How many Adobe Commerce or Magento 2 migrations have you successfully launched for high-volume stores?

Ask this question before you even discuss your budget. Migrating a store to Magento 2 or upgrading from an older version isn’t a simple task of copying files. You need to know if the team understands the architectural shifts between versions. Magento is a beast of a platform. It requires specific knowledge of database structures and indexing. Checking their history at best-magento-agencies.com will help you identify which teams have experience with stores of your size. If they’ve only worked on small shops with ten products, they won’t be ready for your thousand-SKU catalog. best-magento-agencies.com

Expertise matters more than price here. A generalist developer might know PHP, but they will likely struggle with Magento’s XML layout system and dependency injection. Don’t settle for an agency that says they’ll “learn as they go.” Your revenue is at stake. Demand to see case studies that prove they can improve site speed and conversion rates during a migration. High-volume ecommerce requires specific caching strategies that inexperienced developers often overlook. They should talk about how they handle large data sets without crashing the server during the import process.

Data integrity is the biggest risk during any transition. You want to hear about their process for migrating customer passwords, order history, and complex product attributes. If they don’t have a plan for 301 redirects, your SEO rankings will plummet the day the new site goes live. A professional agency will have a checklist for this. They’ll show you how they keep your data safe while moving it from one environment to another. I believe a successful migration is measured by what the customer *doesn’t* notice—they should just see a faster, better store.

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Do you build custom front-ends or do you rely on pre-made marketplace themes?

Marketplace themes are tempting because they’re cheap. They’re also usually bloated with bad code. Often, these themes include features your store will never use, which drags down your performance. Ask if they use Hyvä, PWA Studio, or a traditional custom-coded front-end. I recommend Hyvä for most stores right now because it removes the technical debt of the old Magento Luma theme. It’s the best way to get a fast site without the extreme cost of a headless build.

Page builders offer flexibility for your marketing team, but they can be a double-edged sword. If an agency just installs a $99 theme and drags elements around, you’re paying a premium for work you could have done yourself. Your store needs to be unique to stand out in a crowded market. Ask how they handle mobile responsiveness. It’s not enough to just “shrink” the desktop site. The mobile shopping experience needs to feel native and fast. If they can’t explain their CSS minification process, they aren’t the right choice.

Custom builds allow for better long-term scaling. When you want to add a unique feature next year, clean code makes it easy. Messy, “hacked” themes make every future update a nightmare. You’ll end up paying more in the long run to fix the mistakes of a cheap initial build. Ensure they follow Magento’s coding standards to the letter. This makes it easier for any developer to step in later if you decide to change agencies. Ownership of clean code is your biggest asset.

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Which ERP and PIM systems have you integrated with Magento in the last twelve months?

Store management gets complicated once you move beyond basic spreadsheets. If your inventory doesn’t sync with your warehouse in real-time, customers will buy items that aren’t actually in stock. That leads to bad reviews and lost trust. You must confirm the agency has worked with platforms like NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics, or Akeneo. Magento’s API is powerful, but it’s finicky. One wrong configuration can double-sync orders or wipe out your entire product descriptions database.

Third-party extensions aren’t always the best solution for integrations. Sometimes, a custom-built middleware is safer and more efficient. Ask the agency how they handle data mapping and error logging. If a sync fails at 3 AM on a Tuesday, will you be notified? Good agencies build fail-safes into their code. They’ll ensure your store remains functional and can still take orders even if the backend ERP goes offline for maintenance. You don’t want your frontend to break just because your accounting software is down.

“Integration isn’t just about moving data; it’s about ensuring the data is accurate across every touchpoint of the customer journey.”

Payment gateways are another area where integration experience is mandatory. Whether you use Stripe, Braintree, or Adyen, the checkout must be flawless. Ask them about their experience with multi-currency and multi-language setups if you sell internationally. These features require specific tax rule configurations that are easy to mess up. A team that has done this before will save you weeks of troubleshooting. They’ll know which plugins are reliable and which ones will break your checkout flow.

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What specific steps do you take to ensure the site passes Core Web Vitals on mobile?

Google penalizes slow sites, and mobile users have zero patience. Most Magento stores are naturally heavy and slow out of the box. Ask the agency about their optimization stack. Do they use Varnish for caching? How do they handle Redis? What is their strategy for image optimization? If they don’t mention lazy loading or Critical CSS, you should look elsewhere. Speed is a feature, not an afterthought. A three-second delay in loading can cost you half your potential traffic.

