A short note for established eCommerce teams
Your online shop probably doesn’t need another rebuild.
It needs someone to find the expensive friction hiding in the store you already have.
I help active Shopify, Shopify Plus, BigCommerce and WooCommerce brands work out what is actually getting in the way—and what is worth fixing first.
Get a free outside viewNo pitch deck. No automatic rebuild recommendation. If I can’t genuinely help, I’ll tell you.
the awkward truth
Most stores do not have one dramatic problem.
They have twenty small ones quietly making every visit harder than it needs to be.
A hesitant mobile menu. A product page that answers the wrong questions. A collection that makes comparison hard. An app loading everywhere when it is needed almost nowhere. A checkout decision nobody has revisited since launch.
None of these looks large enough to justify a project on its own. Together, they decide whether a customer keeps moving or gives up.
The expensive mistake is assuming the answer must be a new website before anyone has properly examined the current one.
Rebuilds are sometimes right. But they are also costly, disruptive and remarkably good at recreating old problems in fresher colours. A clear-eyed review of what you already have is a much cheaper place to begin.
Where the value usually hides
I look at the whole buying journey, then separate useful work from expensive theatre.
The selling journey
Navigation, collections, product pages, cart and checkout—the places where uncertainty becomes abandonment.
The technical drag
Performance, theme decisions, app weight, integrations and front-end friction, particularly on a real phone.
The proposed spend
Agency quotes, platform choices and feature requests translated into plain English before you commit the budget.
less spectacle, more results
A sensible first step should leave you clearer, not more committed.
Start with a free, no-pressure conversation about the store and the thing that is bothering you. I’ll ask a few direct questions and tell you where I think the useful next step sits.
That might be one focused fix, a proper review, help challenging a proposal, or a phased list of improvements. It may also be that you do not need me at all.
Tell me what’s not working- You show me the problemA rough description and the website are enough. No polished brief required.
- I give you a straight viewWhat looks important, what can wait and what I would question.
- You choose the next moveTake the advice away, book focused help or continue into delivery.
Who you’ll actually speak to
I’m Luke. I’ve spent over twenty years seeing how online stores go wrong—and how they go right.
I’ve worked in-house, agency-side and freelance. That means I understand the commercial pressure, the technical reality and the gap that often opens between the two.
I am most useful to brands already trading, with real customers, real data and a store worth improving. Shopify and Shopify Plus are home turf, with BigCommerce and WooCommerce close behind.
Luke Michael
eCommerce Consultant & Developer
A quick sense-check
This will be useful if…
We should probably talk
- Your store is live and actively trading
- You suspect friction but need help prioritising it
- You want an independent view before a large spend
- You value direct advice over a glossy presentation
It may not be a fit
- You need someone to agree with a decision already made
- You want a rebuild recommended before diagnosis
- You are looking for the cheapest pair of hands
- Your store has not launched yet and has no real data
one useful conversation
Before you spend more on the store, find out what is actually worth fixing.
Send me the website and the problem in your own words. I’ll take a look before we speak and come back with a sensible next step.
Start with a free callNo obligation after the call. No mailing list. Just a direct reply from me.