Is it time to modernise or move on from Magento or Adobe Commerce?
Magento and Adobe Commerce remain powerful platforms, but ageing implementations can become expensive, difficult to maintain and increasingly disconnected from the way the business needs to operate.
Tin Soldier helps established ecommerce businesses assess whether to retain and improve their Magento or Adobe Commerce implementation, migrate to Shopify Plus or BigCommerce, or progressively modernise their wider ecommerce ecosystem.
The two most common problems that we see:
1. You may not have a Magento problem - you may have an ecosystem problem
The Magento or Adobe Commerce platform is often blamed when the implementation becomes expensive, difficult or slow to change.
However, the underlying problem may not be the actual platform it may be the age of the implementation, accumulated customisation, fragile integrations, poor product data or operating processes that have outgrown the original solution.
Before deciding to replace the platform (or any platform for that matter), it is important to understand what is actually creating the cost and complexity. At Tin Soldier we see this all the time and have a process that we can take customers through to figure out what is the best path forward.
Common pain points:
- The implementation contains extensive legacy customisation or other technical debt
- Upgrades and patches have become expensive
- ERP, pricing, inventory or fulfilment integrations are fragile
- Marketing teams struggle to manage content and campaigns
- Site performance and/or the customer experience is falling behind
- Internal knowledge is concentrated in a small number of people
The Magento or Adobe Commerce platform is often blamed when the implementation becomes expensive, difficult or slow to change.
However, the underlying problem may not be the actual platform it may be the age of the implementation, accumulated customisation, fragile integrations, poor product data or operating processes that have outgrown the original solution.
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Before deciding to replace the platform (or any platform for that matter), it is important to understand what is actually creating the cost and complexity. At Tin Soldier we see this all the time and have a process that we can take customers through to figure out what is the best path forward.
Common pain points:
- The implementation contains extensive legacy customisation or other technical debt
- Upgrades and patches have become expensive
- ERP, pricing, inventory or fulfilment integrations are fragile
- Marketing teams struggle to manage content and campaigns
- Site performance and/or the customer experience is falling behind
- Internal knowledge is concentrated in a small number of people
2. Does the platform fit your processes - or should your processes fit the platform?
Many costly Magento implementations have become overly complex because the platform has been extensively customised around existing business processes. Every customisation may appear justified individually, but collectively they increase development costs, upgrade effort, testing requirements and long-term support overhead.
A key modernisation / migration decision is therefore whether to:
- Adapt the platform to support a genuinely valuable or differentiating business process; or
- Simplify the business process so the organisation can use more standard (OOTB) platform functionality.
Not every existing process needs to be preserved. Changing a workflow, approval rule or internal practice can sometimes remove substantial technical complexity without negatively affecting the customer experience.
Tin Soldier reviews both the technology and the processes behind it. The goal is not simply to reproduce the current Magento implementation on a newer platform—it is to determine which requirements create real business value and which can be simplified.
Many costly Magento implementations have become overly complex because the platform has been extensively customised around existing business processes. Every customisation may appear justified individually, but collectively they increase development costs, upgrade effort, testing requirements and long-term support overhead.
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A key modernisation / migration decision is therefore whether to:
- Adapt the platform to support a genuinely valuable or differentiating business process; or
- Simplify the business process so the organisation can use more standard (OOTB) platform functionality.
Not every existing process needs to be preserved. Changing a workflow, approval rule or internal practice can sometimes remove substantial technical complexity without negatively affecting the customer experience.
Tin Soldier reviews both the technology and the processes behind it. The goal is not simply to reproduce the current Magento implementation on a newer platform—it is to determine which requirements create real business value and which can be simplified.
There are three credible pathways forward
Option one
Retain and improve Magento
Magento may remain the right core platform where the business has complex products, pricing, workflows or B2B requirements.
The priority may be to simplify the implementation, address technical debt, improve performance and strengthen integrations rather than replace the platform.
Option two
Progressively modernise the ecosystem
The business may retain Magento temporarily while introducing better product information management, content management, search, integration or customer-experience components.
This reduces immediate migration risk and allows investment to be phased.
Option three
Migrate to a SaaS platform
Shopify Plus or BigCommerce may provide a simpler and more manageable core where the current level of Magento complexity no longer creates sufficient business value.
The migration process still needs to account for product data, customers, orders, SEO, integrations and operational processes-not simply the storefront.
OPTION ONE Retain and improve Magento
Retain and improve Magento
Magento may remain the right core platform where the business has complex products, pricing, workflows or B2B requirements.
The priority may be to simplify the implementation, address technical debt, improve performance and strengthen integrations rather than replace the platform.
