[Personal business] Mar 2024 to Jan 2026
Two Shopify Stores
$3,100+ in sales from 57+ orders, on under $700 of ads (over 4.4x blended ROAS).
Thobes and abayas are long robes worn in many Arab and Muslim communities. I started two Shopify stores: Urban Abaya Co in 2024, which sold thobes and abayas, then Thobe Ihsan in 2025, which sold custom thobes. For both stores, I ran the ads, email, SEO and tracking.
- [My role]
- Founder
- [When]
- Mar to Jul 2024 (Urban Abaya Co), Aug 2025 to Jan 2026 (Thobe Ihsan)
- [Channels]
- Google, Meta and TikTok ads, email, search
- [Tools]
- Shopify (stores), Google Ads, Meta Ads Manager and TikTok Ads Manager (ads), Mailchimp and HubSpot (email flows), Semrush, Ahrefs and Screaming Frog (SEO audits), Google Tag Manager (conversion tracking), Looker Studio (dashboards), SQL (finding best sellers)
What I did.
Built the stores on Shopify
I set up both stores on Shopify. Thobe Ihsan was the bigger one, with 37 orders. Urban Abaya Co, my first store, had 20+ orders.
Ran paid ads on Google, Meta and TikTok
I ran ads on all three platforms and drove about 5,000 visitors to Thobe Ihsan. On Meta, I A/B tested ad photos. A lifestyle photo got a 40% higher click through rate than the other version.
Set up email flows
I built automated emails in Mailchimp and HubSpot for new subscribers, abandoned carts and buyers. They had a 30% open rate and a 3% click rate.
Apple Mail's privacy feature counts some emails as opened even when nobody read them, so the click rate is the more reliable number.
Fixed SEO problems
I audited the stores with Semrush, Ahrefs and Screaming Frog, then fixed broken links, missing page titles and slow pages.
Tracked what worked
I set up conversion tracking with Google Tag Manager, built Looker Studio dashboards, and used SQL to find which products sold best.
Results.
| What | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Sales | $3,100+ | Across both stores |
| Orders | 57+ | 37 from Thobe Ihsan, 20+ from Urban Abaya Co |
| Ad spend | Under $700 | Google, Meta and TikTok combined |
| Blended ROAS | Over 4.4x | Total sales divided by total ad spend |
| Visitors | About 5,000 | Thobe Ihsan only |
| Email clicks | 3% | Click rate for the email flows |
How I calculate blended ROAS
Blended ROAS is total store sales divided by total ad spend. It counts every sale, including ones that came from email or search, so it shows the overall return, not which ad caused which sale. It measures revenue, not profit.
Want to talk about this project?
Open to internships and entry level jobs in digital marketing, SEO, paid ads and growth, in the Bay Area or remote.