Why should IBM WebSphere Commerce users migrate to Magento Commerce?

eCommerce stores operating on IBM WebSphere are experiencing trouble for many reasons. Here’s a glimpse of IBM WebSphere Commerce experiences users share in public forums.

“WebSphere is such a bloated piece of nastiness, you can do quite a lot waiting for it to restart, though my go-to activity is still to sob and question my own existence.” — Reddit User

It’s hard not to feel sorry for them. The common themes in complaints are: bloatware, downtime, endless frustration. And now that support for Websphere Commerce v7 has ended and a costly upgrade to v9 is required, many sites are wondering: should I migrate to another platform, like Magento Commerce?

Migrations are painful, to be sure. But they’re also an opportunity to create an eCommerce store that will take you into the future.

Feature Set

WebSphere Commerce is a mature, feature-rich product, to be sure, but many eCommerce companies are paying for features they’ll never use. Some say that WebSphere Commerce is such a huge application it can take up to six years to learn about it in its entirety.

This contrasts with Magento Commerce, which offers a great set of features out of the box that provides a solid foundation for a best-in-class eCommerce site. It is also highly flexible and is built as an open-source platform. The result is an unlimited ability to expand capabilities and customize experiences. The open-source code approach also means there’s a vast community of developers and extensions to solve problems and provide support.

Cloud vs. Self-Hosted

WebSphere Commerce v9 developers put their money in the cloud, betting that every merchant will want to put their faith there. If self-hosting is crucial to you, or if ensuring that your environment is cloud-compatible will require a big investment for your organization, the upgrade will be painful.

Magento Commerce, on the other hand, offers both a cloud-based (Magento Commerce Cloud) and a self-hosted (Magento Commerce) option. So you’ll have a bit more freedom there.

Comfort in Numbers

When it comes to software platforms, more users are better for a few reasons. If there are a lot of eCommerce sites operating on a platform, users will test, report bugs, and generally raise a stink if things are not working right. It also means it has a large community of users who will share best practices and tips. Finally, an eCommerce site with hundreds of thousands of sites means the vendor is fully invested in the platform and will be around for a long time to come.

In this case, 4381 websites use WebSphere Commerce, whereas Magento powers 250,000 sites.

Support

WebSphere Commerce concentrates on large enterprise retailers like Ikea. If you’re a smaller shop, you may have been frustrated by a lack of support from the company. As a mid-tier and growing company, you are likely to be the exact size company Magento values and focuses its attention. So, you might be happier with Magento’s support.

Time to Market

This is a significant consideration, especially now that consumers are quickly changing their buying habits to favor ecommerce. You can’t afford to miss out on this major evolution.

Implementation times:

Both Magento Commerce and WebSphere offer critical features that will enable you to meet the customer’s demands and position you to grow your business. For instance, both platforms provide omnichannel support via headless commerce, and both offer multinational capabilities. The difference is that Magento Commerce will allow you to launch faster. With its community of developers who have a financial incentive to expand the platform’s capabilities, you’re likely to have access to new capabilities more quickly than you would with WebSphere Commerce.

Give Us a Call

Once you’ve mulled over the considerations presented here, feel free to give us a call. Our experts will sit down with your team to explore a path forward that’s right for your brand.