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Commerce & retail

N Brown modernises Simply Be’s account portal to enhance the customer experience

We modernised the MyAccount customer portal for one of the UK’s leading digital retailers, delivering a smoother user experience and a more flexible, scalable tech stack.

Project overview:

  • Legacy tech hinders the user experience and prevents detailed customer journey insights

  • A modern MyAccount portal built on AWS with a scalable microservices architecture reduces mainframe dependency

  • Upgrading the platform improves the customer experience and enables deeper insights through improved data and metrics

Opportunity to improve the customer experience

N Brown is a top 10 UK clothing and footwear digital retailer, boasting a rich history spanning over 160 years. The company’s portfolio includes well-known brands such as JD Williams, Simply Be, and Jacamo, catering to customers of all shapes, sizes, and ages.

N Brown’s customer account portal, MyAccount, was long overdue an upgrade across all its brands. The experience of navigating from one part of the website to another was inconsistent, and the underlying technology stack was outdated.

‘We were getting customer feedback that the MyAccount journey was clunky, to say the least. Plus, we wanted to move away from the legacy tech stack as it made it difficult to track detailed user journey metrics. We turned to Zühlke, asking the team to take what we had in MyAccount, determine what was needed to migrate it successfully, and ensure feature parity while delivering a modern, visually polished experience’, says Chris Byron, Head of Engineering at N Brown.

Modernising the customer account portal

Our team of retail and experience design experts swiftly got to work, focusing specifically on the Simply Be brand and its customer account portal.

We began with a six-week discovery sprint to assess the data landscape, determine what data was needed for MyAccount’s modernisation, and identify reliable sources.

Some datasets were straightforward to integrate, while others were highly complex, requiring detailed mapping and validation. We also tested platforms and pipelines to ensure a stable foundation before starting development.

Data quality emerged as a key challenge. Some datasets were inconsistent or incomplete, requiring close collaboration with N Brown’s architects to clean, structure, and standardise them — laying the groundwork for a smooth implementation.

Microservices architecture

We built our services directly on AWS as N Brown was in the process of migrating its systems to the platform. We followed a microservices approach, enabling independent development and deployment, which significantly improved agility and scalability. By ensuring key functionalities were no longer tied to the monolithic mainframe, N Brown gained flexibility in future migrations and feature expansions.

“What was most valuable for me is that relatively early on I felt comfortable stepping back and just dropping in for updates. Zühlke’s team filled us with confidence quickly. They knew what they were doing, and I didn’t have to do any hand holding. This made my job easier.” “What was most valuable for me is that relatively early on I felt comfortable stepping back and just dropping in for updates. Zühlke’s team filled us with confidence quickly. They knew what they were doing, and I didn’t have to do any hand holding. This made my job easier.”

Chris Byron

Head of Engineering, N Brown

Frontend development

We collaborated closely with N Brown’s in-house design team to modernise the MyAccount frontend, creating a seamless, intuitive, and accessible user experience. We defined clear functional requirements, and refined designs based on continuous feedback. 

Using an iterative approach, we prioritised features such as contact details, marketing preferences, and orders, delivering functional improvements early and quickly.

One of the most complex areas was the orders section, which involved multiple systems and complex data dependencies, especially with split orders. Customers would place an order, but due to internal processes, the order might have been split into multiple shipments, causing confusion. To resolve this, we grouped split orders visually and included explanatory banners on the frontend, improving user clarity without altering backend logic. 

Accessibility was also a priority for N Brown. We ensured the new interface adhered to best practices, making it easier to use for all customers.

Impact of a future-ready customer account portal

By modernising the frontend and building backend services on AWS with a microservices approach, we delivered a vastly improved user experience while ensuring long-term scalability and flexibility for engineering.

The new, streamlined journey helps N Brown remove barriers for gathering data and metrics, allowing the company to gain deeper insights into customer behaviour. The user experience is now significantly enhanced and more accessible, making it easier for customers to navigate MyAccount and ensures usability for all customers.

The microservices-based architecture enables rapid releases, making it easier for N Brown to iterate and introduce new features. With the foundational work completed and Simply Be’s customer account portal transformed, N Brown is well-positioned to modernise MyAccount across all its brands.

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