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.
Overview
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.
The problem
What was broken and why it mattered.
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.
The work
The full scope of what we built.
📱
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.
⏱
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.
The sequence
How we got there.
The sequence of work, week by week.
1
Week 1–2
Audit and discovery
Full pixel audit, mobile UX analysis, tracking diagnosis, and drop infrastructure planning.
2
Week 3–5
Theme build
Custom Shopify theme designed and built — mobile-first, drop-ready. Internal testing on staging environment.
3
Week 6
Drop infrastructure + tracking
Countdown system, queue, notify-me flow live. Meta CAPI deployed. Pixel events validated with browser and server-side confirmation.
4
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.
Questions
About 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.
How long did an engagement like this take?
Timelines vary by scope, but most engagements follow the same pattern: a diagnostic phase in week one, then delivery in two-week sprints. See the sequence above for how this specific engagement was paced.
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.
What if my brand is in a different industry?
The underlying levers — tracking accuracy, checkout friction, funnel structure — are largely industry-agnostic. See our industry pages for category-specific context.
Go deeper
The services and reading behind this result.
Services used
Shopify EngineeringCustom Theme BuildMeta Pixel + CAPIPerformance MarketingKlaviyoCRO
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