Adelaide
Magento and Adobe Commerce development in Adelaide
There is a Magento store trading at Adelaide Airport right now that our team builds and supports: Aelia Duty Free's South Australian shop, part of a platform we have run since 2021. That is the whole reason this page exists — we would not write an Adelaide page without an Adelaide store to point at. Our office is in Sydney, not Adelaide, and we say so plainly rather than listing a serviced address.
What we do for South Australian retailers
Adobe Commerce, where the catalogue earns it
Adobe Commerce is the right answer for large catalogues, genuinely complex pricing, or B2B running alongside retail — the duty free platform is the sharp version, with prices and tax varying by traveller and destination. It is the wrong answer for a straightforward retail catalogue, where it costs more to run and takes longer to change for no return. We say so on our Magento to Shopify page, which exists because the move is often correct.
Freight that reflects where Adelaide actually is
South Australia sits outside the Sydney–Melbourne–Brisbane courier triangle that most carrier rate cards are optimised around. An eastern-states shipping table applied unchanged tends to under-recover on South Australian deliveries, and badly under-recover into regional SA and the Northern Territory. The loss shows up per order as thinner margin rather than as a visible failure, which is why it often runs for a year before anyone traces it.
Taking over a store someone else built
A large share of our commerce work starts this way, including Aelia. A takeover begins with an audit, not a rebuild: what is deployed, what is customised, what is undocumented, and what breaks if it is touched. Only once the platform is safe to change does feature work start. Where the inherited platform is genuinely in trouble, that is project rescue rather than business as usual, and we scope it differently.
Upgrades, and when the platform is not the problem
Version upgrades and extension audits are routine work — see Magento upgrades. What is less routine is telling a retailer that the upgrade will not fix their actual complaint. If the store is slow because of an unindexed catalogue or a third-party script, a version bump changes nothing and costs a quarter.
Integration with the systems behind the store
ERP, POS and inventory. The Aelia platform exports sales into SAP and holds inventory true across seven airport stores in two countries. Most retailers are not running airport concessions, but the requirement is identical: if the website and the inventory system disagree, everything downstream is guesswork. That is usually product information and integration work rather than storefront work.
Working with an Adelaide team you already have
We work alongside in-house developers rather than around them, which is often the arrangement that suits a retailer with one or two engineers who know the business but not the platform. Code review, pairing on the hard parts, and taking the work nobody has time for. It is also the arrangement that leaves you least dependent on us afterwards, which we think is the right way round.
When an Adelaide agency is the better call
Three situations where we would point you elsewhere, and say so at the first conversation rather than the third month.
The project needs people in the room, weekly
A large replatform with a dozen internal stakeholders and contested requirements genuinely benefits from co-located workshops. If that is your project, a local team will serve you better than a Sydney one, however good the video calls are.
It is a small storefront on a standard theme
If you need a modest Shopify or Magento store on a well-supported theme, you do not need a commerce team of our size and should not pay for one. A local freelancer or small studio will be cheaper and the result will be no worse.
The real problem is upstream of the website
If inventory disagrees between systems or product data is inconsistent across channels, a new storefront inherits all of it. That is ERP and data work first, and no replatform will clean your catalogue for you.
The proof
Work we have shipped, not a capability deck.
- Aelia Duty FreeAdobe Commerce for the Adelaide Airport duty free store, alongside Avalon, Cairns and four New Zealand airports — one multi-website platform, two countries, with SAP integration and real-time inventory. The Adelaide reference on this page.Read the case study
- MUK HaircareRetail e-commerce and a product finder for an Australian haircare brand.Read the case study
- LOOPAn ethical e-gift card marketplace on Shopify, including the plugin giving partner brands real-time sales and redemption tracking.Read the case study
Commerce work we do
Magento & Adobe Commerce
Builds, replatforms, upgrades and performance rescue — including SAP integration.
Magento upgrades
Version upgrades and extension audits — and when the platform is not what needs the money.
Shopify & Shopify Plus
Storefronts, theme builds, app integration and headless front ends.
Shopify Plus
Checkout extensibility, B2B and D2C together, multi-storefront — and when the tier is not worth it.
E-commerce development
The whole practice: platform selection, build, integrate and run.
Headless commerce
Decoupled storefronts on Shopify and Adobe Commerce — and when a themed build is the better call.
Migration & replatforming
Moving between platforms without losing data, rankings or trading days.
Magento to Shopify
The specific route, and an honest view of when not to take it.
WooCommerce
WordPress commerce where the catalogue and the content live together.
E-commerce & retail
The sector view — what retail platforms are actually asked to do, and where they break.
