Just Sunnies is Australia’s leading online destination for sunglasses and prescription eyewear. With support from Athos Commerce, the brand has elevated its customer journey—enhancing product discoverability even before shoppers reach the site and driving stronger conversion rates once they do.

The Brand

Founded in 2007 in Queensland, Just Sunnies has grown from a small family-run business into Australia’s leading online retailer of sunglasses. Offering an impressive selection of both fashion and performance eyewear, the brand showcases over 140 global names, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Maui Jim, and Prada. Renowned for its fast shipping, exceptional customer service, and commitment to quality, Just Sunnies caters to a broad range of customer needs with both prescription and non-prescription options, making it easy to shop eyewear that blends style with serious sun protection.

Just Sunnies operates four physical stores, but the online store remains its primary sales channel, focusing on meeting customer needs through relevance and personalization. That said, in-store engagement is strong, particularly at the shoppable showroom at their Burleigh Heads location, which has become a local favorite among sun-savvy shoppers.

The Challenge

Just Sunnies set out to deliver a highly personalized customer journey that reflects its core mission: offering the best products at the best prices. But doing that at scale—and across a vast and complex catalogue—posed significant challenges.

In the eyewear space, product discovery can be particularly difficult. Just Sunnies carries over 14,000 SKUs, spanning countless combinations of frame styles, color variants, and lens technologies. Without powerful search and merchandising tools, navigating that kind of range can quickly become overwhelming for customers and a major barrier to product visibility.

At the time, the tools in place lacked the sophistication to provide relevant results or truly tailored recommendations. With limited customization options, the customer experience was less intuitive than it could be, and opportunities to showcase complementary products or direct shoppers to related content were often missed.

These limitations were impacting both engagement and conversion. Shoppers struggled to find what they were looking for quickly, and the manual nature of merchandising made it difficult to scale or personalize the experience. Much of the merchandising effort relied heavily on the web development team, limiting the agility and responsiveness the business needed to grow.

The Solution

To find the right partner, Just Sunnies evaluated several search and merchandising platforms, including Nosto and Algolia. Each was assessed for its ability to support personalized experiences, ease of integration, ease of use, and the strength of its search and merchandising capabilities.

Athos Commerce quickly stood out for its ability to deliver the Searchspring platform. Its flexible merchandising tools, robust recommendation engine, and seamless integration with Just Sunnies’ headless BigCommerce setup aligned perfectly with the company’s goals. In addition to its product capabilities, Athos Commerce’s reputation as an industry leader and its strong support offering were key factors in the decision-making process.

Implementation was smooth and collaborative. Just Sunnies was supported by a dedicated customer success manager and technical specialists who worked closely with the internal web development team. Together, they ensured a seamless integration and delivered tailored customizations to suit the unique requirements of the business.

Athos Commerce is now used across multiple key touchpoints, including on-site search, product recommendations, and category merchandising. The Searchspring platform has also enabled the implementation of custom features, such as dynamic promotional pricing displays during sales events, which had previously been difficult to achieve.

Just Sunnies leverages the platform’s analytics tools to continuously experiment and refine its merchandising strategies. This includes tailoring search results to surface trending or seasonal products, spotlighting featured items during brand campaigns, and making real-time updates across high-traffic pages to improve visibility and engagement.

The team is also tapping into Athos Commerce’s AI-powered tools to deliver personalized experiences across both search and category pages. A/B testing capabilities have allowed Just Sunnies to trial different sorting logics, better understand shopper behavior, and optimize the product display order to support the customer journey from discovery to conversion.

The Results

Since partnering with Athos Commerce and implementing the Searchspring platform, Just Sunnies has seen significant improvements across key performance metrics. Conversion rates have increased by 16% since implementing recommended product carousels, while average order value has grown by 11% over the past 12 months. Bounce rates on high-traffic pages have dropped by 14%, driven by enhanced and personalized product discoverability.  

Search is also playing a powerful role in driving performance for Just Sunnies. Thanks to the platform’s intelligent search capabilities, 26% of all orders now originate from search, contributing to an impressive 29% of total revenue. It’s not just a feature—it’s a key revenue driver.

Searchspring makes it easy for shoppers to filter through Just Sunnies’ extensive range and quickly find exactly what they’re seeking. From intelligent search results and tailored category merchandising to personalized product recommendations, the platform simplifies a complex catalogue and presents products in the most relevant and engaging way possible. It’s not just about surfacing products—it’s about surfacing the right products for the right customer, every time.

Operationally, the team has significantly reduced its reliance on developers by upskilling internally and fully embracing the platform’s intuitive merchandising tools. This shift has enabled faster, more strategic updates across the site, from launching new products to managing seasonal promotions and stock rotations with ease.

Customer experience has also improved. Shoppers are finding relevant products faster and with fewer barriers, whether through intelligent search or tailored product recommendations. The customer service team has reported a noticeable drop in “can’t find it” support inquiries, indicating that product discovery is now more intuitive and effective across the site.

Next Steps

Looking ahead, Just Sunnies is partnering closely with Athos Commerce to deepen the integration between the Searchspring platform and their marketing tools. A key focus is linking Searchspring’s capabilities with Klaviyo to incorporate real-time promotional price drops into email campaigns. This will allow Just Sunnies to notify customers when items in their cart or wishlist go on sale, driving stronger re-engagement and higher conversions.

Recently, the team refreshed the search bar, which had remained unchanged since their initial onboarding. By leveraging the Trending Search API and integrating a one-click search display, Just Sunnies now showcases their most-loved products even before users begin typing. This enhancement marks a significant step toward guiding customers to popular items and boosting product discoverability from the very first interaction.

The team is also eager to explore additional AI-powered features, especially those designed to reduce friction in product discovery and simplify the shopping experience. Enhancing personalization remains a top priority, and Just Sunnies plans to test and adopt new tools that streamline the customer journey from search to purchase.

As customer expectations evolve in a competitive ecommerce landscape, Just Sunnies remains committed to delivering a seamless, value-driven experience. The brand will expand its online optical offering and continue to optimize product discovery across both digital and in-store touchpoints—ensuring customers find exactly what they need quickly and confidently.

Partner with Athos Commerce to transform your ecommerce store. With proven tools and expertise in search and merchandising, we empower businesses to achieve measurable growth. Contact us today to start optimizing your store for success.