Moving to Shopify

[Lightning2000]

Hello All,
Not sure if there is anyone left here. After much deliberation I've finally decided to move over to Shopify. The transition will take place in early 2020, after the holiday rush.

The fact that virtually no one is left here helped me to realize that V is all but dead. Last week, V announced that they are bringing on a new CEO, thereby suggesting that its founder couldn't move the ball forward. They are down to 30,000 merchants, 25% off their high of 40,000 merchants claimed about a decade ago.

On the other hand, Shopify reports they have signed up over 800,000 merchants, which, in and of itself speaks volumes about their service. I've spoken to QERetail, the folks that did a lot of our customization, and they are able to help with the migration, at a cost, of course. They'll be doing a lot of the heavy lifting while I do any refinements afterwards. It also give me time to play around with a Shopify demo store to see how it differs from V. I've been with V for 16 years, so making a move like this comes with some reservations and a learning curve which I have no choice but to take on. Since we want to offer multiple marketplaces under one roof, thereby controlling our inventory levels and pricing, I feel this is the only way to move forward. V's system is rudimentary at best, a band aid to say they have the ability to support a couple of marketplace sites. Shopify, with the help of Sellbrite, on the other hand, offers true multi-channel flexibility/capability, something online merchants need to develop if they are going to thrive and survive against some of the major sites.

Anyway, I'll run both sites for a month or two concurrently before finally cutting the cord with V some time in early 2020. Its been real, but I've always been afraid of getting an email stating the service is ending on such-and-such date or being sold to someone else with no intentions of upgrading the current system. Sometimes you just need to be forced to make a decision, instead of sitting on the fence forever.

Marc

[reigny]

I'm still here. I wish you the best of luck! Let me know how it goes - I'm sure QeRetail will be a huge help.

[The Tech Den]

Let us know how you go Marc. We are not far behind and looking to cross over to Shopify. I guess the last person on V can switch off the lights. We too held off. We are located in Australia and there were a few issues that were not getting fixed. I would like to know if there is anyone with experience in the migration from V to Shopify in Australia either as a user or integrator.

[Lightning2000]

Hi,
We're going to be using QERetail for the migration to Shopify. We've used them at least 6 or 7 times in the past and always found that they are reliable, relatively inexpensive and helpful should we ever run into a problem. I'm holding off on the migration until the beginning of 2020. We have several print ads breaking now plus I don't want to learn a new system just now even though I've heard its relatively simple to pick up. I've heard a lot of good things about Shopify and have come to the realization that V has gone as far as its ever going to go. My concern is that as a web hosting solution gets smaller, there is a greater and greater chance they could fold up without any notice thereby affecting our business. Shopify reportedly has 800,000 merchants and is a public company, meaning it would have a long way to go before it was in a similar situation.
This would be our second migration since starting out in 2000. QERetail says they can move over all of our records, meaning there shouldn't be many issues for us to face once we are up and running. We'll see...

Marc

[The Tech Den]

You probably got the same email as me this morning..interation, strange word to use, but funny at the same time..It does not give me confidence that they have a structured plan at the moment to go forward.

I hope this note finds you well! I am a Product Manager at Volusion and we are doing research into how Pro customers like you are adding and managing products, so we can design our next iteration to meet your needs.

I'd love to chat with you for about an hour about your organization, workflow and how you think about complex products like bundles.

You'd of course be compensated for your time with a $50 Amazon gift card :-)
This is in addition to having a chance to shape how the platform works in the future.

Do you have time this week or next week to chat?

Thanks!

Shehaam, Volusion Product Research Team