"I don't understand why anybody would willingly do this as a job. Repeatedly."
That's what one brand owner said to eCommerce consultant James Gurd right after surviving a replatform.
And honestly?
He's not wrong.
Replatforming is one of the most complex, stressful, and high-stakes projects an eCommerce business can undertake.
But when it's done right, it can also be the move that unlocks your next stage of growth.
James Gurd is the founder of The Digital Juggler and host of the Inside Commerce podcast. He's spent over 20 years helping B2C and B2B brands grow primarily through tech stack optimisation, agency and tech selection, team training, and project leadership.
He recently joined Chloe Thomas on Episode 584 of the eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast to answer one big question:
What would you do if you were embarking on a replatform in 2026?
Here's what he shared.
First, Do You Actually Need to Replatform?
This is where James starts, and where most businesses skip ahead too quickly.
Because a replatform without a valid business reason is just pain without purpose.
So how do you know it's time?
James says there are three clear signals:
Cost is spiralling. Your platform's support, maintenance, plugins, and technical fixes continue to grow. The total cost of ownership is becoming unsustainable, and it's not just opex. Capex is creeping in too.
Features are falling behind. Other platforms are investing heavily in R&D. The gap between what your platform can do natively and what you need is getting wider. Closing that gap through custom dev or third-party tools? Expensive.
Processes are broken. Product uploads, order management, and day-to-day workflows have become painful hacks. Your team doesn't want to follow them. They don't scale. And fixing them means building a Frankenstein no one can support.
If none of those sound like you?
Pause.
You probably don't need to replatform right now.
The Shopify Question
It's almost impossible to discuss replatforming in 2026 without mentioning Shopify.
James puts it plainly: Shopify is becoming a market leader, but for a particular type of project.
D2C eCommerce? Absolutely. SME eCommerce? Yes. Non-complex, standard business flows? One hundred percent.
And that covers roughly 80% of the market.
But complex B2B? Custom manufacturing workflows? Heavy middleware dependencies?
That's where it gets murkier.
Shopify's B2B capabilities are improving, but it's not yet built for the most complex use cases. And if you force it to do things it wasn't designed for, you'll end up with custom development, third-party tools, and middleware, which adds cost and complexity.
James also points out something important: Shopify is really good at marketing. Their go-to-market strategy is aggressive, polished, and persuasive.
Sometimes, a business has "chosen Shopify" without conducting a rigorous evaluation.
It's because someone on the board heard a compelling pitch.
That's not inherently wrong. But it does mean the decision requires stress testing.
Before You Sign Anything: The TCO Check
James sees this constantly: a brand comes to him having already decided on a platform, but without a proper Total Cost of Ownership analysis.
Someone's looked at the licence fee. Maybe a ballpark agency cost.
But they haven't validated the full cost model.
Costs are missing. Or understated. Or overstated.
And here's the risk: if your CFO hasn't been part of this conversation from the start, you're setting yourself up for a nasty surprise down the line.
Payments is a classic example. Moving to a new platform might change your payment processing rates, and that's the kind of cost line that can blow up a budget if nobody saw it coming.
James's advice? It's fine to have a hypothesis. "We think Shopify is the right platform, and here's why."
But then prove it. Properly.
Internal Alignment Is Non-Negotiable
Here's the part most people underestimate.
Replatforming projects are stressful. They pull resources from across the business. They surface known ones and unknown ones.
And if you don't have full alignment at the leadership level before the project starts, you're in trouble.
James is firm on this: it's his absolute non-negotiable.
Has a proper business case been created? Is it robust? Has it got sign-off, not just from the eComm lead, but from finance, operations, and every other critical decision-maker whose team will be involved?
If the answer is no, nothing else should happen until it's a yes.
A replatform isn't just an eCommerce project.
It's a business project.
And if the business isn't aligned, the friction that follows won't be productive.
Understand Where eCommerce Sits in Your Systems Architecture
Once alignment is locked in, James moves to the tech layer, but not the way most people expect.
