Case Study: Sinopec – eCommerce Web Design, Platform Migration & Digital Optimisation

The Challenge

Sinopec, the world’s second-largest oil refiner and fourth-largest lubricants producer, required a digital platform that matched the scale and technical excellence of its product offering.

Their existing website, built on Magento, housed an extensive catalogue of over 700 lubricant and grease products. While powerful, the platform required significant time and resources to maintain and lacked the speed, usability, and flexibility needed to support ongoing growth in the Australian market.

Key challenges included:

• Slow page load times negatively impacting user experience and SEO performance
• Outdated UX/UI elements limiting intuitive navigation and product discovery
• Complex product architecture across a large catalogue, making it difficult for users to find the right lubricant quickly
• A fragmented and inconsistent checkout experience contributing to cart abandonment
• High ongoing maintenance and development costs associated with Magento

The objective was clear: create a faster, more intuitive, and scalable eCommerce experience while reducing long-term operational complexity — without compromising on performance or capability.

Discovery and Technical Review

We began the project with a detailed technical and UX audit of Sinopec’s existing Magento website.

Our review identified several structural and performance bottlenecks that were limiting growth:

• Page speed and Core Web Vitals were below industry benchmarks
• Legacy UX patterns created friction for both B2B and B2C buyers
• Product filtering and navigation were not optimised for large-scale catalogues
• Ongoing Magento maintenance requirements increased costs and reduced agility

Following this assessment, Lilo recommended migrating from Magento to Shopify — a more cost-effective, flexible, and scalable solution that would allow Sinopec’s internal team to manage products and content more efficiently, while still supporting advanced eCommerce functionality.

UX and Design Research

Our UX and design approach focused on clarity, efficiency, and scalability — ensuring users could quickly move from product discovery to purchase, even within a highly technical catalogue.

We restructured navigation flows and page layouts to support both exploratory browsing and fast, task-driven purchasing. A modular design system allowed for future growth without sacrificing performance or consistency, while a mobile-first approach ensured the platform delivered a seamless experience across all devices.

Clear visual hierarchy, simplified product pages, and strategically placed calls to action helped guide users through complex purchasing decisions with confidence.

Platform Migration & Performance Optimisation

As part of the solution, Lilo delivered a full platform migration from Magento to Shopify, reducing technical overhead while significantly improving performance.

Key enhancements included:

• Optimised frontend and backend architecture to improve speed and stability
• Asset compression, caching strategies, and code optimisation
• A simplified content and product management system for internal teams

These improvements resulted in a 40% reduction in average page load times, improving engagement, mobile usability, and search engine performance.

Product Navigation & Checkout Optimisation

To address the challenges of managing a 700+ product catalogue, we redesigned Sinopec’s product architecture from the ground up.

• Advanced filtering enabled users to sort by product type, viscosity grade, and industry application
• Improved search functionality with predictive results reduced time-to-product
• Clearer product specifications supported informed purchasing decisions for B2B buyers

We also streamlined the checkout experience, reducing friction at the most critical point of conversion:

• Checkout steps reduced from five to three
• Mobile-optimised forms with automatic validation
• Integrated payment gateways and trust signals to reinforce confidence

These changes directly contributed to lower cart abandonment rates and a smoother path to purchase.