Why rebuild a store that already works
Today your design, cart, products and plugins run as one WordPress system. After the rebuild, the storefront your customers see and the back office where you work run separately. The back office can stay on WordPress, with the admin you know, or move entirely to a new one. Six changes follow from that split.
Speed
Today, on WordPressSlower with every plugin
On every visit the page loads data from the database and runs the plugins, so it slows down. Customers feel speed from the first click, and Google takes it into account in search results.
After the headless rebuildFast by design
Pages load fast because the storefront's engine prepares them in advance, not on every visit.
Updates
Today, on WordPressUpdates are a chore
Even an update tested on a copy goes into the live store, and going back means restoring a backup.
After the headless rebuildNew versions are built beside the live storefront
Each one goes live only once checked, and going back takes a moment.
Plugins and security
Today, on WordPressPlugin clutter
Many authors, many patch schedules, and a security hole in one plugin exposes the whole store to a break-in.
After the headless rebuildFewer things to patch
The storefront your customers see runs no plugins, and with a full move, code written for your store replaces them. The back office still gets updates, so there are fewer holes, not none.
Design
Today, on WordPressDesign locked into the theme
The theme and a page builder such as Elementor keep design and content together, so a new look often means laying out the pages again.
After the headless rebuildA new look without redoing the pages
Content and products live in the back office, separate from the design, so changing the look leaves them untouched.
Integrations and wholesale
Today, on WordPressIntegrations through plugins
Connecting the warehouse or business system, or adding wholesale prices, usually means more plugins, sometimes with custom code, and each has to work with the theme and every other plugin.
After the headless rebuildIntegrations without plugins
Warehouse and business-system connections and wholesale prices run in the back office, apart from the storefront. They are plugin-free only with a full move. If WordPress stays as the back office, some of them are still plugins.
Markets and languages
Today, on WordPressEach language on its own
A large, heavy plugin handles multilingual content, and every new language means separate settings or a separate store.
After the headless rebuildAll languages in one back office
The storefront takes every language version and each market's currency and prices from one back office, and with a full move you set them on the product, without a translation plugin.
Discovery checks whether the rebuild pays off for your store. A small store with a few products, no integrations and little traffic usually gains nothing from it.
What discovery actually is
I review the store, changing nothing, and hand over a document with a recommendation, a plan for the new store, the risks and fixed phase prices. A rebuild quoted without checking the store runs into trouble only after the switch, when old links lead nowhere and search rankings and sales suffer.
- 01
Catalogue and URLs
What has to move, how much of it there is and where search engines find it.
- Products, variants, categories, content and language versions
- URLs with search traffic, and redirects
- SEO settings, the sitemap and tracking
- 02
Integrations and payments
Which payment provider and systems the store works with day to day, and what has to run from the first hour after the switch.
- Warehouse, business system, accounting and wholesalers
- Payments, shipping and customer emails
- Third-party scripts, from analytics to chat
- 03
Customers and orders
What must carry over intact and how not to lose orders placed on switchover day.
- Customer accounts and order history
- Orders in progress, returns and subscriptions
- Consents and personal data
- 04
Speed and upkeep
What keeping the store running takes today in time, costs and urgent updates.
- Server response time, with and without the cache
- Plugin updates from the last 12 months, security fixes included
- Hosting and service costs
What is included and what is not
A read of the store in four areas, with numbers from your database and from measurements, not estimates.
A plan for the new store and a comparison of options with the monthly cost of each: keeping the WordPress admin, a new back office, and not rebuilding at all.
The risks of the rebuild and how each is kept in check, from page URLs to switchover-day orders.
A phase plan with the scope, acceptance criteria and fixed price of each phase.
A list of defects to fix right away, whether or not the rebuild ever starts.
A call about the document once you have read it, with the decisions to make and my recommendation on each.
The rebuild itself. That is a separate contract priced from the document.
Fixes in the current store, the listed defects included. I quote them separately if you want me to do them.
A new visual design. Discovery plans the rebuild, and design is a separate job.
Content, SEO and campaigns beyond keeping what already works.
A detailed specification of your business system integration, and workshops on your premises. A list of your integrations and how each will connect is included.
The wording of terms and policies after the switch. For that you need a lawyer.
The scope is fixed and the same for every store. Anything outside it is agreed and quoted before I start.
Discovery is a plan, not a commitment
is what discovery costs you if you order the rebuild from me
Discovery ends with a detailed, thorough document. You use it to decide whether to rebuild, when and with whom.
The document is complete, so any contractor can carry out the rebuild from it.
You pay for discovery up front, and if I do the rebuild, the full €1,370 comes off its quote.
A read of the store and a document planning and pricing each phase.
The rebuild with me, with another contractor or not at all.
Fixed-price phases with sign-off.
I will advise against it if it does not pay
Before we sign anything, I look at your store from the outside. If I conclude a rebuild would not help it, I will say so plainly and advise you not to buy discovery.
The document is useful without a rebuild too
Security holes, defects and whatever slows the store down come as a list to fix right away, whatever you decide about the rebuild. A break-in through an outdated plugin costs a store customers, trust and money, and a leak of customer data adds a report to the data protection authority and the risk of a GDPR fine.
How it works, from start to finish
Three steps from your enquiry to the document and the call about it.
Call, contract and access
You get in touch however you like, and my reply gives the date for the document. Then a call about the store, the contract, and only then access.
Reading the store
I work through the four areas on a copy and leave the live store untouched.
Document and call
You get the document. Once you have read it, we discuss the decisions and next steps.
What I need from you
- Access
- A store admin account, hosting panel access and a database copy while discovery runs. Customer data is covered by a data processing agreement.
- Traffic data
- Access to Search Console and analytics. They tell me which URLs have traffic and must survive the rebuild.
- Process owner
- A call with whoever knows the orders, the warehouse and the integrations. Without that call, I only see what the admin panel shows.
Who this is not for
A small store with a few products
For a simple catalogue without integrations, the store you have is enough. Regular care is money better spent.
A store that needs fixes, not a rebuild
When your plugins still do the job and something just isn't working right, start with an audit. It shows what to fix without a rebuild.
A store still being built
Discovery is for a store that is already running. A new store is a project with a quote up front.
Other work, from new features to stores built from scratch, is quoted as a project.
See live headless projects
- Rebuild
survivalism.pl
My own guides site, rebuilt from WordPress to headless: the back office stayed on WordPress, and readers get prebuilt files. The server answers a post in 0.06 s instead of 2.42 s, and 235 of 235 URLs from Search Console work unchanged after the rebuild. It is a content site, not a store.
survivalism.pl 
- Project
Suavius Atelier
My own brand's live store, built headless from scratch. It is a new store, not a rebuild.
suaviusatelier.com
Let's start with a conversation.
Every project starts with a first conversation. We sign a contract only once both sides know this collaboration makes sense.
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