INDUSTRY:
A business consultant came to JCD with a straightforward request: fix the checkout on his website. Customers couldn’t complete a purchase — payment fields simply weren’t appearing. The ask seemed manageable. Getting into the site told a different story.
The site had been built using a paid design tool and imported into WordPress via a third-party plugin — an unconventional approach the client had no idea about. Any meaningful changes required working in the original tool first, then reimporting into WordPress, which overwrote anything added in the meantime.
Further review uncovered additional concerns: core WordPress security features had been disabled, the payment gateway had been swapped without the client’s knowledge, contact forms had been turned off entirely, and all licensing and accounts were held in the original developer’s name — not the client’s.
The root cause of the checkout failure: the setup was simply incompatible with downloadable products, which happened to be exactly what the client sold.
Rather than recommend a full rebuild — expensive, time-consuming, and unnecessary given that most of the site was working — JCD proposed a more precise intervention. A separate ecommerce store built on a subdomain, using a clean native WordPress installation with only the plugins required to run the shop. The subdomain mirrored the existing site’s design so visitors would experience it as one cohesive presence.
The client had three specific questions before approving: Would the handoff feel seamless to customers? Would the main site remain stable? Could the subdomain eventually become the foundation for a full rebuild if needed? The answer to all three was yes.
Checkout is working correctly. Customers can purchase and download products without friction. The client now owns his ecommerce environment outright, understands what he has, and has a clear path forward.
Not every website problem requires starting over. The right solution fixes what’s actually broken, preserves what’s working, and doesn’t create unnecessary cost or disruption in the process.
Pete Canalichio, Founder,