OPTIONS TWO Progressively modernise the ecosystem
Progressively modernise the ecosystem
Shopify Plus or BigCommerce may provide a simpler and more manageable core where the current level of Magento complexity no longer creates sufficient business value.
The migration still needs to account for product data, customers, orders, SEO, integrations and operational processes-not simply the storefront.
OPTION THREEMigrate to a SaaS platform
Migrate to a SaaS platform
Magento may remain the right core platform where the business has complex products, pricing, workflows or B2B requirements.
The priority may be to simplify the implementation, address technical debt, improve performance and strengthen integrations rather than replace the platform.
Tin Soldier's Platform Assessment Roadmap
Our focused Magento assessment gives leadership a clear, commercially grounded recommendation before the business commits to a major upgrade or replatforming programme. The engagement typically takes anywhere from two to four weeks depending on the scope and level of detailed required.
What we assess:
- Business strategy and growth requirements
- Current platform implementation and version
- Extensions, any customisations and technical debt
- Hosting, performance, security and support risks
- Customer experience and content-management requirements
- Purchase funnel performance and low hanging CRO opportunities
- Product, pricing and any catalogue or customer-specific requirements
- ERP, PIM, CRM, payment and fulfilment integrations
- Product, customer, order and SEO migration requirements
- Internal capability and operating processes
- Realistic alternative platforms and architectures
What you receive:
An executive level report with recommendations suitable for leadership approval covering:
- Current-state assessment including analytics & key purchase funnel review, plus recommendations to improve as necessary
- Identification of any immediate stabilisation and quick win actions
- Retain versus replace recommendation - with identification of the actual key issues that are holding back growth
- Shortlisted platform and architecture options
- Integration and data migration requirements
- Phased roadmap
- Key risks and constraints
- Indicative investment range and implementation approach
WHAT WE ASSESS (11 items)
- Business strategy and growth requirements
- Current platform implementation and version
- Extensions, any customisations and technical debt
- Hosting, performance, security and support risks
- Customer experience and content-management requirements
- Purchase funnel performance and low hanging CRO opportunities
- Product, pricing and any catalogue or customer-specific requirements
- ERP, PIM, CRM, payment and fulfilment integrations
- Product, customer, order and SEO migration requirements
- Internal capability and operating processes
- Realistic alternative platforms and architectures
WHAT YOU RECEIVE (9 items)
An executive level report with recommendations suitable for leadership approval covering:
- Current-state assessment including analytics & key purchase funnel review, plus recommendations to improve as necessary
- Identification of any immediate stabilisation and quick win actions
- Retain versus replace recommendation - with identification of the actual key issues that are holding back growth
- Shortlisted platform and architecture options
- Integration and data migration requirements
- Phased roadmap
- Key risks and constraints
- Indicative investment range and implementation approach
A successful migration protects more than the website
Replatforming affects far more than design and development. A poorly planned migration can disrupt organic search, customer accounts, product information, pricing, order processing and internal operations. Our migration planning considers:
01
Product, category and customer data
02
Order history and account access
03
SEO URLs, redirects and metadata
04
Customer-specific pricing
05
Promotions and business rules
06
ERP and fulfilment integration
07
Payment and identity services
08
Analytics and conversion tracking
09
Content, images & asset migration
10
Cutover, testing and business continuity
01
Product, category and customer data
02
Order history and account access
03
SEO URLs, redirects and metadata
04
Customer-specific pricing
05
Promotions and business rules
06
ERP and fulfilment integration
07
Payment and identity services
08
Analytics and conversion tracking
09
Content and asset migration
10
Cutover, testing and business continuity
Tin Soldier, Magento experience without a Magento only answer
Tin Soldier has spent years building, integrating and supporting Magento and Adobe Commerce solutions for complex B2B and B2C ecommerce businesses.
That experience allows us to understand what Magento does well, where an existing implementation may be holding the business back and what is involved in migrating safely.
We also work with other platforms including Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, PIM, CMS and various integration technologies. This means our recommendation can be based on the needs of the business rather than the need to sell a particular platform.
15+ years ecommerce experience with 10+ Years of Magento / Adobe Commerce delivery expertise
Complex B2B and B2C ecommerce ecosystem capability in house - PIM / DAM / CRM / Marketing automation
Expertise with ERP integration , pricing, inventory and fulfilment logic
Experience supporting business-critical ecommerce environments - 99.99%+ uptime
Extensive experience in optimising purchase funnels, CRO and improving customer journeys
Shopify Plus, BigCommerce & Headless / composable migration capability & examples
Before committing to another Magento upgrade, or moving away make sure you are solving the right problem.