He doesn't start by asking, "What does the eCommerce platform need to do?"
He asks, "What is the role of the eCommerce platform in our systems architecture?"
Is it just a product catalogue and a payment gateway?
Or does it need to handle custom order management flows, personalisation, complex data syncs with your ERP and warehouse systems?
Those are very different answers, and they lead to very different platform decisions.
James's advice is to think in terms of data flows, not tech stacks. Forget the jargon. Focus on the basics:
How does an order get into the warehouse? How does fulfilment data get back to eCommerce? How does a product get published? How does stock get updated?
Map those flows. Identify where gaps or issues exist. Understand which systems are changing.
If your chosen eCommerce platform doesn't integrate cleanly with your ERP, warehouse management system, or middleware, you've just added cost, complexity, and risk to the project.
What About AI?
It wouldn't be 2026 without this question.
James's take is refreshingly practical.
Most businesses are using AI tactically, with someone on the content team generating alt tags, someone in SEO using it for content optimisation. But very few have a genuine AI strategy.
So rather than trying to "build for AI" in some abstract way, James suggests focusing on what's concrete: where does your team spend time on repetitive, tedious tasks?
Identify those use cases. Then ask your tech vendors: how does your AI tooling help us solve these specific problems?
That's a far better approach than trying to future-proof for a vision that doesn't exist yet.
People Are as Important as Tech
Once a replatform is underway, something predictable happens.
The project gets frenetic. Tasks pile up. Fires break out.
And in the chaos, people forget to communicate.
James says this is where strong project leadership earns its keep, keeping the team focused on the principles on which the project was built.
Because different stakeholders need different things:
The C-suite doesn't want every detail. They want to know: Are we on track? On budget? Hitting our outcomes?
Senior management wants to know that their team's needs are being addressed and that nothing has been overlooked.
The doers, subject matter experts, content people, product teams, and buyers need to feel included. They need a channel to ask questions, raise concerns, and feed back.
James recommends holding town halls every few weeks, open to anyone who can join and ask questions. As the project progresses, hold more regular stand-ups and submit questions in advance.
The principle is simple: people need to be told what's happening.
Don't lose sight of that.
Build Contingency Into Everything
Projects run over budget. They run over time.
If your timeline has zero slack and your budget has zero buffer, a critical issue can force you into tough compromises, cutting scope or blowing past deadlines.
James's rule of thumb: set aside 15–20% of your capex as contingency for unknown unknowns. And pad your timeline with one to two extra sprints (typically two weeks each) for user acceptance testing and launch planning.
It's not pessimism. It's realism.
Friction Is Inevitable, Normalise It
Someone will get ill at the wrong time. Someone will disagree with a decision. Someone will push back on a requirement.
James says that's not just expected, it's healthy.
The key is educating your team upfront: friction in a project is normal. It doesn't mean things are going wrong. A challenge to your thinking isn't a personal attack; it's someone trying to get the best outcome.
But the project leads have a responsibility to ensure friction remains productive. People should feel supported. If they get something wrong, they're helped, not punished.
Use a RACI Framework
James's final piece of advice is one of those things that sounds boring but is actually foundational.
A RACI matrix maps every core task in the project to who's Responsible, who's Accountable, who gets Consulted, and who gets Informed.
It means everyone knows their role. No ambiguity. No finger-pointing.
And it provides a reference point throughout the project to check whether we are keeping our governance on track.
The Bottom Line
Replatforming in 2026 isn't just a tech decision.
It's a business decision that touches cost, people, process, architecture, and change management.
James' advice comes down to a few core themes: have a valid reason, do the financial homework, get everyone aligned before you start, think in data flows, not just platforms, communicate relentlessly, and build in room for the unexpected.
For more of James' top tips on direct mail, Reddit for SEO, using Google Sheets with Gemini for data migration, and sustainable packaging, you can listen to his full conversation here
