Growth & Strategy
Personas
Ecommerce
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Over the years, I've had the opportunity to work with a small dozen ecommerce projects. Each one taught me something valuable about what actually matters when building an online store -- and spoiler: it's not what I initially thought.
When I first started, Webflow Ecommerce was my go-to platform. As a designer, it felt like paradise -- I could build the exact page design and structure I envisioned without compromise. Every pixel was under my control.
But here's what I learned the hard way: a beautiful store that's impossible to manage is a failed store. While I was celebrating perfect layouts, my clients were struggling with basic operations. Yes, Webflow had the essentials -- orders, shipping, inventory -- but the admin experience was clearly not built with business owners in mind.
This realization forced me to completely restructure my approach to ecommerce platform selection. What you'll learn in this playbook:
Why design flexibility can actually hurt your business
The hidden costs of "best of both worlds" solutions
How I evaluate platforms based on operational efficiency, not features
The counterintuitive reason why limitations can be advantages
A framework for choosing platforms that scale with your business
If you're tired of platform comparisons that focus on feature checklists instead of real-world usability, this deep dive into my actual migration experience will give you the insights you need. Check out more platform strategies in our ecommerce playbooks.
Industry Reality
What every platform comparison gets wrong
Most ecommerce platform comparisons follow the same tired formula: create a feature matrix, count checkmarks, and crown a winner based on who has the most bells and whistles. The industry pushes this narrative because it's easy to sell and compare.
Here's what every "expert" will tell you about platform selection:
Design flexibility is everything - The more customization options, the better your store will look and perform
Open source equals freedom - Platforms like WooCommerce give you unlimited control and no vendor lock-in
Headless commerce is the future - Decouple your frontend for maximum performance and flexibility
Monthly fees are bad - Why pay Shopify when you can host WooCommerce for cheaper?
Feature parity matters most - Choose the platform with the longest feature list
This conventional wisdom exists because it appeals to our logical side. More features = more value, right? Lower hosting costs = better margins, obviously. Complete control = better outcomes, surely.
But here's where this thinking falls apart in practice: you're not buying a platform for yourself -- you're buying it for your business operations. The platform that looks best on paper often creates the most operational headaches in reality.
The real question isn't "which platform has more features?" It's "which platform will help my business run smoother and scale faster?" And after migrating multiple client projects across different platforms, I can tell you the answers are often completely different.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
When I first started building ecommerce sites, Webflow Ecommerce was my weapon of choice. As someone who came from a design background, it felt revolutionary -- I could create pixel-perfect layouts that looked exactly like my Figma mockups. No compromises, no "that's not possible with the theme" conversations.
My early client was a boutique fashion brand with very specific aesthetic requirements. They wanted something that felt more like an art gallery than a traditional online store. Webflow seemed perfect -- I could build exactly what they envisioned.
The site launched beautifully. The design was stunning. The client was thrilled with how it looked. But within two weeks, I started getting frustrated emails.
"How do I add a new product?" "Where do I check inventory levels?" "Why can't I bulk edit shipping rates?" "How do I export my customer data?"
What I'd built wasn't a business tool -- it was a beautiful brochure with a shopping cart attached. The admin interface felt like an afterthought. Basic ecommerce operations that should take minutes were taking hours.
Then I tried to fix this with what seemed like the obvious solution: headless Shopify. Use Shopify's robust backend for commerce operations, but keep the design flexibility of a custom frontend. Best of both worlds, right?
Wrong. While the admin experience improved dramatically for my clients, I'd created a new problem: fragility. Every month or two, something would break. An API update would cause checkout issues. The inventory sync would fail. I'd wake up to urgent emails about customers unable to complete purchases.
My clients loved the admin interface, but I'd become the bottleneck for every technical issue. What started as a solution became a maintenance nightmare that was bleeding both time and client relationships.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After the headless experiment nearly destroyed my reputation with one particularly important client, I made a decision that felt like admitting defeat: migrate everything to native Shopify.
I expected this to be a step backward -- less design control, more constraints, template limitations. But something interesting happened during the first migration.
