A destination boutique for luxury fashion since 1986
Client
Robinsons of Bawtry
Sector
Luxury Fashion
Platform
Shopify
Project Time
On-going
109%
Increase in Conversion Rate
A Shopify store built on ecommerce best practices replaced a platform that was actively preventing sales.
551
Increase in Revenue
The combination of a functional store, better UX, and ongoing CRO work transformed commercial performance.
298
Increase in Visitors
A faster, properly structured site brought significantly more traffic through the door.
A Boutique Brand Trapped on the Wrong Platform.
Robinsons of Bawtry has been a trusted name in luxury fashion since 1986. Their boutique in the South Yorkshire market town of Bawtry is a destination for discerning shoppers, a curated edit of premium brands like BOSS, Belstaff, Mulberry, Holland Cooper, and Ralph Lauren, with the kind of personal, one-to-one service that keeps customers coming back.
The in-store experience was exceptional. The online experience was anything but.
Robinsons had invested over £40k into a bespoke build on Aero Commerce. The result was a slow, underperforming website that customers struggled to buy from. Sales were virtually non-existent. The platform demanded custom development for almost every change, meaning costs were spiralling with very little to show for it. The team were pouring money into a site that was actively working against them.
It’s a situation that’s more common than it should be, a significant investment into a platform or agency that promised the world and delivered a website that doesn’t convert. If you’ve been there, you know how demoralising it is. And you know how urgently it needs fixing.
Honest Advice, Not Another Sales Pitch.
When Robinsons came to us, they’d already been burned. The last thing they needed was another agency making promises. They needed straight answers.
We audited the existing Aero Commerce site and identified exactly what was wrong and what it would take to bring it up to a functional level. But the reality was clear, Aero’s bespoke build model meant that every fix, every improvement, and every future change would carry significant development costs. The platform was a money pit, and no amount of patching was going to change that.
We recommended a full migration to Shopify. It was the fastest, most cost-effective route to a store that actually worked, one that could be maintained, improved, and scaled without spiralling costs. Crucially, it meant preserving their existing ePOS integration and migrating all customer and product data so nothing was lost in the transition.
The timeline was tight. The budget had already been stretched. Robinsons needed this done quickly and done right.
A Clean Migration and a Platform That Actually Works.
Robinsons had already spent over £40k on a bespoke Aero Commerce build that couldn’t process sales reliably. We audited the existing site, gave them an honest assessment, and recommended a full migration to Shopify, the fastest, most cost-effective route to a store that worked. The timeline was tight and the budget had already been stretched, so every decision was focused on what would move the needle commercially.
We built the new Shopify store in three months using proven ecommerce best practices: clean design, clear navigation, fast page loads, and a checkout that doesn’t get in the way. The existing ePOS system was integrated cleanly so the team could manage in-store and online channels without duplication. Every customer record, product, and order was migrated from Aero Commerce without data loss, so the business could pick up exactly where it left off on a platform that actually performed.
Since November 2023, Actuate has been retained for ongoing CRO, systematically working through product listing pages, product detail pages, reviews integration, and shipping messaging to compound the initial gains.
Live in Three Months.
We didn’t overcomplicate it. Robinsons didn’t need bells and whistles. They needed a store that worked. We built it on Shopify using proven ecommerce best practices: clean design, clear navigation, fast page loads, and a checkout that doesn’t get in the way.
Seamless ePOS Integration
For a retailer operating both online and in-store, keeping inventory, orders, and customer data in sync is non-negotiable. We ensured the existing ePOS system integrated cleanly with the new Shopify store, so the team could manage both channels without duplication, manual workarounds, or stock discrepancies.
A Store Built to Convert
No gimmicks, no unnecessary complexity, just solid ecommerce fundamentals executed well. Clear product imagery, intuitive collection and brand pages, logical navigation, and a fast, frictionless path to purchase. Sometimes the biggest impact comes not from doing something clever, but from doing the basics properly.
What did this mean for Robinsons of Bawtry?
In three months, Robinsons went from a £40,000 website that couldn’t process sales to a Shopify store that has transformed the commercial trajectory of the business. The numbers tell the story. But behind the numbers is a team that finally has confidence in their online operation and a platform that grows with them rather than holding them back.
1
A Store That Actually Works
After months of frustration on a platform that was costing money and losing customers, Robinsons now has a fast, reliable Shopify store that converts. The basics are right, the foundation is solid, and the team can focus on running the business instead of fighting the technology.
2
Online Revenue as a Real Growth Channel
A 551% increase in revenue and a 109% increase in conversion rate turned ecommerce from a source of frustration into a genuine growth engine for the business, complementing the exceptional in-store experience that Robinsons is known for.
3
A Platform for Continued Improvement
Unlike their previous bespoke build, Shopify gives Robinsons the flexibility to test, iterate, and improve without eye-watering development costs. With Actuate retained for ongoing CRO, every month brings incremental gains that compound over time.
