A “Drop” Mindset
The brand
ARKK Copenhagen was founded in 2014 by Thomas Refdahl and Kasper Højer with a clear vision: a sneaker that is comfortable, functional and designed in the Scandinavian tradition of simplicity. By the time I joined in 2018, ARKK had established itself as one of Denmark’s strongest digital-first shoe brands — a brand with a sharp identity, a loyal following and serious commercial ambitions.
The situation
ARKK was ready for its next chapter. The existing Shopify setup had taken them far, but the business had outgrown it. The goal was a full transition to Shopify Plus — and with it, a 2.0 version of the entire digital experience. Better performance, stronger brand expression and a commercial setup built for where ARKK was heading, not where it had been.
At the same time, ARKK wanted to take their product launches to the next level. They had the brand. They had the product. What they needed was the methodology to match.
What I did
The move from Shopify to Shopify Plus was the foundation for everything else. Alongside the migration, the entire webshop was rebuilt with best practices across every touchpoint: mobile-first design, filter and navigation optimisation, checkout flow, product detail pages and conversion rate improvements informed by both data and commercial instinct.
The changes were grounded in a clear analysis of what was working and what wasn’t — from filter placement on mobile to payment solutions, checkout transparency and how products were presented and prioritised. Every decision was made with both brand identity and commercial performance in mind.
Performance and data foundation
From day one, the work was anchored in data. KPI tracking covered the full picture of site performance — sessions and traffic broken down by channel, conversion rate, bounce rates and average session time. The goal was always to have a clear baseline before making changes, and a clear target to measure against after.
This wasn’t performance marketing — it was performance ecommerce. Understanding how the site was actually behaving, where customers were dropping off and what the numbers were telling us before deciding what to fix next. Every optimisation had a purpose and a metric attached to it.
Bringing the drop mindset to ARKK
Coming from Rezet Sneaker Store — one of Denmark’s leading multi-brand sneaker retailers — I had worked with the biggest product releases on the market. I understood drop culture from the inside: the build-up, the tension, the exclusivity and the community that forms around a well-executed launch.
At ARKK, I translated that experience into a launch methodology built specifically for the brand. The approach was built around storytelling that started well before the product was revealed — teasing the audience with fragments and silhouettes, creating anticipation without showing everything at once. Pre-launch activations like raffles and limited sign-ups gave loyal customers exclusive access. Countdown functions on the site made the moment feel real and urgent.
The goal wasn’t just to sell a shoe. It was to create a launch that felt like an event — and to position ARKK alongside the sneaker brands that customers already looked up to.
Affiliate and content partnerships
Part of the role was establishing ARKK’s presence in the wider digital sneaker and fashion universe through affiliate partnerships and collaborations with relevant blogs and content platforms. The goal was to ensure the brand was visible where the target audience went for inspiration and discovery — and that every partnership reflected ARKK’s identity and ambitions rather than just generating traffic for its own sake.
German market expansion
The third major project was the launch of a dedicated .de site for the German market. This involved full German localisation — translations handled by an external agency — alongside the setup of local shipping options and payment methods appropriate for the German consumer market.
It was the kind of expansion project that touches every part of the operation: platform configuration, logistics, payments, content and coordination across internal and external stakeholders.
What the period represented
There are no single numbers to point to here. ARKK was already performing well when I joined — the task wasn’t to fix something broken, it was to build something better.
What the year at ARKK represented was a step up in every dimension: a more capable platform, a more considered brand experience, a more disciplined approach to launches and a new market opened for the first time. It was the kind of work that doesn’t always show up in a single metric — but that lays the foundation for everything that comes after.