributor, Moto Direct, switched from Magento to a new e-commerce solution.

Replatform like a pro with our FREE Replatforming Project Template!

How to choose a new e-commerce platform

To ensure you select the right software vendor, there are seven factors you should take into consideration:

Out-of-the-box e-commerce software: Which provider’s standard solution best meets your requirements?
Integration of systems: Will the e-commerce solutions fit into your current tech stack?
E-commerce costs: How do the solution providers compare financially?
Time to market: How quickly can the vendors get your new web store live?
Relevant experience and track record: Do the e-commerce providers have the expertise you need?
Culture fit: Which e-commerce solution provider would make the best partner?
Support capabilities: How will the vendors help and educate you?

Are they B2B-first?

Companies selling online B2B vs. B2C have very different needs in terms of what they sell, who they sell to, and how they sell.

There are a lot of great e-commerce platforms out there; however, very few actually offer all the features B2B e-commerce companies need out-of-the-box in order for their B2B business to succeed.

Make sure your solution has key B2B features such as:

Quotes and quote to order conversion
Personalized customer-specific catalogs and pricing
Easy-to-use content management system
Customer segmentation
Payment flexibility
Order tracking functionality

Plan for scalability

Make sure that highly requested features are included in the new e-commerce solution, or at least that there is the option for them to be included.

Future needs and ability to scale

Look for features that are known to be needed but are lower in priority, which are expected to be followed up in the near future.

For more information, read the full blog post on how to select the best e-commerce solution provider.

Additional resources for your B2B e-commerce replatforming project

Here are some additional resources to help you carry out a successful e-commerce replatforming project:

E-commerce replatforming checklist: Includes three checklists, as well as additional templates, case studies and more.
B2B e-commerce RFP template: Easily compare your shortlisted e-commerce providers.
E-commerce ROI calculator: Calculate how much you could save with an ERP-integrated e-commerce platform.

Want to find out more about Sana Commerce and ERP-integrated e-commerce? Learn more about our B2B-first e-commerce solution, Sana Commerce Cloud, and the impact our platform has had on our customers, from conversions and revenue, to order error rates.

About the author

Eshanka Kodituwakku is one of Sana Commerce’s go-to Senior E-Commerce Consultants. He helps companies map their real-world business needs and turns their business goals into an e-commerce strategy.

With 8 years’ experience in e-commerce he’s consulted nearly 150 companies, and overseen more than 50 e-commerce migrations, in Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland, the Middle East, South Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

His favorite part about the job? Brainstorming and bouncing ideas off his colleagues and customers to come up with smart solutions.