Mobile-first Shopify rebuild
Designed and built a custom Shopify theme from scratch, architected for a mobile-first drop audience. Single-thumb navigation, sticky add-to-cart, simplified 2-step checkout. Load time under 2 seconds on 4G.
The Last Ape · Shopify case study Turning a Viral Streetwear Brand's Instagram Hype into Actual Revenue
The Last Ape had the culture, the community, and the clout. Their Shopify store wasn't keeping up. We rebuilt it around how streetwear actually sells — drops, mobile, and speed.
- Client
- The Last Ape
- Website
- thelastape.in
- Industry
- Urban Streetwear
- Market
- India
- Platform
- Shopify
- Engagement
- Website Design & Development
+180%
Mobile conversion rate
2.7x
ROAS (up from 0.8x)
4 hrs
Drop sell-out time (was 3 days)
12K+
Waitlist signups via notify-me
01Overview
About The Last Ape
The Last Ape had something most D2C brands spend years trying to build: a genuine community. Their Instagram was doing 50K+ views on drop reveal posts. Their email list was engaged. Their product was real. But their Shopify store was a ghost of what it should have been — slow on mobile, broken tracking, and no infrastructure for the one thing that made their brand special: drop launches.
Services on this project
Shopify EngineeringCustom Theme BuildMeta Pixel + CAPIPerformance MarketingKlaviyoCRO
Live store
Inside the The Last Ape website.
Choose a page and a device, then scroll inside the frame — this is thelastape.in as it runs in production today.
03The challenge
What was holding the store back.
- 01
Site built for desktop, traffic was 78% mobile
The existing theme was a generic Shopify template adapted for fashion — not built for streetwear drops. On mobile, the experience was cramped, slow, and had three unnecessary steps before checkout.
- 02
Drop launches were crashing conversion
When a new drop went live, traffic spiked 10-15x in the first two hours. The store had no queue, no countdown, no notify-me, and no sold-out state management. High-intent buyers were bouncing.
- 03
Pixel was firing on page views as purchases
A misconfigured Shopify pixel was sending product view events tagged as "Purchase" to Meta. ROAS was showing 0.8x on the real data — but the platform was reporting 2.1x due to false events.
- 04
No email/waitlist infrastructure for drops
Drop demand was being lost. Customers who arrived late to a sell-out had no way to register interest for restocks. Zero repeat purchase mechanism. Revenue from the community was one-time, not compounding.
04What we built
What we built for The Last Ape.
6 workstreams, delivered by one team.
Drop commerce infrastructure
Built a custom drop management system with countdown timers, pre-reveal teaser pages, queue management for high-traffic launches, and automated product reveal at drop time. All managed from Shopify admin.
Notify-me and waitlist system
Integrated a custom back-in-stock and waitlist flow — customers can join a drop waitlist before launch. On launch, a sequenced email + SMS hits the waitlist first. First 30 minutes became a priority window.
Pixel rebuild and Meta CAPI setup
Complete pixel audit and rebuild. Server-side Meta CAPI deployed to recover data lost to iOS. Real purchase events now flow correctly. The "false 2.1x" was eliminated; actual ROAS started being optimised.
Drop-day campaign architecture
Built a drop-day Meta campaign playbook: teaser ads 72hrs before, hype ads 24hrs before, drop reveal campaigns live at launch time. Retargeting flows for people who viewed but didn't buy.
Post-purchase sequence for repeat buyers
Set up Klaviyo flows targeting post-purchase customers with early access to the next drop. The community that bought once is now 40% more likely to buy the next drop before it sells out publicly.
05Process
How it came together.
The sequence of work, week by week.
- Week 1–2
Audit and discovery
Full pixel audit, mobile UX analysis, tracking diagnosis, and drop infrastructure planning.
- Week 3–5
Theme build
Custom Shopify theme designed and built — mobile-first, drop-ready. Internal testing on staging environment.
- Week 6
Drop infrastructure + tracking
Countdown system, queue, notify-me flow live. Meta CAPI deployed. Pixel events validated with browser and server-side confirmation.
- Week 7–8
First drop launch
First live drop on new infrastructure. Campaign playbook executed. Sold out in 4 hours. ROAS validated at 2.7x.
06Outcomes
The numbers that moved.
+180%
Mobile conversion rate
Baseline mobile CR was 0.6%. After rebuild: 1.7%. On drop days, it peaks at 3.2%.
2.7x
ROAS on Meta (real, verified)
After fixing false event attribution. Real spend → real revenue, now tracked correctly and optimised.
4 hrs
Drop sell-out time
Previous drops took 2-3 days to clear. First post-rebuild drop sold out in 4 hours.
12,000+
Waitlist subscribers
Notify-me and waitlist signups accumulated across 3 months. High-intent, owned audience.
07FAQ
The Last Ape: questions & answers.
Which Shopify agency worked on the The Last Ape website?
Carryup, a Shopify-only design and engineering studio based in Bengaluru. Our engagement with The Last Ape: Website Design & Development.
What platform is thelastape.in built on?
thelastape.in runs on Shopify.
What did Carryup build for The Last Ape?
Mobile-first Shopify rebuild; Drop commerce infrastructure; Notify-me and waitlist system; Pixel rebuild and Meta CAPI setup, and 2 more workstreams. The full scope is broken down in the "What we built" chapter of this case study.
Is this result typical, or is it an outlier?
We only publish case studies where we can show real, verifiable metrics tied to Shopify data — but every brand's starting point is different. The Last Ape's results reflect what was possible given their specific gaps; your results will depend on where your store, tracking, and funnel currently stand.
Can you get similar results for my brand?
We won't promise a specific number without seeing your data first. What we can promise: a diagnostic that tells you honestly whether the same class of fix applies to your store.
Get started
Want a store like The Last Ape's?
Tell us about your brand — we'll tell you honestly what it would take to build it, and where the revenue opportunity is.
What happens next
- 01A senior engineer reads itNot a sales rep. The person who reads it is the person who replies.
- 02A focused conversationWe talk through your store, what you need and what it would honestly take.
- 03A clear scope and priceFixed scope wherever the work allows, so you know the cost before anything starts.
Or reach us directly
What do you need?Step 1 of 3