Gymshark Case Study: A Full Shopify Plus Storefront Rebuild

TL;DR: Liquid Lemon rebuilt Gymshark's entire Shopify Plus storefront from the ground up, custom-coding every page: homepage, collections, product pages, cart, and navigation. The result: a faster, cleaner storefront that scales with the catalog and holds up under 8-figure peak traffic.

Who is Gymshark and what was the project?

Gymshark is one of the world's largest DTC fitness apparel brands, with a massive catalog spanning hundreds of products across men's, women's, and accessories lines, and one of the largest brands on Shopify Plus.

This Gymshark case study details a comprehensive storefront overhaul. Liquid Lemon custom-coded every page of the brand's Shopify Plus store from scratch: homepage, collections, product pages, cart, and navigation. The build went deepest on the product pages, the collection architecture, and site speed, the three areas that carried the most weight for conversion.

At Gymshark's scale, even incremental performance improvements translate into massive revenue gains. A product page optimized for conversion, multiplied across an 8-figure traffic profile, generates exponential returns.

What was the core problem?

Findability and catalog sprawl. Gymshark's biggest challenge wasn't brand awareness or traffic volume — it was a massive product catalog that had outgrown its navigation structure.

With hundreds of SKUs and dozens of collections, the legacy storefront architecture made it difficult for active shoppers to search, filter, and navigate to the right product quickly. Browsing required unnecessary effort, creating friction that suppressed conversion rates.

This structural bottleneck is common for scaling e-commerce brands: product quality and marketing succeed, but the store architecture remains built for a catalog one-tenth the size. It is the classic inflection point detailed in our guide on outgrowing your Shopify theme — with Gymshark representing an enterprise-level execution of that challenge.

What did we actually change in this Shopify redesign?

We custom-coded the entire site from scratch. Every page was rebuilt, and the product pages, collection architecture, and site speed were the areas driving the conversion gains, so that is where we go deep.

1. Rebuilt every product display page (PDP)

We redesigned every PDP from zero to improve conversion hierarchy, tighten the buy-box, and streamline the path from landing page to checkout. Essential decision-making details — such as fit, fabric, and sizing — were placed front-and-center so shoppers could evaluate products immediately on mobile devices.

2. Restructured the collection architecture

We overhauled how hundreds of products were organized across collections to eliminate navigation friction. The new architecture streamlined collection grouping, improved facet filtering, and accelerated search results — allowing customers to find specific items in seconds without exhaustive scrolling.

3. Executed site-wide speed optimizations

We optimized page weight, eliminated render-blocking scripts, and overhauled image delivery across the entire theme. Because site velocity directly impacts add-to-cart rate optimization, engineered speed improvements were built directly into the custom code to prevent large-catalog performance drag. Learn more about how load time is directly tied to conversion.

What did the rebuild deliver?

A faster, cleaner storefront where the full catalog is easy to navigate, with product pages rebuilt for conversion and speed engineered to hold up under 8-figure peak traffic.

A product page's job is to turn intent into action. Clearer hierarchy, a tighter buy-box, and faster load all move that, which is why the PDP rebuild sat at the center of this project.

Getting the product page right protects against the common conversion traps we explore further in our breakdown of the CRO mistakes killing Shopify conversion rates.

Why did this project take longer than a standard sprint?

Catalog volume and organizational scope. While the design principles were clear, executing at enterprise Shopify Plus scale required extended data structuring.

Our standard client project is a 30-day sprint. However, Gymshark's vast product index and specific organizational criteria necessitated an extended execution phase. Because scope was defined and locked before the build began, the larger project translated into an extended, predictable timeline rather than unexpected budget expansion.

For high-SKU brands, the redesign framework remains consistent — it is simply the volume of content architecture that scales. For the other end of the spectrum, see how we built a full custom storefront for a pre-launch beverage brand in two working sessions. And for the long-arc version of a Liquid Lemon engagement, see how Triangl grew from six figures to eight over a five-year store and growth partnership.

What can other DTC brands learn from this Shopify redesign case study?

Whether your brand generates $500,000 or $500,000,000, these three core takeaways apply:

1. Information Architecture is a Direct Conversion Lever: Navigation, collection trees, and filtering are conversion tools. The faster a customer finds the right product, the higher your overall add-to-cart rate will be.
2. Speed and Structure Compound Each Other: High performance requires both clear navigation and fast page loads. Fixing template speed without clearing path friction yields sub-optimal conversion lifts.
3. Optimize for the Core Micro-Conversion: Focus relentlessly on add-to-cart rate. It is the purest indicator of whether your product display pages are successfully persuading traffic to buy.

Ready for your own custom Shopify redesign?

Liquid Lemon builds custom, high-converting Shopify storefronts for growing DTC brands — delivered via a fixed-price, fixed-scope model within a 30-day sprint.

If your catalog has outgrown your existing theme, our structured redesign process provides a clear path forward.

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Written by Andrew Zam, Co-Founder of Liquid Lemon