Case Study — Accent Group / Platypus Shoes
Built for Momentum
Platypus Shoes was one of the first Australian retailers to bet on Magento 2.0. Years on, that early bet had grown into a maze of custom code. Here's how we reset the architecture — without stopping the business.
CLIENT
Platypus Shoes
GROUP
Accent Group
SECTOR
Retail/Footwear Ecomm
PLATFORMS
Adobe commerce, Mulesoft, Apparel 21
The Situation
A site that outgrew its own architecture
In 2016, Platypus Shoes was one of the first Australian retailers to embrace Magento 2.0. Fast-forward, 'n' years and the original build had grown more bespoke than the business ever intended - years of custom work layered on top of custom work.
The brief wasn't a rebuild for its own sake. It was three things at once: reset the base architecture so upgrades stopped being a fight, lift the customer experience with better UX and smarter prompts at the right moment, and give the internal team tools that actually made their day easier.
Architected with scalability and reusability in mind; a site that needed to work harder for the business and the people running it.
What 6R focused on
1. Alignment across vendors
Every third party pulling in the same direction, on the same timeline.
2. Consistent communication
One clear line of truth across the project team and business, not five versions of the story.
3. Reduction of customisations
Less bespoke code to maintain, more platform doing the heavy lifting.
Problem to Solution
Four fronts, one project
Migrating a mature ecommerce site has a lot of moving parts. Here's where the pressure showed up — and how it was worked through.
Challenge - Complexity
Too many moving parts
Solution
Cross-business working sessions, clear escalation
Every third-party extension provider became part of the migration strategy, not an afterthought.
Clear lines of communication and escalation across agency and vendor partners
Shared clarity on the customer-facing outcome and intent
A hard line between "critical now" and "could come later" features
Challenge - Middleware
A brand-new integration layer, with reusable APIs
Solution
Reusable APIs on a tier-1 middleware platform
Previous integrations were point-to-point. This was the client's first time working in a true middleware layer — so the core got protected first.
Product, inventory and customer built into MuleSoft as the foundation, freeing the team to focus on the best solution for each
Integration work pulled early in the timeline, not left to the end
Time built in to test throughput and measure capacity and speed
Challenge - Customer Experience
An early adopter's site had collected friction points
Solution
Fixing the path to purchase, not just the front end
Smart search was a non-negotiable "must have." Orders were failing in the integrations, creating a daily manual monitoring task for the business apps team.
Fewer customer calls needed for help placing orders
Fewer failed orders
Improved search and better stock availability visibility
Challenge - Employee Experience
Sale prep meant midnight take-downs
Solution
Scheduling, better data, a CMS that flexes
The win wasn't just customer-facing — it changed how the ecomm team's own days ran.
Sale activity scheduled instead of manually triggered at odd hours
Sharper reporting accuracy from an improved data layer and tag management
A CMS content builder flexible enough to keep up with the business
The Results
Momentum you can measure
Not vanity metrics — the numbers that show up in the P&L and on the shop floor.
31%
Increase in conversion rate
50%
Increase in return visitors
30%
More time spent on site
14%
Increase in average order value
68%
Increase in add-to-cart rate
And behind the scenes: a streamlined product process that's lifted overall team productivity, not just the storefront.
In their words
What the business gained
What did the business gain from the new website?
"With enhanced customer experience and operational excellence at the core of this project, we strategically defined the features and functionality that deliver a modern customer experience — while unlocking and elevating our back-office team's experience."
"The technology and innovation at the heart of this project form the foundations of our success, giving us scalability, flexibility and speed, while delivering excellence for our team through improved processes and ways of working."
Accent Group
Where did 6R add the most value?
"The 6R team have been key to the success of this project. With multiple vendors and stakeholders, 6R ensured clear communication and collaboration across all of them."
"Leonie empowered the team, driving accountability and discipline from discovery to delivery — continuously aligning us to the goal and long-term vision, and keeping the project moving through covid, conflict, and everything in between."
Accent Group
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