Ecommerce website redesign or optimization: what should you buy?

A new storefront is a big purchase. Check the fit.

“The site feels dated” can start a useful conversation. It cannot finish the brief. A new visual direction will not automatically fix unreliable stock information, confusing delivery promises or a purchase event that fires twice.

Follow a shopper from a relevant landing page to an order. Use more than the homepage. Include a category page, a high-consideration product, an out-of-stock product, search, a mobile cart and the return information. Ask customer support what people repeatedly cannot find.

Then separate observations from explanations. “Many sessions leave this product page” is an observation. “The photographs are the problem” is a hypothesis. An agency should show how it will test that hypothesis before turning it into a large production scope.

Buy the size of change the evidence supports.

These options can be phased. A measurement repair or product-information improvement may be sensible while a larger project is being defined. Ask what can deliver useful learning now without becoming throwaway work.

One problem can produce three very different quotes.

Imagine a fictional apparel store with frequent questions about fit. One proposal offers a visual refresh. Another proposes consistent sizing information, product photography and a clearer returns link. A third recommends a new commerce platform.

Before choosing, inspect where sizing data lives and whether the current product templates can display it. If they can, a focused content and template project may resolve the immediate problem. If product data cannot be maintained across markets or variants, the platform question deserves more investigation.

Define an acceptance test: a member of the store team can update the sizing content, shoppers can find it on a phone, and it appears correctly across the agreed product types. A vague promise to “improve conversion” does not replace those checks.

Put migration into the quote before launch week.

Ask for an inventory of important product and category URLs, proposed destinations, retained content and the handling of unavailable products. Identify who checks search visibility and critical journeys after launch. Google’s site-move guidance is a useful reference when URLs change; a redesign should not casually discard established destinations.

Also specify integrations: payments, fulfillment, stock, customer records, email and reporting. A design approval is not an integration test. Name the system owner who will validate each connection and decide how failed orders or inconsistent inventory will be handled during transition.

Agree a launch window, decision owner and practical recovery plan. The right plan depends on the platform and operational constraints; it should exist before everyone is staring at the launch button.

Count the work that hides between the pages.

Page counts alone are a weak basis for comparison. Twenty similar product pages can require less design work than a handful of distinct product configurators. Separate template design, content entry, photography, custom interactions, integration work and testing.

Ask what happens to subscriptions, account access, saved baskets, promotions and any regional storefronts. Mark items outside the scope explicitly. List recurring platform and app costs separately from the project fee.

A few questions before you brief the crew.

Can a smaller store run useful optimization work?

Yes. Customer conversations, support logs, journey testing and technical checks can reveal problems even when traffic is too low for a reliable experiment. Avoid presenting a small, noisy test as proof of a conversion lift.

Should every redesign move to a new platform?

No. Ask for a documented requirement the current platform cannot reasonably meet, plus the cost and operational implications of moving. A new platform is a business decision, not a design requirement.