Questions & answers are added to this post on a regular basis as we hear from members. So please check back.
What’s happening with the migration of stores to IndieCommerce 2.0?
The IndieCommerce team is currently initiating the migration of groups of 10 stores at a time. As each group starts and moves from Stage One to Stage Two of the process, a new group begins Stage One.
Are there stores currently on IndieCommerce 2.0?
Yes! Here are three examples of 2.0 sites :
When will my store’s migration start?
Stores with less complex sites are prioritized first. The IndieCommerce Team has begun migrating more complex sites in 2024. If you want to know which quarter your migration might begin, contact staff@bookweb.org for more information.
What can I anticipate once my migration is initiated?
The migration stages are explained in the Migration Steps document
What does the timeline of these steps look like?
As an example of a migration schedule (Applicable to 70% of stores):
- Monday, Feb/29 - IC team lets a store know its migration will start in 2 weeks
- Monday, Mar/04 - The migration process begins. The IC team creates the IC 2.0 site for the stores, migrates all the content from the 1.0 site to the IC 2.0 site, and configures the IC 2.0 site with the migrated content.
- Friday, Mar/08 - The IC team hands over the content migrated, configured site to the store. The IC team provides all the necessary information for the store staff to login to the IC 2.0 site and review the migrated content.
- Monday, Mar/11 - Friday, Mar/15 - Store staff logs in to their IC 2.0 site, familiarizes themselves with the Admin Dashboard, adjusts the site design and colors (if they are not happy with how the IC team configured the site), and starts managing content on the IC 2.0 site. The IC team is available to help the stores.
- Monday, Mar/18 & Tues, Mar/19 - The IC staff meets with the store, answers questions, gets them ready for the final step of the migration, the Order Migration and final switch over to IC 2.0
- Wed, Mar/20 & Thurs, Mar/21 - The store’s site is switched over to IC 2.0
- More complex stores will receive a few months’ notice before their migration begins and their steps will take more time.
It seems like this is taking much longer than the previous upgrade from Drupal 6 to 7. Why is that?
The 2014 migration from Drupal 6 to 7 was limited to just being an upgrade of the Drupal CMS platform. For IC 2.0 we’ve upgraded the platform from 7 to 10—3 upgrades—as well as completely changing the way that customers and website admins interact with the platform. Dozens of new features have been introduced to make it easier for stores to manage their websites as well as interact with their customers and process orders. The entire shopping cart system has been completely rebuilt from the ground up and almost all the code has been completely rewritten. This is not just an upgrade, this is a complete rebuild of the entire IndieCommerce platform.
Why is this taking longer than ABA said it would?
An unexpected Google Analytics 4 integration for both IC 1.0 and 2.0 as well as completely rewriting and testing the code for a new Ingram CDF integration with IC 2.0 contributed to the delay in migrations last year, as did stores that were unable to move the process along when we initiated their migration, moving ADA compliance targets, and changes in PCI compliance requirements. We also decided to introduce new features that never existed in IC 1.0 in response to changing consumer expectations and those added to our development timetable as well. The world changed a lot in the past four years and the project has had to evolve as a result.
Will I be able to customize my store’s site?
We encourage stores to first try out the customization options that are currently offered within the provided 2.0 theme. Further creation of custom themes will be possible in 2025.
If my store’s site is still on Drupal 7, will it still be supported? And when will it reach its end of life?
Yes. But there will no longer be updates or added functionality as of May 1, 2025, and, ABA will require all IndieCommerce stores to complete their move to the new platform by December of 2025.
What could slow down this timeline/process?
The rate that we can migrate stores from 1.0 to 2.0 is highly dependent on if we are required to fulfill any major feature request, unexpected changes to third party services that IC is integrated with, PCI changes, ADA compliance changes, changes to sales tax requirements, etc. Ecommerce is a complex process and the rules are changing all the time. When they do, we need to address those changes which diverts our staff time away from migration. Another huge factor is how quickly stores move through the migration process. When a store stalls in their migration, it diverts staff time from other issues and delays every store that is waiting to be migrated.
Are there customer data opportunities included in the new platform?
Unfortunately, not at this time. We are prioritizing the migration currently. But just as IndeCommerce has always done, our plans are to continue development on the platform once every store has been migrated. The next stage for IndieCommerce 2.0 will include exploration of advanced marketing features such as data mining, API integration with third party service providers, training Ai for chatbot recommendations, email segmentation, social media shopping integrations, google local shopping integration, and more. We will prioritize based on feedback from stores and our ecommerce forecasting.
Will I be able to embed third party code or widgets into my store’s new site?
Unfortunately, not at this time. We will eventually be enabling third party code but not until the migration is complete. The reason for this probably seems obvious. Store’s adding third party code before it’s reviewed and tested can break existing code. This diverts attention away from the migration which is our top priority right now.
Will stores be able to pay to add additional features?
We're definitely exploring this idea. Our priority is completing the migration. We also think it's important for stores to experience the new platform before decisions about possible changes are made. For some stores, the new platform may meet all their needs. Others may have new priorities based on the new experience. We will be surveying users along the way to help guide this planning.
What feedback have you received from stores that have already migrated?
We're getting good feedback from stores that have already migrated. They appreciate that the site is faster and that the back end is far easier for staff to use when processing orders and creating content. A survey to these stores is scheduled for later this month. Watch for an upcoming blog entry with the results.
If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to staff@bookweb.org.