About the Author: Adam Roozen comes from 20 years of eCommerce and technology experience, including leadership roles for Walmart’s Sam’s Club eCommerce division. His diverse background includes strategy, marketing, site experience, program management, and technology design and development. With the increasing intersection of the eCommerce and cloud industries, Echidna has put significant capabilities and processes in place to implement a wide range of eCommerce websites quickly, safely, and with high quality due to our creation and use of a robust implementation methodology. Put simply, our abundant experience has created a process to ensure we can do great work for you. This presentation gives a high-level overview of the methodology that we've proven to be highly effective when implementing and deploying cloud-based eCommerce platforms.

1. An eCommerce Cloud
Implementation
Primer

2. An eCommerce Cloud
Implementation Primer
If you’re a business with varied product lines
operating at scale, you need something more
robust than a cookie-cutter website store.
At Echidna, we've synthesized our
experience at implementing cloud-based
eCommerce platforms into a simple, six-step
methodology.

3. Step 1
Select Vendors
Determine which companies you want to partner with.

4. Notice the “s” on the end of vendors. You
will have multiple. At a minimum, you will
have a technology platform vendor and an
implementation vendor.

5. Technology Platform Vendor
A company that has built a cloud-based eCommerce platform that has
invested tens-of-millions of dollars into creating a platform that you can use
for a tiny fraction of the cost. It will include both hardware and software, so
you’re generally 95% of the way there already.
Implementation Vendor
Specializes in customizing and installing the software for you. We write new
code to ensure your specific needs are addressed, and we use the technology
platform to do it.
Integrated Vendor
Add capabilities, like connections to credit card payment systems or product
reviews, to reduce the amount of custom code that needs to be written.
Three Types of Vendors

6. Step 2
Define Project
Specifications
Take a full inventory of every little thing
you want your system to do.

7. Consumer-facing webpages
Internal business tools
Partnership integrations
Architecture diagrams
Business requirement docs
Functional requirement docs
Much, much more
Address everything:
When we do this for our clients, we create…

8. Step 3
Plan the Project
(The implementation vendor’s job)

9. Many projects require hundreds (or thousands) of
line-items.
The project plan ensures that the project will run on
time, within budget, and to high standards.

10. Step 4
Hand Off
But don't simply hand off the project to your vendor.
You must have people engaged in every stage.

11. Excellent communication
High morale
Strong internal leadership
Flexibility
Commitment
Projects turn out great when our clients demonstrate:
Even the best-laid plans are changed due to unforeseeable events,
whether you’re implementing an eCommerce platform or a skyscraper.

12. Step 5
Prepare for Launch
Know what to expect and prepare accordingly.

13. People hate unexpected change. Expect
complaints and a temporary dip in sales.
Reduce this dip by building hype for the new
website in advance. Done well, you might
even get your best customers excited for the
new change.
Some of your processes will change.
You will have a new way to add products, pro-
cess orders, and handle customer
service issues.
External Prep Internal Prep

14. Step 6
Stick to It
The launch isn’t the end. It’s the beginning.

15. Prepare your short-term and long-term strategy.
Continue to work closely with your implementation
vendor to ensure your investment was well-spent.
a) fix or avoid issues,
b) enhance the platform to stay ahead of your competition.
Help your vendor to:
A cloud-based eCommerce implementation is as difficult as it is profitable.
But with the right experts in your corner, the world is yours to conquer!