Replatform to Shopify in Australia: Lessons from Showpo and Forever New

The decision to replatform to Shopify in Australia has moved from mid-market brands to well-known names. In 2026, two Australian fashion retailers completed high-profile moves: Showpo left Salesforce Commerce Cloud for a headless Shopify build in July, and Forever New finished moving its global ecommerce from Magento to Shopify in October.

Neither move was about a cheaper licence. Both brands talked about speed: faster pages, faster campaigns, and less reliance on developers for day-to-day changes. Both projects also show where the real work sits, which is integration with ERP, warehouse and other back-office systems.

This article looks at what each brand did, what the public figures show, and the lessons for Australian businesses weighing their own migration.

Why are Australian brands leaving Magento and Salesforce?

Older enterprise platforms are powerful but expensive to change. Every new promotion, market or integration tends to need developer time, and upgrades can become projects in their own right. Showpo's head of digital and ecommerce, Charlee Standley, summed up the old situation in Inside Retail Australia: "We were reacting instead of proactively planning for growth."

The stakes keep rising. The Australia Post eCommerce Report 2026 puts 2025 online spend at $82.6 billion, up 14%, with online now 24% of all retail spend. A platform that slows down campaigns or pages costs more every year.

Shopify's scale has also become hard to ignore for retailers planning several years ahead. Shopify's Q2 2026 results showed revenue up 34% and GMV up 32% to about US$116 billion. Merchant retention was 92% at US$1 million in annual GMV, rising to 97% at US$10 million. International GMV grew 37%, according to Digital Commerce 360.

Case 1: How did Showpo move from Salesforce to headless Shopify?

Showpo ran on Salesforce Commerce Cloud for about five years. In 2026 it moved to a headless Shopify Hydrogen storefront, with a KrakenD backend-for-frontend layer between the customer experience and the commerce backend. That design retired legacy middleware and lets the website and mobile app evolve independently on the same platform.

The reported results:

• Homepage load times cut by more than 90%.
• Conversion rate and average order value both improved, although no figures were published.
• One platform now serves Australia, New Zealand, the US, the UK, the EU and Canada.
• Marketing staff can run regional promotions and content updates without developer support.

The project was delivered by Convert Digital, a Shopify Platinum Partner. Showpo's next steps are deeper personalisation and further international growth.

Case 2: How did Forever New migrate its global ecommerce?

Forever New's story is about scale. The retailer has almost 400 stores and concessions in more than 25 countries. It originally ran on Magento 1, then rebuilt on Magento 2 (Adobe Commerce). According to Ecommerce News Australia:

• The final stage covered four core markets in nine months: Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Canada.
• The US, India and South Africa had already moved earlier in 2026, and the Middle East migration was underway.
• Integrations covered ERP, warehouse management, search and merchandising, plus third-party tools for returns, personalisation, marketing automation, checkout optimisation, sizing, product feeds and privacy compliance.
• CIO Robert Lupone said the project was delivered on time and on budget. No performance metrics were published.

Convert Digital was again the agency partner. Shopify's head of enterprise for ANZ, James Johnson, said the move "gives it a modern foundation for the next stage of growth".

How big is Shopify Plus in Australia?

Shopify does not publish country store counts, but third-party data gives a useful picture. Eightx's analysis of Storeleads data, pulled on 25 May 2026, found:

Treat these as estimates from a data vendor, not official figures. Still, they suggest Australia has a slightly higher share of enterprise Shopify merchants than the US or the global average. About 79% of Australian Plus stores also run a custom or unidentifiable theme, which points to plenty of tailored builds.

What can other Australian brands learn?

1. Integration is the real project

Forever New's integration list is longer than its storefront list. ERP, warehouse management, returns, search and privacy tools all had to work on day one. Most replatform delays come from data and integration, not theme design. Map every system that touches orders, stock, customers and finance before you set a launch date.

2. Headless is a choice, not a default

Showpo chose Hydrogen because it wanted the website and app to evolve separately and to cut load times sharply. Many brands will get what they need from Shopify's native Online Store, with lower build and maintenance costs. Choose headless when you have a clear reason, such as app parity, extreme performance needs or a complex content model, and the team to maintain it.

3. Plan multi-market from the start

Both brands sell across several countries. Building on Shopify Markets from day one, with clear rules for currency, pricing, tax and content per market, is far easier than bolting on regions later.

4. Measure what "faster" means

Showpo published a load-time figure. Forever New highlighted timing and budget. Agree your success metrics before you start: page speed, conversion rate, release frequency, developer hours per campaign, or cost of ownership. Then you can prove the return.

5. Build internal capability, not just a website

Showpo's team stressed that the project was about more than a new site: "It wasn't just a new site, it was building internal capability and setting us up for long-term success." Plan training, documentation and ownership so your team can run promotions, new markets and content changes after launch without waiting on developers.

A replatform checklist for Australian brands

1. Audit: list every integration, custom feature and data source on the current platform.
2. Decide the architecture: native Online Store or headless, with reasons written down.
3. Plan data migration: products, customers, order history, URLs and redirects (critical for SEO).
4. Sequence markets: start with one market or region, then roll out, as Forever New did.
5. Test operations end to end: order to warehouse to invoice to refund, before launch.
6. Train the team: marketing and merchandising should be able to work without developers on day one.

The bottom line

Showpo and Forever New show that for Australian brands with international ambitions, Shopify is now a serious enterprise destination, not just a starting platform. The public results focus on speed, both page speed and the speed at which teams can launch changes.

The less glamorous lesson matters just as much: success depends on integration planning, data migration and a clear decision about headless versus native. If you are weighing a move from Magento, Salesforce or a custom platform, ONEXT's Shopify development team can scope and deliver the migration as your trusted implementation partner.