What Pain Level Do You Need to Reach Before You Finally Move Systems?
There’s a certain kind of pain you only feel when you’ve outgrown your ecommerce setup.
Not a dramatic failure. Not a checkout disaster. Just a creeping frustration that builds up day by day. Clunky processes, outdated systems, and workarounds that rely more on habit than logic.
Your team’s frustrated.
Your system’s full of quirks and adaptations.
But somehow, it still just about does the job.
So you carry on, until you can’t.
Some pain is loud and obvious.
Your site goes down. The checkout malfunctions. You’re shouting at your laptop. That’s when most businesses act.
It’s the quiet friction that’s harder to act on. The kind where everything just about works, but nobody’s happy. The setup is slow, bespoke, inconsistent. Everyone complains. But because the system is not technically broken, it stays.
Sound familiar? You’re not alone! Which leads to the real question:
At what point is it painful enough to move systems, and when does it become too painful not to?
The System No One Really Likes - But Everyone’s Learned to Live With
We’ve come across this many times. One client had been putting off a platform switch for six years. Their backend setup was fully bespoke. It had been tweaked over the years to fit how the team worked at the time. The system had been patched up to a point where no one was quite sure how it worked anymore.
It wasn’t modern. It wasn’t scalable. But it just about did enough for them to try to avoid the potential disruption of a big system change.
Their ecommerce system had specific customisations that no off-the-shelf solution could match. It also lacked a proper purchasing or ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system.
Ordering stock sometimes happened over email, sometimes by phone, and occasionally someone just turned up with stock in the back of a car. There was no central view of what had been ordered, what had arrived, or what needed chasing.
Still, they stuck with their existing tech, because somehow the idea of moving felt worse.
That’s what we call the pain threshold dilemma. The setup is:
Inefficient enough to make everyone complain
But just useful enough to make moving feel even more painful
So nothing changes, and the business quietly slows down.
So What Pain Level Do You Need To Change?
This is the hard bit, because the pain of staying with an outdated system is slow and cumulative. You don’t feel it all at once. You feel it in lost time, in missed improvements, in “we’ll fix that later” moments that turn into years.
Here’s how to spot when the pain of staying has tipped too far:
You’re avoiding upgrades because you’re scared to touch the system
Your workflows live in spreadsheets or people’s heads instead of being efficiently automated
Your team is spending extra hours on manual admin just to stay afloat
Your site hasn’t evolved in a meaningful way in years
Projects that could unlock growth keep getting delayed
You suspect the inefficiencies are costing you - in time, in headspace, in energy, and maybe even in missed revenue
You keep saying “We should really sort this”, but never do
If that sounds familiar, your ecommerce platform might not be broken, but it’s unlikely to help you grow.
Why It’s So Hard to Let Go (And What to Do Instead)
We understand! Replatforming can feel overwhelming. Especially when your system does a few clever, bespoke things that you’d struggle to find in a typical off-the-shelf platform.
The goal of migrating your online store from one ecommerce platform to another isn’t to recreate every legacy tweak and workaround, it’s to build something better.
Here’s how we approach it:
Start with what’s really happening – we trace how stock enters, moves, and leaves your business
Map actual workflows, not ideal ones
Standardise where possible, customise only where needed, and where it adds value
Focus on people. The platform is crucial, but your team needs to run it with confidence, and your customers need to feel at home using it.
Having worked with Shopify for over 15 years, we’ve refined this process with brands across the UK and around the world. We give you a site (and system) that works hard without being hard work.
The Upside of Change? Control and Confidence.
One of the best things about Shopify - and a big reason we champion it - is how much control it puts back in your hands. You’re not locked into agency retainer cycles or relying on developers to make small changes for you.
That aligns with how we work, too. After each system move, we leave your team with clear documentation, training, and the confidence to manage your own site.
Ecommerce systems should be efficient and give you room to grow!
Final Thought: Move When It Still Feels Like a Choice
Not every system needs replacing right now. But if the cracks are showing - and the pain is creeping in - don’t wait for it to break completely or damage your business before you act.
The most successful migrations we’ve seen happen when brands stop firefighting and start planning. We’ll help you figure out what’s worth fixing, what’s worth rebuilding, and what will actually make your day-to-day easier.
Not a mad rush, just a clear, confident move to something better.
If you're ready to talk it through, we’re here to help you work out the next step, so you can move forward with clarity.