The Process I Developed:
Instead of fighting Shopify's structure, I started working with it. I focused on three key areas:
Admin efficiency over design perfection - Every design decision had to pass the "can my client manage this themselves?" test
Operational workflows over visual uniqueness - Prioritized features that made daily operations smoother
Ecosystem integration over custom solutions - Leveraged Shopify's app ecosystem instead of building everything from scratch
The Migration Framework:
For each migration, I followed a specific sequence:
Week 1-2: Business Process Audit
I spent time understanding exactly how my client ran their business day-to-day. Which reports did they need? How did they handle returns? What was their inventory management workflow? This wasn't about features -- it was about operations.
Week 3-4: Shopify Configuration
Instead of trying to recreate their old site exactly, I configured Shopify to match their business processes. This meant choosing apps that integrated well together and setting up workflows that minimized manual work.
Week 5-6: Custom Theme Development
Only after understanding the operational requirements did I work on design. But here's the key insight: working within Shopify's theme structure actually made the sites more maintainable, not less flexible.
The Counterintuitive Discovery:
What I discovered completely changed my perspective on platform limitations. Shopify's "constraints" weren't bugs -- they were features. The standardized theme structure meant faster development. The curated app ecosystem meant reliable integrations. The opinionated admin interface meant shorter learning curves.
Most importantly, Shopify treats your website as one sales channel among many. This mindset shift is powerful -- you're not just building a website, you're plugging into an entire commerce ecosystem designed for selling across multiple touchpoints.
Design Reality
Working within Shopify's theme structure actually accelerated development and made sites more maintainable than completely custom solutions.
Admin Experience
Clients could manage daily operations independently, reducing support requests by 80% compared to custom platforms.
Ecosystem Power
Shopify's app marketplace provided tested integrations that would have taken months to build custom.
Maintenance Freedom
Zero technical emergencies or broken integrations after migrating from headless setups to native Shopify.
The results from this systematic approach were dramatic:
Client Satisfaction: Support requests dropped by approximately 80% across all migrated sites. Clients could handle product uploads, inventory management, and order processing without calling me for help.
Development Speed: Build times decreased from 8-12 weeks to 4-6 weeks. Working within Shopify's structure was faster than fighting against custom platforms.
System Reliability: Zero critical outages or technical emergencies after migrating to native Shopify. The headless setups I'd built previously required monthly troubleshooting.
Business Growth: Clients started using features they'd never had access to before -- automated email marketing through Shopify Email, integrated analytics, and multi-channel selling through social platforms.
Unexpected Outcome: Several clients expanded into wholesale, POS systems, and international markets using Shopify's built-in features -- growth paths that would have required complete rebuilds on their previous platforms.
The most telling metric? Not a single client has asked to migrate away from Shopify, while I'd had multiple requests to move off the previous platforms I'd recommended.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the key insights that completely changed how I evaluate ecommerce platforms:
Operations trump aesthetics - A beautiful store that's hard to manage will fail faster than a simple store that's easy to run
Constraints can be features - Platforms with strong opinions about structure often create better long-term outcomes
Ecosystem matters more than individual features - A platform's app marketplace and integrations are more valuable than any single built-in feature
Admin experience is user experience - Your daily users are your team and clients, not just end customers
Maintenance burden compounds - Custom solutions create technical debt that grows over time
"Best of both worlds" often means worst of both - Hybrid solutions like headless commerce introduce complexity without delivering promised benefits
Platform maturity matters - Newer platforms might have exciting features, but established platforms have battle-tested workflows
What I'd do differently: I'd start every platform evaluation with a business process audit instead of a feature comparison. The platform that best supports your daily operations will always outperform the one with the most impressive demo.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS companies selling physical products or digital downloads:
Prioritize platforms with robust subscription and recurring billing support
Look for strong API integration capabilities with your existing SaaS tools
Consider platforms that can handle both one-time and recurring revenue models
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce store owners:
Evaluate platforms based on daily operational workflows, not feature lists
Test the admin experience extensively before making decisions
Factor in long-term maintenance costs and technical support requirements
Choose platforms with mature app ecosystems for future expansion needs