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Boscov's Jumps to a 44% YoY Revenue Increase on Google Shopping in 90 Days

THE SCOOP

Boscov’s is a billion-dollar, independent retailer with 44 department stores in the U.S. Like many retailers, Boscov’s was stretched for resources to strategize and manage its Google Shopping ads while also handling other digital initiatives.

The solution? Boscov’s implemented Sidecar for Shopping to efficiently grow channel revenue.

PROFILE

Retail Category
Department
Website
boscovs.com
Headquarters
Reading, PA
Channel
Google Shopping

The GOAL

CREATE MORE Resources

Boscov’s was encountering an obstacle faced by many retailers that run their Google Shopping campaigns in house: the clock. It was no small feat to properly manage a catalog of 220,000 products on Google Shopping, while also handling CSEs, search, and other digital initiatives.

“Google requires you to set a bid for every product, but that’s impossible to do one by one,” said Brandy Lorah, Director, E-Commerce Marketing for Boscov’s. “We took the fast and easy route of grouping products by brand and category, and assigning each group a bid. But we knew that while some products were getting the right bid, many others were not.”

Boscov’s needed a way to take its Google Shopping strategy to the next level. A solution had to meet several goals—the biggest of which was accurate bidding to drive efficient revenue growth. Boscov’s wanted to see that growth happening year-round, not just during the holiday shopping spike.

Automation was also a requirement. With finite in-house resources to devote to the channel, Boscov’s had to get much more out of the time it put into Google Shopping.

The retailer researched the market for a technology that could meet these goals. When Boscov’s evaluated Sidecar for Shopping, it recognized that the company’s technology and team were not like others it had experienced in the past.

“We were impressed by the amount of product-level attention and automated bid adjustments that Sidecar would provide. The company’s analysts knew exactly how to guide us in making the most of the technology in this channel,” said Lorah.

BY the Numbers

220k
Products
in catalog
32%
Revenue Growth
in 30 days
13%
ROAS Improvement
in 30 days
5500
Automated Bid Changes
in Q4

The solution

Regrouping on CHANNEL APPROACH

Boscov’s began working with Sidecar to revise its Google Shopping strategy, optimize its product feed for the channel, and install Sidecar for Shopping on its e-commerce site.

Sidecar for Shopping now continually ingests several datasets critical to defining Boscov’s Google Shopping bids—including the retailer’s goals, channel data, and product attributes, as well as consumer search behavior impacting its catalog.

The technology’s machine learning algorithms are trained by this data and deepen their understanding of Boscov’s catalog and performance trends as more data accrues over time. The algorithms dynamically adjust campaign structure and individual product bids to maximize performance of every item in the catalog.

“The notion of setting the right bid for each product is a reality with Sidecar,” said Lorah. “Product-level bid management is more dynamic and fluid than could be feasibly managed in house.”

Each product, even those with little traffic, receives a smart, data-driven bid. That’s because Sidecar collects and attaches relevant data to these products to inform the bidding strategy and drive performance.

And whereas Boscov’s was largely reactive in its Google Shopping management before, the retailer is now proactive with Sidecar. Using a variety of data points and machine learning to identify performance trends, the technology predicts the revenue generation potential of each product, and assigns bids accordingly. The technology also evaluates products at the device level, bidding them individually depending on their performance on desktop versus mobile.

Sidecar’s e-commerce pros continue to develop strategy with Boscov's and navigate Sidecar for Shopping to ensure the retailer is maximizing results from the channel.
The notion of setting the right bid for each product is a reality with Sidecar. Product-level bid management is more dynamic and fluid than could be feasibly managed in house.
Brandy Lorah
Director, E-commerce Marketing for Boscov's

the results

New-Found Momentum

After just 30 days with Sidecar, Boscov’s Google Shopping revenue was up by 32% YoY, while ROAS improved by 13% YoY. After 60 days with Sidecar, revenue was up 46% YoY and ROAS improved by 27% YoY. And after 90 days (the fourth quarter of the year), revenue increased by 44% YoY at the retailer’s ROAS goal.

“We saw Sidecar’s impact right away,” said Lorah. “We were especially impressed by the number of automated bid adjustments that the technology started making—and they all fed into consistent channel improvements.”

The technology made more than 1,600 automated bid adjustments in the first month, and more than 5,500 during the fourth quarter (an average of 60 changes per day).

That initial momentum continued into the new year. In the first two months, Google Shopping revenue grew by 82% YoY at the retailer’s ROAS goal. Also during this period, mobile device campaign growth significantly outpaced desktop growth.

“Sidecar gives us the best of both worlds—technological intelligence and human intelligence,” said Lorah. “We value our relationship with the entire Sidecar crew. They’ve been really fantastic partners—responsive and truly committed to helping us grow our business.”

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