How Peter Sheppard Footwear Tripled Conversions and Boosted Revenue 30%

Background

Peter Sheppard Footwear has been crafting premium shoes for over 40 years. The brand’s core principle is simple: quality construction, timeless design, and exceptional service. With boutiques in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, the label earned a dedicated following that expected seamless service both in store and online. When lockdowns hit in 2020, the limitations of its legacy ecommerce system became painfully clear.

The Challenge

Before migrating, every change—no matter how small—took the team a full 24 hours to publish. If an error slipped through, they had to wait a day to notice and correct it. Promotions, new arrivals, inventory updates, imagery swaps—everything moved at a glacial pace. As shoppers shifted online, Peter Sheppard needed speed and flexibility to keep up with demand and maintain the boutique experience.

Solution

The retailer chose Shopify Plus and enlisted DotDev, a specialist partner, to phase the transition. Data migrated in stages, while custom connectors hooked into the Mi9 POS system. Bulk-publish plug-ins automated product updates, rules-based flows removed sold-out items, and Amazon S3 became the central image library. A live marketing dashboard and chatbot powered real-time campaigns and support.

Implementation Details

• Connector built between Mi9 and Shopify Plus for unified inventory.
• Custom plug-ins for bulk product publishing and removal.
• Images dropped to S3 bucket picked up automatically by Shopify.
• Live marketing view enabled agile campaign adjustments.
• Automated abandoned-cart emails drive further sales.

Results

By cutting update time from 24 hours to zero, Peter Sheppard Footwear tripled its online conversion rate during COVID-19. Automation and self-service plug-ins let the team iterate without developer hand-holding. Online revenue jumped 30% season-over-season, and customer engagement spiked thanks to personalized chat and targeted emails. Operational agility now rivals the in-store experience.

Key Outcomes

• 3X increase in site-wide conversion rate.
• 30% uplift in online revenue.
• Instant platform updates replaced 24-hour delay.
• Streamlined image management via Amazon S3.
• Enhanced customer support with chat functionality.

Future Plans

With a clean backend and proven integrations, the retailer plans to roll out 3D product imagery, click-and-collect, and same-day delivery. The phased approach demonstrated that small tweaks month over month can yield significant gains without massive upfront investment.