The COVID-19 pandemic had hampered retailers' digital capabilities as customers switched from in-store shopping to online shopping. From the beginning of this process, we have been working with retailers to support their business operations and highlight the importance of investing in digital channels, especially by modernizing e-commerce platforms in the Google Cloud.

E-commerce modernization is a complex enterprise that is part of a long-term goal consisting of several stages. But as a retailer, you can take some initial steps right now to build the foundation for a flexible and agile ecommerce platform that meets your customers' expectations.

In this blog post, we will cover the topic of e-commerce transition, which is one of these first steps. We will discuss what e-commerce migration consists of, what issues it addresses, and talk about the “E-commerce Migration” solution, which is offered exclusively for the retail sector.

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What is Ecommerce Migration?

Ecommerce migration requires taking your existing ecommerce platform and moving it to the cloud, called “lift and shift.” In our experience, this is common among retailers who have already virtualized and/or converted their ecommerce workloads to containers and want to focus on moving quickly to the cloud, with the ultimate goal being to then reorganize in the cloud. As we've mentioned before, this is often the first step in a broader ecommerce transformation effort and the fastest way to get into the cloud.

Even if only as a first step, retailers attempting to migrate to e-commerce can benefit from the flexibility, scalability, security and best-in-class cloud platform of Google Cloud. Here are a few of the advantages: ‍

Transition possibilities: With Google Cloud's Live Migration of transaction instances, you no longer need maintenance interruptions. Migrate for Compute Engine reduces migration complexity and effort for ecommerce workloads.

Flexible Calculation: Google Cloud offers a wide range of Compute Engine machine options to enable more accurately sized transactions to retailer's ecommerce workloads and help reduce cost.

Security: Google Cloud encrypts all data transferred by default, helping to support retailers' compliance requirements, including PCI (Payment Cardholder Industry), and secure end-consumer data.

Netwerk: Google Cloud's Load Balancing support automatically deploys multi-zone traffic to GCP resources closest to the consumer, improving the experience, enabling higher conversion, and also providing automatic high availability for regional failures.

Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics: Moving to Google Cloud also offers the opportunity to explore AI capabilities that can enhance the customer experience. Recommendations can improve conversions through AI and other AI technologies and AI-powered search results.

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As a result, retailers can increase the agility and innovation capability of their organizations and launch new experiences more quickly to keep pace with changing consumer expectations. In addition to these benefits, ecommerce migration also addresses many challenges faced by retailers that remain in mind at the executive level:‍

• Speed: Increase agility to support ongoing business through digital channels and adapt to more complex customer expectations
• Total cost of ownership: Preventing high operational costs due to upfront investment in in-house infrastructure and capacity to meet heavy loads ‍
• Job Transition: Preventing pressure on different channels, including logistics and supply chain switching from store to online ‍
• Legacy systems: Constraints on existing legacy e-commerce infrastructure (pushing the limits of both software and hardware) increasing the ability to modernize and adapt to changing customer demands

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Migrating to Google Cloud via ecommerce migration addresses these problematic points in the following ways:

• Google Cloud scalability and flexibility Help your business adapt to any traffic intensity determined by your customers with its features. You can also protect your cloud resources with Compute Engine during peak periods such as promotional days, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and other times when you need guaranteed cloud resources.
• ‍The downtime of your business and help him prevent job loss
• ‍Scaling unused capacity help your business minimize cost. You can also further reduce costs by taking advantage of Compute Engine Continuous Use Discounts and Committed Usage Discounts for your predictable workloads.
• ‍Improve the speed and performance of your ecommerce channel. With access to numerous regions of Google Cloud around the world, you can leverage Google Cloud's network system to deliver requests closer to your customers' location.

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How can I get started?

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The truth is that any ecommerce migration project can be complicated, but you can reduce that complexity by following a tried and tested approach. You can contact us to learn more about starting the ecommerce migration process.