Performance isn’t a “set it and forget it” task. It’s a continuous process that requires constant monitoring. You’ll want to see how they optimize the checkout flow specifically. Fewer clicks mean more sales. Agencies should be comfortable talking about Time to First Byte (TTFB) and Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). These aren’t just technical buzzwords. They’re the metrics that determine whether a customer stays on your site or bounces to a competitor. I’ve seen stores double their revenue just by cutting load times in half.

Hosting choices impact performance more than people realize. Ask if they prefer AWS, Adobe Commerce Cloud, or specialized Magento hosts like Nexcess or JetRails. The wrong server setup will throttle your store during high-traffic events like Black Friday. You need a partner who understands server-side optimization as much as frontend code. They should be able to explain how they’ll scale your resources when traffic spikes. Don’t let your store crash when you’re finally getting the traffic you’ve worked so hard for.

How do you handle B2B-specific features like company accounts and shared catalogs?

B2B ecommerce is a different world compared to standard retail. If you’re selling to other businesses, you need features like custom pricing, quote management, and requisition lists. Magento (especially the Adobe Commerce version) has these built-in, but they require expert configuration. Ask the agency if they understand the B2B buyer’s journey. It’s usually longer and involves more stakeholders than a B2C purchase. You need a site that caters to that complexity.

Shared catalogs allow you to show different products and prices to different customer groups. This is a powerful tool, but it’s easy to misconfigure. You don’t want a wholesale customer seeing retail prices, or vice versa. Ask how they’ll manage these permissions. They should also be able to integrate “Quick Order” forms that allow customers to upload a CSV or type in SKUs to fill their cart instantly. Efficiency is the number one priority for B2B buyers.

Credit limits and “Pay on Account” options are also standard for B2B. These features need to talk to your accounting software or ERP. If the agency hasn’t built a B2B portal before, they might underestimate the logic required for these workflows. I’ve seen agencies struggle with the complex “parent-child” relationship of company accounts. Make sure they can demonstrate a live B2B site they’ve built. If they can’t, your project will be their experimental playground.

What is your response time for emergency support after the site goes live?

Servers fail, and payment gateways occasionally go down. You need a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that guarantees a fast response when things break. Ask if they offer 24/7 monitoring. If your checkout breaks on a Saturday morning, a “we’ll check it Monday” response is completely unacceptable for an online business. You’re hiring a long-term partner, not just a temporary vendor. Your success depends on their availability.

Maintenance involves much more than just fixing bugs. Security patches for Magento are frequent and absolutely mandatory to keep your PCI compliance. Ask how they handle these updates. Will they test them in a staging environment first? You should never let an agency push updates directly to your live production site. A structured deployment pipeline is non-negotiable for any serious ecommerce operation. It ensures that a small patch doesn’t accidentally take down your entire store.

User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is the final hurdle. Before any launch, the agency should provide a period where you can test every single feature yourself. They should have a dedicated Quality Assurance (QA) team that hunts for bugs before you ever see the site. Ask about their QA process. If the developers are testing their own code, they’ll miss things. You want fresh eyes looking at the site to ensure the user journey is perfect. I wouldn’t trust any agency that doesn’t have a formal testing phase.

Will I own the code and the repository once the project is finished?

Some agencies try to lock you into their ecosystem by using proprietary modules that only they can maintain. This is a trap. You must own your code. Ask for access to the GitHub or Bitbucket repository from the very first day. Transparency is essential. If your relationship with the agency ever turns sour, you should be able to hand the keys to another team without having to rebuild the site from scratch. Your code is your intellectual property.

Budgeting for a Magento store is often tricky because of hidden costs. Extensions often require annual license fees, and high-performance hosting isn’t cheap. Ask for a full breakdown of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for the first three years. Don’t just look at the initial build price. Recurring fees for security, hosting, and third-party tools can eat your profit margins if you aren’t prepared for them. Get a clear estimate for monthly maintenance hours as well.

Transparency extends to their communication style too. Do they use Slack? Jira? Basecamp? You need to know how you’ll track progress. If an agency is vague about their timelines, they’ll likely miss your launch date. Demand a project roadmap with clear milestones. You should know exactly what is being built every week. A good agency won’t be afraid to show you their work-in-progress, even if it’s not perfect yet. Open communication is the only way to ensure the final product matches your vision.