During my years running Wagento (A digital Solution Integrator), I witnessed this scenario play out repeatedly.
Partner managers would call me: "I've got a perfect lead for you. They need a B2B solution with custom pricing rules and integration with their legacy ERP system."
The leads always sounded promising. Wagento partnered with multiple platforms, Shopify, Adobe Commerce, and BigCommerce, precisely because different businesses have different needs. It would sometimes become painfully obvious after in-depth discovery calls with prospects: their requirements aligned better with another platform's native capabilities. Implementing on the referring platform would require expensive workarounds and compromises.
This created the uncomfortable decision every multi-platform agency dreads.
Option one: Recommend the better technical fit. The client would save thousands in development costs and get a more stable solution. But we'd disappoint our partner manager, and those valuable referrals would slow to a trickle.
Push forward with the referring platform, figuring out complex workarounds that would cost the client more and deliver less.
What partner managers never explicitly state but we all understand is that these referrals come with an unwritten expectation: close the deal on their platform, or the leads stop coming.
This isn't unique to any single platform. Every platform operates similarly. No Adobe rep sends leads expecting you'll move them to Shopify. No BigCommerce manager refers businesses hoping you'll implement on WooCommerce.
We struggled with the name and BigCommerce when we took them on as a platform. Who wants to send leads to a company named Wagento? It sounds a little like "Magento".
We built our entire business model around these referral relationships. For the longest time, we ONLY did Magento until our partner manager recommended that we take on another platform.
Ten leads a month from a single platform represents significant revenue. Converting those leads to another platform, even when it's clearly the right choice, means those leads vanish.
And here's the brutal reality I observed: The business caught in the middle never knows they're getting platform recommendations based on referral relationships rather than technical fit.
This system creates an impossible choice for honest agencies: serve your clients or serve your referral partners. You rarely get to do both.
Platform Referrals and Inherent Conflicts
The reality of platform recommendations isn't coincidental or isolated. It's a structural feature of how the commerce platform ecosystem operates.
I should note that many agencies specialize in one platform by choice. This specialization allows them to develop deep expertise and deliver exceptional results within that ecosystem. That's not what I'm addressing here. The problem arises when agencies present themselves as platform-agnostic while operating under hidden platform loyalties.
The platform referral dynamic creates several problematic realities:
First, no platform representative will refer leads to agencies they know won't prioritize their platform. This is business logic, not malice. Partner managers have targets to hit and their performance is measured by deals closed on their platform, not by finding the perfect technical fit for clients.
Second, agencies become dependent on these referrals. At Wagento, we tracked three critical metrics that demonstrate this dependency:
Platform-referred leads closed at 3-4x the rate of marketing-generated leads The average deal size from platform referrals was 40% larger than from other sources When we recommended against a referring platform more than twice in a quarter, referrals dropped by approximately 65% in the following quarter.
Third, this creates a situation where agencies must choose between maintaining a steady business pipeline and making purely objective recommendations.
Fourth, the system creates an uneven playing field. Agencies loyal to a single platform often receive more leads than those offering genuinely platform-agnostic solutions. The result is a marketplace where businesses may get recommendations based more on referral relationships than on technical alignment.
This system isn't unique to any single platform. Every major commerce platform operates with similar referral expectations and unwritten rules. The dynamics apply equally across Shopify, Adobe Commerce, BigCommerce, Salesforce, and others.
Why This Hidden Dynamic Matters
The Real Cost to Your Business The cost to businesses caught in this dynamic is substantial but often hidden beneath the surface of platform recommendations. When a business implements a platform poorly suited to their needs, implementation costs balloon as developers create complex workarounds for missing functionality.
Once launched, maintenance becomes increasingly expensive and complex as these custom solutions require specialized knowledge and constant attention. With each platform upgrade, these businesses face rebuilding custom solutions rather than leveraging improved native functionality.
Operational inefficiencies persist long after implementation, creating daily friction for staff and customers alike. Technical debt accumulates rapidly, eventually forcing painful and expensive decisions.
I've seen businesses waste $100,000+ on implementations that would have cost half as much on a better-aligned platform. Worse, they often don't discover this reality until they're too deep to change course.
What Your Business Can Do
Understanding this dynamic gives your business significant advantages in the platform selection process. Start by asking direct questions about how potential agencies evaluate platform fit for your specific requirements.
Request complete transparency regarding agency partnerships and what percentage of their business comes from platform referrals. Consider consulting with a platform-agnostic advisor who doesn't implement solutions but can provide objective guidance before making major platform decisions.
