What if I’m a single-product brand (just formula) vs. a full-range baby retailer?

The architecture changes by scale:

Single-product brand (e.g. just formula, like early-stage Bobbie or Kendamil):

• Magento is overkill if you’re under $500k GMV with one SKU family. A Shopify Basic + ReCharge build ships faster + cheaper.
• Migration to Magento makes sense when you add SKU stages (stage 1 → 2 → 3 formula), subscription depth (skip / pause / swap controls), and registry integration. Usually $1M+ GMV mark.
• The single-product Magento build emphasizes: subscription portal UX, milestone-based Klaviyo flows, scientific / pediatrician-vetted content pages (formula in particular needs strong trust signals), compliance flagging.

Full-range baby retailer (e.g. Hello Bello, Honest Co., Babylist Storefront-style multi-brand):

• Magento is the right answer above $2M GMV. Catalog complexity (10,000+ SKUs across categories) breaks Shopify variant ceilings.
• Multi-brand house: separate categories per brand, customer-segment-based promotions, optional multi-store-view if brands have separate visual identity.
• Editorial layer (gift guides, registry checklist, stage-by-stage starter kits) lives on Magento CMS pages + Hyvä blocks. Heavy SEO contribution at this scale.
• ERP integration (NetSuite for the multi-brand finance + WMS layer) becomes non-optional. Plan it from week 1, not as a phase 2.

The middle case (e.g. Bobbie at $50M GMV, single-product but huge):

• Sub-heavy + single-product is the highest-LTV-per-customer scenario. Magento + Hyvä with deep ReCharge + Skio + Smartrr integration justifies the investment by month 6 on retention alone.
• The compliance + recall workflow + EWG / FDA positioning matters more here than catalog breadth.

I’ll write the right shape into the audit recommendation. Single-product brands often need a phased plan: Shopify now, Magento at $1.5M GMV.