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.

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.”