Five collections a year,
on a platform that could not keep pace.
Cynthia Rowley is a global lifestyle brand spanning ready-to-wear, swim, beauty, jewelry, eyewear and home, with up to five seasonal collections a year. Magento could not move at the speed of that calendar, and the brand's best content had no path to purchase.
The situation,as it arrived.
The backend was the bottleneck. Routine content updates needed a developer, which is untenable for a team reacting to a rolling product calendar across a broad multi-category assortment. International commerce was unsupported: no local currency or localised experience for Australia or China despite a genuine following in both.
And the seasonal lookbook — shot three times a year, one of the brand's largest content investments — was editorial only. There was no route from inspiration to purchase, and no UX analysis had ever been applied to the path in between.
Four moves,in the order they happened.
UX analysis before design
Analytics-led work mapping the typical user, seasonal traffic, path to site and on-site flow, so the design answered how customers actually shopped rather than starting from aesthetics.
Magento to Shopify Plus
Chosen for performance under traffic, a nimble backend for frequent collection updates, and native support for the promotional complexity the brand needs — tiered discounts, bundling, BOGO, and tax management.
Three storefronts, three markets
Separate Shopify Plus builds for Australia and China alongside the US store, each in local currency with an experience appropriate to the market rather than a US site with a converter bolted on.
Make the lookbook shoppable, and ship in phases
The lookbook became a direct commerce surface — shop the look without navigating away — and pre-order went live for collections-based selling. Delivery was deliberately non-linear so critical functionality landed ahead of key selling windows.
Everything thatleft the building.
- Magento to Shopify Plus migration
- Three international storefronts: US, Australia, China
- Multi-currency and localised experiences
- Shoppable lookbook integration
- Pre-order capability
- UX analysis and conversion-led redesign
- Promotional and pricing configuration
- Phased release plan
More like this one.One a month.
Written out of engagements rather than off a content calendar, by whichever principal ran the work. No sequence afterwards.
Your situation is not this one.Tell us what it is.
A senior strategist reads it and replies within one business day, with a straight answer about whether we are the right people.