Adobe Commerce
Magento
Shopify
Early Settler is one of Australia’s most recognised furniture and homewares retailers, with stores nationwide and a growing online business. As their old Adobe Commerce / Magento platform started holding them back, ESR brought in Acidgreen for a multi-year overhaul, covering platform migration, system integrations, site performance, SEO, and ongoing support.
The work, carried out across 2022 to 2025, moved Early Settler from a clunky Magento setup to a modern Shopify ecosystem, delivering better performance, lower running costs, and a solid foundation for growth across online and in-store channels. Key tools in the mix include Searchspring, Akeneo PIM, Retail Express (REX) ERP, and Celigo integrations, all backed by 24/7 monitoring and strong service agreements.
What We Did
Tools & Technologies
How does a major Australian furniture retailer update its eCommerce setup, cut integration costs, and build for the future — without disrupting day-to-day operations?
- Migrate from Magento to Shopify Plus
- Rebuild the integration layer and phase out WSO2 in favour of Celigo
- Improve site speed, SEO, and the overall shopping experience
- Connect best-in-class tools: Searchspring, Akeneo PIM, and Retail Express ERP
- Put in place a long-term support model with strong SLAs and round-the-clock monitoring
The Problem
An Ageing Platform Slowing Things Down
When Acidgreen first got involved, Early Settler was running on Adobe Commerce / Magento, and it was becoming a real headache:
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Too much manual effort heavy customisations, complicated deployments, and growing maintenance work were slowing the business down.
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Performance issues slow load times and reliability problems were hurting the customer experience and costing sales.
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A costly legacy integration setup (WSO2) that was expensive to run and no longer fit for purpose.
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Bigger ambitions ESR wanted to improve search, product data, ERP connectivity, SEO, and in-store/online alignment, but the old platform couldn’t support it.
How We Approached It
Staged, Practical, Low-Risk
2022–2023 — Migration & Settling In
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Moved from Magento to Shopify Plus
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Stabilised the new platform and rolled out priority features
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Set up integrations using WSO2 as the backbone
2024 — Smarter Integrations, Lower Costs
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Brought in Celigo as the new integration platform
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Gradually switched off WSO2, reducing complexity and cost
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Made significant performance improvements across the Shopify store
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Trimmed costs across the technology stack
2025 — Ongoing Improvement
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Strengthened SLAs and 24/7 monitoring for a business-critical platform
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Continued fine-tuning Celigo data flows
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Ongoing support and incremental improvement
What We Built and Delivered
A full migration from Adobe Commerce to Shopify Plus, including data migration, redesign, integration work, and a staged go-live.
Searchspring was set up to deliver smarter search, better filtering, personalised merchandising, and improved product discovery across ESR’s furniture and homewares catalogue.
Akeneo PIM was deployed to bring all product information into one place, improve data quality, and feed accurate product data through to Shopify and other systems with ongoing support from our PIM team.
Connected Retail Express so that inventory, orders, pricing, and operations are aligned across the website and physical stores.
Moved the integration layer from WSO2 to Celigo, simplifying how systems talk to each other, cutting running costs, and making everything easier to manage going forward.
A faster, cleaner Shopify Plus storefront, built to match the brand and optimised for conversion, Core Web Vitals, and mobile users.
Ongoing technical and on-page SEO work: site structure, page titles, headings, redirects, structured data, and performance, to support long-term organic search growth.
Proper monitoring and service agreements for a business-critical eCommerce platform, with fast response times and proactive issue management.
The Outcome
A Solid Foundation for Growth
After four years of structured work, Early Settler has moved from a constrained Magento setup to a modern, well-integrated Shopify Plus platform — built for performance, flexibility, and growth across online and in-store channels.
The combination of Shopify Plus, Searchspring, Akeneo PIM, Retail Express, and Celigo gives ESR a well-connected stack where each tool does its job and works cleanly with the rest.
With 24/7 monitoring, strong SLAs, and an ongoing partnership in place, Early Settler now has a platform that’s reliable enough for daily trade and flexible enough to keep improving.
Results at a Glance
Modernisation
A fully updated tech stack replacing an ageing Magento environment
Performance
Measurable speed improvements across the site, with real benefits for user experience, conversion, and Core Web Vitals
Cost savings
Lower integration and operating costs thanks to the move from WSO2 to Celigo and a cleaner overall setup
Omnichannel foundation
A solid base combining eCommerce, PIM, ERP, search, and integration under one coherent strategy
Why Move from Magento to Shopify Plus?
For established retailers, making the switch often delivers:
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A modern, cloud-based platform with predictable updates, good security, and less infrastructure to manage
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A faster, more reliable site — especially with solid front-end engineering behind it
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A strong app and partner ecosystem, making it easier to plug in best-in-class tools like Searchspring, Akeneo, and Retail Express
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Faster turnaround on new features, campaigns, and integrations — important in competitive categories like furniture and homewares
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Lower total cost of ownership over time, especially when old integration layers can be simplified or retired
Common Questions
Most retailers make the switch to reduce infrastructure headaches, improve performance and reliability, launch new features faster, and tap into a strong ecosystem of tools for search, product data, ERP, and marketing. Acidgreen handles these migrations with a structured, low-risk approach.
For mid-to-large retailers, the migration itself typically takes several months to over a year — often followed by multi-year optimisation and integration work, as was the case with Early Settler’s 2022–2025 program.
It manages the flow of data between systems : Shopify Plus, your ERP, PIM, search platform, CRM, and so on. Picking the right integration platform is important for keeping things simple, affordable, and easy to maintain.
We offer ongoing Application Management Services, including 24/7 monitoring, strong SLAs, proactive incident management, and continuous performance, SEO, and feature improvements, so the platform keeps getting better over time.
Acidgreen is a senior Shopify Plus and Akeneo PIM partner with hands-on experience in migrations, integrations, performance, and long-term support, trusted by leading Australian retailers across furniture, beauty, B2B, and more.
Thinking About Moving from Magento to Shopify?
If you’re considering a move from Magento / Adobe Commerce to Shopify Plus, or looking to update your integration, PIM, ERP, or search setup — Acidgreen can help you put together a practical roadmap and see it through from start to finish.
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