Rescuing Magento Projects: Transform Chaos into E-Commerce Success

You’ve poured time, money, and effort into launching your Magento store, only to find yourself facing endless problems: unreliable performance, poor communication, and a platform that feels more like a liability than an asset. Sound familiar? You’re not alone. At our Magento agency, we specialise in stepping into these rescue projects and transforming them into efficient, optimised, and scalable e-commerce platforms. Here’s how we do it, and why it works.

Why Rescue Projects Keep Finding Us

The story is almost always the same. A client comes to us frustrated and cautious, often after spending a significant budget on an agency that couldn’t deliver. They’ve tried launching or improving their Magento store, but instead of a reliable, high-performing platform, they’re left with broken features, slow load times, and poor communication from their current agency.

By the time they reach out to us, they’ve hit a wall. They’re sceptical about spending more money and scared of repeating the same mistakes. That’s where we come in - not with flashy sales pitches, but with data-driven transparency that builds trust and lays the foundation for real improvement.

Step One: The Audit—Turning Confusion into Clarity

When a client engages us, the first thing we do is conduct a comprehensive audit. This isn’t just about finding what’s wrong; it’s about understanding the full scope of the project, the infrastructure, and the business goals behind it.

Here’s what we look at during the audit:

1. Code Base

   We evaluate the client’s codebase using automated tools to extract as much data as possible. Our analysis includes:

   • Lines of Code (LoC): How large is the project? How is it distributed across modules?
   • Cyclomatic Complexity: Is the code structured in a way that’s easy to understand, or is it convoluted with unnecessary loops and conditions?
   • Vendor Analysis: How many third-party extensions are in use, and do they conflict with one another?

2. Infrastructure

   We dig into the hosting environment to identify:

   • Cache configurations (e.g., Redis, Full Page Cache)
   • Deployment pipelines and automation tools
   • Adherence to Magento’s infrastructure best practices

3. Database

   We examine the database to uncover

   • largest and most-used tables
   • Potential bottlenecks caused by poorly written modules dumping excessive data into the database

4. Business Model

   Understanding the client’s business goals is key. Is this a single-product B2B store with complex customer pricing, or a high-traffic B2C store with extensive product catalogues and promotions? By understanding the business, we can evaluate whether the existing setup aligns with their needs.

The Deliverables

Our Audit delivers two import insights:

1. A Metrics-Driven Report
   This is a comprehensive, data-rich report that lays out all the metrics we’ve collected. We use industry-standard metrics - no proprietary, our own “run_as_root score” - so the client knows exactly what they’re dealing with. For example: Cyclomatic complexity shows how maintainable the code is. Vendor counts indicate potential conflicts between extensions. Cache efficiency highlights immediate performance improvements.
2. Executive Summary with Recommendations
   The executive summary is a 20-30 pages document written in plain, actionable language. It includes:
   • Explanation of the metrics and why they matter Identified risks and quick fixes (e.g., installing a full-page cache solution)
   • A prioritised roadmap with “T-shirt sizes” to categorise tasks (e.g., “small,” “medium,” “large”)
   • Business value of each recommendation (e.g., improved time-to-first-byte reduces bounce rates)

Why It Works

1. Focus on Maintenance Over Relaunches
   Many agencies favour relaunches because they’re big, lucrative projects. But relaunches also come with high costs and risks. We take the opposite approach - building trust by working with clients over time, using smaller budgets to deliver steady, measurable improvements.
2. Low-Hanging Fruit for Immediate Wins
   Our audit often identifies simple fixes that deliver significant value quickly. For instance, installing or configuring caching properly can drastically improve performance within hours, giving the client immediate results and confidence in our process.
3. Transparency and Collaboration
   Every recommendation comes with a clear explanation and estimated effort. Clients can see the business value of each task and choose what to prioritise, ensuring they stay in control.
4. Building Long-Term Partnerships
   Our ultimate goal is to establish long-term relationships with clients, working with them consistently over years rather than treating them as one-off projects. Here’s why this benefits the client:
5. Incremental Improvements
   Instead of spending a massive budget upfront, clients can allocate a modest monthly budget (e.g., €1,000) to address critical issues and gradually improve their store.
6. Trust and Transparency
   By starting small and delivering measurable improvements, we build trust. Once clients see the value we provide, they’re more willing to invest in larger projects with us.
7. Continuous Adaptation
   E-commerce is constantly evolving, and so are client needs. Our maintenance-focused approach allows us to adapt and evolve the store over time, ensuring it remains competitive and aligned with business goals.

Real-Life Example: The "Promocell" Transformation

One of our clients, Promocell, came to us with a store riddled with bloated code, poorly maintained extensions, and suboptimal infrastructure. Here’s what we did:

• Conducted an audit that identified conflicting extensions and unnecessary complexity.
• Addressed low-hanging fruit, such as cache misconfigurations, within hours to improve performance.
• Created a long-term roadmap to refactor core components and reduce dependency conflicts.

Within months, their store was more stable, faster, and easier to maintain. Over time, we built a partnership where they trusted us to handle both routine maintenance and larger projects.

Why this is good for the client

When clients come to us, they’ve often already burned through a significant budget on failed attempts. Our approach offers:

• A low-risk starting point: Small, immediate fixes build confidence without requiring a huge upfront investment.
• Measurable progress: By focusing on metrics, clients can track improvements and see tangible results.
• Long-term stability: Instead of pushing for a quick relaunch, we create a system that evolves and improves over time.

Conclusion: A Better Way to Rescue E-Commerce Projects

Rescuing a broken Magento store isn’t about flashy presentations or grand promises - it’s about honesty, transparency, and measurable results. At our agency, we’ve developed a proven process that starts with understanding the client’s unique challenges and builds trust through small, meaningful improvements. If you’re frustrated with your current Magento setup and want a partner who prioritises long-term success over quick fixes, we’re here to help. Let’s turn your e-commerce platform into the reliable, high-performing system it was always meant to be.