Contact us for a FREE 1 hour no obligation consultation call to talk through your requirements, problems and the options available.
Frequently asked questions
Is Adobe Commerce / Magento still a viable ecommerce platform?
Yes. Magento or Adobe Commerce remains a strong option in the right application - such as for businesses with complex catalogues, pricing, B2B workflows, integration requirements or complex customisation. However, it requires active maintenance and regular upgrades, so its value should be weighed against its total cost of ownership.
Adobe have recently released a SaaS edition that brings a new suite of composable enterprise features, along with a new model (AppBuilder) for implmenting modules and customisations that leave the core intact thereby removing the upgrade / patching cost.
In the right application, Magento still is one of the best platform options out there (and is gettign better) and is reflected by the Gartner magic quadrant rating.
Why has our Magento implementation become so expensive to maintain?
Extensive customisation is often a major contributor. Custom features can increase development, testing and upgrade costs—particularly when the platform has been altered to preserve processes that could potentially be simplified.
We assess which customisations deliver genuine business value and whether changing the underlying process could allow more standard platform functionality to be used. This can significantly reduce complexity and total cost of ownership.
Should we upgrade Magento or migrate to Shopify or Shopify Plus?
Yes. Our assessment is platform-agnostic and considers your business requirements to determine what should be retained, improved, integrated or replaced. If your current platform can meet these business requirements cost effectively, we may recommend modernising it rather than rebuilding / replatforming.
Which ecommerce platform is best for B2B?
There is no single best platform for every B2B business. The right choice depends on your annual sales volume, pricing model, catalogue complexity, customer accounts, ordering workflows, integrations, growth plans and internal capability.
Our process will help identify these requirements then match these to the right option(s) balancing OOTB functionality against customisation. Contact us and we can talk you through this process.
Can Shopify Plus support complex B2B requirements?
Shopify Plus supports companies, multiple locations, customer-specific catalogues and pricing, payment terms and B2B customer accounts. More complex quoting, procurement, product or ERP workflows may still require apps, integrations or custom development.
How much does a Magento or Adobe Commerce migration typically cost?
For an established business, depending on the size and complexitity of the site a Magento migration may start from NZ$60,000+ for a straight forward B2C application with OOTB integration components to NZ$150,000 or more for larger more complex B2B implementations. The cost depends on catalogue complexity, design, data volumes, integrations, B2B requirements and the amount of custom functionality being recreated or replaced.
Another consideration when looking at a replatform is data migration which should not be underestimated - products, categories, pricing, CMS content, customers (including logins), saved payment tokens and orders etc. Each dataset can present unique challenges, all of which we have dealt with in the past so contact us to chat if this is a key consideration.
How long does a Magento migration take?
A relatively focused migration may take three to five months. Complex B2B, multi-store or heavily integrated environments commonly require six to nine months, including discovery, design, development, data migration, testing and cutover.
Can Magento or Adobe Commerce be modernised without replacing it?
Yes. Both Adobe Commerce and Magento can often be improved by reducing technical debt, upgrading the platform, strengthening integrations and introducing better PIM, CMS, search or frontend capabilities. A phased approach can deliver meaningful gains without the disruption of a full replatform.
Quite often it can be one or two customisations that need fixing, unused modules removed or in the case of a self hosted setting - a proper hosting configuration that can be all that is needed. Contact us so we can talk through your issues and give you non-biased advice around your options.
What happens to our integrations during migration?
We assess each integration to determine whether it should be retained, rebuilt, simplified or replaced. Critical ERP, product, pricing, inventory and fulfilment connections are then developed and tested alongside the new platform before a controlled cutover.
How do you protect SEO performance during migration?
The transfer of Google history to the new platform during cut over is of critical importance. SEO protection starts with a detailed inventory of existing URLs, content, metadata and rankings. We map permanent redirects, retain valuable content, update internal links and sitemaps, and monitor performance after launch.
It is also important to note that some temporary fluctuation can still occur due to how the search engines interpret the new site, but with the right investment of time our processes help manage and minimise this fluctuation. Quite often however we find that the old site was actually impacting SEO rankings and implementing a better site with a solid redirects strategy can in the medium term drastically improve SEO.
Can Tin Soldier continue supporting Magento or Adobe Commerce if we decide to retain it?
Yes. Tin Soldier can continue supporting, upgrading and improving your Magento platform while addressing performance, security, technical debt and integration risks. We will not recommend migration unless it offers a stronger commercial and operational outcome.
It is important to note that Adobe are continuing to invest in the Adobe commerce platform with the recent release of the SaaS platform and there continues to be a vibrant and growing open source community around the Magento Open source edition - reputably one of the largest in the world today.