Client: Adios Plastic
Website: adiosplastic.co.uk
Industry: Eco-Friendly Consumer Goods / Subscriptions / eCommerce
Previous Platform: WooCommerce + WooCommerce Subscriptions
New Platform: Shopify + Loop Subscriptions
The Problem with WooCommerce
Adios Plastic had long outgrown its WooCommerce setup. What began as a flexible open-source foundation became a technical bottleneck. Providing a slow experience for customers. Behind the scenes WordPress was becoming unstable and increasingly expensive to maintain.
Years of plugin layering and custom code introduced fragility. Updates became dangerous. Performance was inconsistent. And worst of all, subscribers struggled to manage their accounts, driving up churn.
- Slow site speeds, especially during campaigns and traffic peaks
- High hosting costs required to maintain uptime
- Unplanned downtime, directly affecting revenue
- Developer reliance for even minor content updates or campaigns
- Limited self-service options for subscribers, resulting in higher churn
Adios Plastic needed a fast, flexible, and subscription-friendly platform to grow on without the fragility and cost overhead.
The ReCart.me Migration Plan
ReCart.me worked closely with the Adios Plastic team to rebuild their site with a Shopify-first mindset: stable, modern, and designed for long-term agility.
Platform Setup
- Migrated all order, customer, and product data from WooCommerce
- Migrated active subscribers to Loop Subscriptions (excluding legacy PayPal customers)
- Integrated fulfilment with ShipStation for post-migration continuity
Design & Theming
- Launched a premium Shopify theme (Shapes), visually evolved from Adios Plastic’s latest campaign look
- Created dynamic templates for landing pages and content giving the internal team full control
- Built for mobile-first speed and conversion
Content & SEO
- Migrated selected content pages and implemented 301 redirects to retain SEO value
- New visuals and copy provided by the client, with input on formatting and flow
Custom Tools & Integrations
- Adapted the Plastic Bag Calculator as an external tool hosted via VPS, linked seamlessly
- Configured International Shipping and Multi-Currency Support
- Integrated Klaviyo, Metorik (non-subscription reporting), and form tools
Subscription Experience: From Frustration to Flexibility
Adios Plastic transitioned from WooCommerce Subscriptions to Loop Subscriptions — and the difference has been transformative.
The Limitations of WooCommerce Subscriptions
WooCommerce’s native subscription tools caused significant pain points for both the business and its customers, especially as Adios Plastic scaled.
1. Scalability and Management Challenges
- Manual Processes: Managing renewals, cancellations, and updates manually became unmanageable as the subscriber base grew.
- Limited Functionality: WooCommerce Subscriptions lacked many modern features requiring multiple plugins that often conflicted.
- Lack of Automation: Renewal notifications, billing retries, and customer updates required ongoing oversight and manual handling.
- Data Limitations: Accessing meaningful subscription metrics or customer behaviour reports was difficult and time-consuming.
2. Poor Customer Experience and High Friction
- Complex Sign-up: The checkout process for subscriptions was cumbersome and caused friction during acquisition.
- Inflexible Subscription Options: Customers couldn’t easily pause, skip, or modify their orders leading to frustration and cancellations.
- Payment Issues: Failed payments due to expired cards often went unnoticed and led to lost revenue.
- Support Burden: Customers frequently contacted support just to make simple changes increasing admin load.
- Lack of Engagement: The system didn’t support proactive communication, incentives, or custom flows to build retention.
3. Revenue Impact and Growth Barriers
- Churn: High churn rates were a direct result of poor UX and lack of customer empowerment.
- Revenue Leakage: Failed payments and inactive subscriptions were not recovered effectively.
- Difficulty Scaling: As the business grew, the platform’s limitations became a bottleneck for operational efficiency and growth.
The Solution: Loop Subscriptions on Shopify
By switching to Loop on Shopify, Adios Plastic unlocked a modern, scalable subscription engine:
- Customers can pause, skip, or reschedule deliveries without contacting support
- Failed payments are automatically retried and flagged for follow-up
- Analytics tools offer real-time insights into churn, retention, and LTV
- Branded customer portals improve user experience and trust
- Fewer plugins = better performance, stability, and speed
The result? Fewer cancellations, happier customers, and more headroom for the brand to grow its subscriber base.
Key Challenges Solved
- Replaced fragile WooCommerce setup with Shopify’s reliable and fast infrastructure
- Eliminated plugin maintenance and unpredictable update conflicts
- Empowered internal teams to manage and update content independently
- Delivered a modern subscription experience customers could manage without help
- Reduced hosting and dev overhead significantly
Results & Outcomes
- 99.99% uptime since launch meaning no hosting issues or performance dips
- Lower churn rates, driven by better self-service via Loop
- £10 reduction in new customer acquisition cost (NCPA)
- Faster campaign rollouts with no developers required for new landing pages
- Improved visibility into subscription and campaign data for smarter decision-making
- Zero time spent on plugin updates, security patches, or site maintenance
“We’ve reclaimed control — no more fragile updates or late-night outages. Shopify and Loop are a breath of fresh air for the team and for our customers.”
— Adios Plastic Team
Ready to Streamline Your Subscriptions?
ReCart.me helps subscription-led brands move from WooCommerce to Shopify + Loop simplifying operations while boosting growth.