When evaluating costs, look beyond initial implementation to consider the total cost of ownership, including ongoing maintenance, upgrade paths, and long-term scalability.
Perhaps most importantly, whenever an agency says "we can build that," ask whether they're describing a native capability or a custom workaround—the difference will significantly impact your long-term costs and satisfaction.
The Industry-Wide Implications
This referral dynamic creates troubling problems for our entire industry. Innovation stagnates when platforms can rely on referral relationships rather than technical superiority to win deals.
Business owners who discover they've been steered toward a suboptimal solution lose trust in the entire agency ecosystem. Capital gets misallocated when businesses spend unnecessarily on workarounds instead of funding other growth initiatives.
Knowledge becomes siloed as agencies specializing in single platforms have less incentive to understand the broader technology landscape, limiting their ability to provide truly holistic advice.
The fundamental question becomes: Is this simply "how business works," or should we aspire to something better?
Do businesses have a responsibility to demand more transparency?
Do platforms have an incentive to change their referral models?
For agencies, the ethical considerations are significant. When your business depends on platform referrals but your client would benefit from a different solution, what's the right choice?
Addressing Common Counterarguments
Several counterarguments deserve attention in this conversation.
Some say, "Platform specialists know their platform best."
This is true, but specialists who only work on one platform won't receive referrals for leads that genuinely fit other platforms. The filter happens before the agency even enters the picture.
Others argue "platforms have a right to expect loyalty."
While understandable, partner managers are incentivized by closed deals and can risk their jobs if they don't hit targets. I'd be interested in hearing publicly or privately from partner managers about how they navigate this tension.
Many suggest "the current system works well enough for most clients."
But does it? How would clients even know if they're being steered toward a suboptimal solution?
Finally, some claim
"agencies can be transparent with clients about platform limitations."
Yes, absolutely! But transparency about platform capabilities differs fundamentally from transparency about referral relationships influencing recommendations.
The Missing Client Perspective The client perspective remains critically underrepresented in these discussions. The most common client assumption I've heard is: "Shopify is so much easier than Magento for a mom and pop shop!"
This is often true for simpler use cases but breaks down completely for complex requirements. We'll likely never get concrete data on how often the "best fit" platform differs from the referring platform.
Platforms have no incentive to track or share this information, and agencies risk valuable referral relationships by documenting it.
How many of you have experienced being pushed toward a platform that didn't quite fit your needs? I'd be interested in hearing your experiences, either publicly in the comments or privately in a message.
Changing How We Talk About Platforms
The commerce platform ecosystem isn't going to transform overnight. Referral relationships will continue driving agency revenue, and platform partner managers will still be evaluated on closing deals. Acknowledging this reality doesn't mean we can't aspire to something better.
For businesses selecting a platform, arm yourself with knowledge. Ask uncomfortable questions about why specific platforms are being recommended. Request examples of when an agency has recommended against their primary platform partners. Their answer will tell you everything about whose interests they prioritize. Consider engaging platform-agnostic consultants for initial technology selection before approaching implementation partners. The modest cost of objective advice pales compared to a six-figure implementation mistake.
For agencies, the path forward requires balance. Building revenue streams independent of platform referrals creates the freedom to make truly client-centered recommendations. This might mean investing more in marketing, thought leadership, and direct client relationships. The short-term revenue hit from occasionally declining ill-fitting platform referrals pays dividends in long-term client trust and reputation.
For platforms, consider evolving partner programs to reward customer success rather than platform adoption alone. A successful implementation that delights the client creates a stronger long-term advocate than a forced fit that generates immediate revenue but eventual resentment. Some platforms are already moving in this direction, measuring partner performance on customer satisfaction alongside revenue generation.
I've lived this tension from multiple angles throughout my career. I've made decisions I'm proud of and others I wish I could revisit. The commerce technology ecosystem is remarkably small, and reputation follows you. What's the right choice when your business depends on platform referrals but your client would benefit from a different solution? That's a question each agency owner must answer according to their own ethical compass.
What remains clear is this: the current system doesn't serve clients as well as it could. Businesses deserve recommendations based on their needs rather than agency referral relationships. Getting there requires more transparency from everyone involved.
I'm genuinely curious about your experiences. Have you found yourself pushed toward platforms that weren't ideal fits? If you're an agency owner, how do you navigate platform referral expectations while serving clients? And if you're a platform partner manager, what's your perspective on this dynamic?
This conversation matters because commerce technology decisions impact businesses for years. Let's start having more honest discussions about how these decisions get made and whose interests they serve. The first step toward a better system is acknowledging how the current one actually works.