B2B & wholesale commerce
Company accounts, contract pricing, quotes, credit terms and ERP-held price logic for trade suppliers.
New Zealand commerce
GST, rural freight and trans-Tasman selling — and the duty free stores running across airports in both countries.
More on commerce
Two Thirds of Australian Retail's Page Weight Isn't Theirs
We measured 21 of Australia's largest online retailers. None scored above 44. The median site ships 7MB, and 62% of it is third-party code the retailer didn't write.
What Does a Shopify Plus Build Cost in Australia?
What Shopify Plus actually costs Australian retailers — the platform fee, the transaction economics nobody models, and what drives a build quote up or down.
ERP Integration for E-commerce: What It Actually Costs
Why ERP integration is the line item that blows e-commerce budgets, the four questions that decide the price, and how to tell real-time requirements from imagined ones.
Adobe Commerce vs Shopify Plus for Australian Retailers
Where Adobe Commerce genuinely beats Shopify Plus, where it does not, and the three questions that actually decide it — from a team that builds on both.
Adobe Has Patched StyleSmuggler. Patching Is Not the Whole Job.
Adobe has released APSB26-146 for CVE-2026-75650. Apply it now — but a patch does not clean a store that was already compromised. What to preserve before you patch, what to check after, and the disclosure clock most coverage skips.
Selling Into Australia and New Zealand From One Store
Whether to run one store or two across the Tasman, what actually differs between AU and NZ commerce — GST, freight, currency — and the duplication that costs more than it solves.
Ecommerce practice lead
Maxim Baibakov — Chief Technology Officer - Australia
Adobe Commerce and Shopify work here runs through a dedicated commerce team rather than being picked up by whoever is free.
Common questions
Do you have an office in Adelaide?
No — our office is in Sydney, and we would rather say that than list a serviced address in Adelaide. What we do have in Adelaide is a running store: Aelia Duty Free’s Adelaide Airport shop trades on the Adobe Commerce platform we build and support, alongside its stores in Avalon, Cairns and across New Zealand. Delivery is remote-first and has been for years, so an Adelaide project runs the same way a Sydney one does — scheduled calls, a shared board, one named contact.
What Adelaide e-commerce work have you actually delivered?
The Adelaide Airport duty free store, as part of Aelia Duty Free’s Adobe Commerce platform. Duty free is an unusually demanding form of retail — prices and tax vary by traveller and destination, inventory has to be accurate in real time across airports, and the platform integrates with SAP for sales reporting. We took it over from a previous partner in a support engagement that began with triage and stabilisation, and we have run it since 2021.
Is South Australian retail different to the eastern states?
The commerce logic is the same; the freight economics are not. Adelaide sits outside the Sydney–Melbourne–Brisbane courier triangle where most carrier rate cards are optimised, so an eastern-states shipping table applied unchanged tends to under-recover on South Australian deliveries and badly under-recover into regional SA and the Northern Territory. If you are selling nationally from Adelaide, or into it, the shipping zones deserve their own look rather than inheriting someone else’s defaults.
Can you support a store an Adelaide agency built?
Yes, and it is a large share of what we do — the Aelia engagement began exactly that way, as a takeover from a previous partner. A takeover starts with an audit rather than a rebuild: what is deployed, what is customised, what is undocumented, and what breaks if it is touched. Only once it is safe to change does feature work begin. Adding features to a platform nobody can safely deploy is how a struggling project becomes a stalled one.
Would you recommend an Adelaide agency instead?
Sometimes, and we will say so. If your project genuinely needs people in the room week after week — a large replatform with a dozen internal stakeholders and contested requirements — a local team will serve you better. If you need a modest storefront on a well-supported theme, a local freelancer will be cheaper and the result will be no worse. Our work earns its cost where there is integration, migration, or something already broken.
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Engagement models
How we work
Four straightforward ways to engage us. Pick the one that fits, or mix them as your needs change.
Staff Augmentation
Add experienced Shakewell developers, designers or specialists directly to your own team. Engagements typically run three to twelve months, but can be as short or long as you need — you get the skills without the commitment and cost of hiring full-time.
About staff augmentationFixed-Scope Projects
Have a defined outcome in mind? We scope it, price it and deliver it as a project — a clear timeline, agreed milestones and a single point of accountability from kickoff to handover.
Embedded Delivery Teams
For larger or longer-running work, a cross-functional Shakewell team — development, design and delivery management — plugs in as your delivery arm, working to your priorities and your reporting cadence.
Support & Maintenance
Already live? We keep websites, stores and apps secure, updated and performing through ongoing retainers — business-hours support as standard, with 24/7 coverage available for critical issues.
About support & maintenance