Lean stack, sharper PDP, +24% revenue per session.
Northbound Goods sells premium outdoor gear DTC and through 40+ retail partners. Their Shopify store had grown to 32 apps and a 2.8s LCP. We rebuilt on Shopify Plus, trimmed the app stack to 21, ship-tested 7 PDP variants, and lifted RPS 24% in the first 90 days.
Outcome
LCP
Stack
Engagement
The brief
Rebuild on Shopify Plus, trim the app stack, lift PDP conversion.
Northbound's growth had outpaced the original Shopify build. Performance was suffering, the app stack had grown organically with no audit, and PDP — the single highest-traffic surface on the site — read like Dawn with the colours changed. The team also wanted to evaluate Shopify Plus for B2B (their wholesale partners). The brief: rebuild on Plus, trim the stack with intent, redesign PDP for conversion, light up the B2B surface.
What we hear most
The starting state.
App stack at 32
Apps for reviews, upsells, subscriptions, loyalty, analytics, popups, search — all stacked over four years. Total spend $4,800/month.
PDP was generic
Variant picker on the right, gallery on the left, default Add to Cart. The brand voice in the Instagram and packaging didn't survive into product pages.
Performance had degraded
LCP at 2.8s on real-user mobile data. Mobile conversion 38% below desktop — gap larger than category benchmark.
B2B was a separate website
Wholesale partners ordered through a Webflow site that synced to Shopify nightly via spreadsheet. Inventory mismatches were monthly.
Subscription churn was inflated
Recharge dunning configuration was default. Failed-payment recovery rate was 31%.
What we deliver
What we shipped.
12-week build covering theme, app audit, B2B configuration, and CRO foundations.
Theme rebuild
- Custom Liquid theme with section-based architecture
- Bespoke PDP with mobile-first variant interaction
- Editorial collection pages with merchandising slots
- Predictive search with Algolia (replacing native)
- Cart drawer redesigned with smart upsells
App stack
- Audit: 32 apps reviewed against ROI and performance cost
- Trimmed to 21: 7 dropped, 4 replaced with custom code
- Klaviyo deeply integrated with checkout and abandoned cart
- Recharge dunning rebuilt: failed-payment recovery 31% → 64%
- App-loading scopes tightened (PDP-only, etc.)
B2B (Plus native)
- Shopify B2B (native) configuration replacing Webflow site
- Customer-specific catalogs and tiered pricing
- Net-30 payment terms and PO upload
- Wholesale-only pages and merchandising
- Inventory feed unified across DTC and B2B
CRO foundations
- Measurement audit: GA4, Shopify Analytics, server-side
- Hypothesis backlog tied to funnel data
- First test cohort (7 PDP variants) shipped weeks 8–12
- Test register documented
- Ongoing CRO retainer post-launch
Process
How this service runs end to end
The same six-step shape we use across every Haxtiv project — adapted to the specifics of this scope.
01
Discover
Audit, intent, and the part nobody is saying out loud
We open with a working session — not a deck. We pull analytics, crawl the existing site, audit the brand, and interview the people closest to revenue. We surface the friction inside the team, not just the friction on the screen.
02
Define
Sitemap, story, and the metrics that actually matter
We define the audience journeys, the commercial pages we are willing to defend, the SEO architecture, and the measurable outcomes. You get a shape of the project that survives feedback because it was built on evidence.
03
Design
Editorial system, art-directed, never templated
Type, grid, motion, and tone built as a system. We design the hero, the long pages, the unloved corners, and the empty states. Every screen looks like it belongs to the same studio. Nothing is parked for later.
04
Build
Production code your team can keep
WordPress, Shopify, or page builder — we build clean, accessible, performant, and documented. Component-led, naming you'll recognize next year, and a changelog your in-house team can read.
05
Launch
Migration without losing rankings or sleep
Pre-launch crawl, redirect map, schema and metadata cutover, performance baseline, and a launch playbook. We run the deploy with you, not at you.
06
Grow
Care plan, CRO sprints, and quiet improvements
We stay involved. Monthly performance reports, security and core updates, and CRO sprints that compound. The site gets better the longer you keep us.
What this looks like in production
Numbers we earn, not numbers we round up.
Sites shipped
across 27 countries
Studio hours
delivered since 2019
Avg conversion lift
post-redesign clients
Client retention
into year two
In their words
Senior teams who chose us.
Haxtiv replatformed our marketing site without losing a single ranking. We saw organic leads up 38% inside the first quarter and the editorial team finally has a layout system they don't fight.
Mara Iglesias
VP Marketing · Lumenwave Health
Headless WordPress redesign
Our previous Shopify build was a Frankenstein of apps. The Haxtiv team simplified the stack, rebuilt the PDP and CRO patterns, and our store is faster and more profitable than it has ever been.
Daniel Korver
Founder · Northbound Goods
Shopify Plus rebuild
Frequently asked
Answers worth asking for.
Don't see the question you're holding? Send it to [email protected] and we'll answer the same day.
Brief us
Have a Shopify or Plus brief? Let's talk.
30-minute call. We'll review the store and share an honest scope.