Leonard Joel

Enterprise-grade WordPress rebuild for Australia's oldest auctioneer, featuring real-time auction feeds, automated catalogues, and custom OpenSearch.

Client

Leonard Joel

Industry

Fine Art & Auctions

Year

2024

Technologies

WordPressPHPGutenberg block themeAdvanced Custom FieldsAWS Elastic BeanstalkAWS S3OpenSearch (custom)Cloudflare CDNMailchimp APIIssuu embedInvaluable / BidLive APIGoogle Tag Manager
Leonard Joel

About the Project

Established in 1919, Leonard Joel needed a modern digital platform that could showcase thousands of lots each week and funnel traffic to its surcharge-free bidding portal. I delivered a full WordPress overhaul—custom block theme, Advanced Custom Fields, and bespoke OpenSearch integration—that now powers an AWS Elastic Beanstalk stack. Weekly catalogues publish automatically from CSV feeds, while Issuu flipbooks, S3-hosted PDFs, and live bidding links create an immersive experience across fine art, jewellery, and luxury departments.

Key Features

Custom block-based theme with full-site editing

Automated import of weekly 'Salon' CSVs into catalogue pages

Custom OpenSearch endpoint for lightning-fast filtering & autocomplete

Issuu flipbook viewer and S3-hosted PDF catalogue delivery

Real-time bid links and live-stream countdown timers

Dynamic auction calendar with location and category filters

Mailchimp newsletter integration with GTM & GA4 events

WCAG-compliant design and Core Web Vitals optimisation

Multisite-ready architecture for future international branches

Results

55 % faster page loads versus the legacy site

Automatic catalogue publishing cut weekly admin time by ~6 hours

30 % increase in newsletter subscriptions within six months

Consistent first-page rankings for 'auction house Melbourne'

Site comfortably processes 1 k+ catalogue items every week without downtime

Positive client feedback on the modern aesthetic and ease of editing

Ready to Start?

Ready to start your own project?

Let's collaborate to bring your vision to life with our expertise and passion for creating exceptional digital experiences.

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