Increase in Google Shopping ROAS YoY in January with Sidecar
How The Warming Store Used Cross-Channel Marketing to Improve Efficiency 37% During Its Peak Season
HEADQUARTERS
Philadelphia, PA
RETAIL CATEGORY
Apparel and Accessories
WEBSITE
CHANNELs
25%
37%
Lift in Google Paid Search ROAS YoY in January with Sidecar
68%
Increase in Facebook Revenue YoY in First Four Months with Sidecar
160%
Increase in Amazon Orders YoY with Sidecar
25%
Increase in Google Shopping ROAS YoY in January with Sidecar
37%
Lift in Google Paid Search ROAS YoY in January with Sidecar
68%
Increase in Facebook Revenue YoY in First Four Months with Sidecar
160%
Increase in Amazon Orders YoY with Sidecar
HEADQUARTERS
Philadelphia, PA
RETAIL CATEGORY
Apparel and Accessories
WEBSITE
THE GOAL
Efficient Spending Generating More Sales
For The Warming Store, online advertising boils down to one objective: maintaining efficiency while growing revenue. Founded in 2008 in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia, PA, The Warming Store sells temperature-controlled apparel that ranges from heated clothing to personal cooling products. Its peak season occurs between October and January.
The retailer has a diverse digital advertising mix. In addition to its website, it promotes products in Google and Bing’s shopping and paid search channels as well as Facebook and Amazon. Google and Bing Shopping help drive new customer acquisition while increasing impression share is a top goal through paid search advertising.
Cross-channel promotion is also pivotal to The Warming Store’s success. The retailer leverages Google Shopping ads to inform its Facebook strategy by retargeting shoppers on Facebook who have engaged with its ads on Google, and vice versa. This allows the retailer to stay top of mind for shoppers most likely to purchase its products and drive more sales. On Amazon, it sells products under its two house brands, Gerbing and ActionHeat, to further meet efficiency and revenue goals.
“We’re a seasonal business, and that means our goals change throughout the year,” explained Justin Silverman, co-founder of The Warming Store. “We aim for a higher ROAS during the year-end holidays and efficiency is our number one priority. When we spend, we’re specifically trying to translate ad dollars into sales.” Silverman and his team began working with Sidecar citing the company’s unique ability to blend technology with a people component. “Communication is important to us,” said Silverman. “We found Sidecar and gravitated towards its team’s transparency with weekly calls and status updates.”
The retailer has a diverse digital advertising mix. In addition to its website, it promotes products in Google and Bing’s shopping and paid search channels as well as Facebook and Amazon. Google and Bing Shopping help drive new customer acquisition while increasing impression share is a top goal through paid search advertising.
Cross-channel promotion is also pivotal to The Warming Store’s success. The retailer leverages Google Shopping ads to inform its Facebook strategy by retargeting shoppers on Facebook who have engaged with its ads on Google, and vice versa. This allows the retailer to stay top of mind for shoppers most likely to purchase its products and drive more sales. On Amazon, it sells products under its two house brands, Gerbing and ActionHeat, to further meet efficiency and revenue goals.
“We’re a seasonal business, and that means our goals change throughout the year,” explained Justin Silverman, co-founder of The Warming Store. “We aim for a higher ROAS during the year-end holidays and efficiency is our number one priority. When we spend, we’re specifically trying to translate ad dollars into sales.” Silverman and his team began working with Sidecar citing the company’s unique ability to blend technology with a people component. “Communication is important to us,” said Silverman. “We found Sidecar and gravitated towards its team’s transparency with weekly calls and status updates.”
"It takes a lot of communication and coordination to advertise across multiple channels. I was confident Sidecar’s team would deliver results. We’ve not only met but exceeded our goals on Google, Bing, Facebook, and Amazon."
JUSTIN SILVERMAN
Co-founder, The Warming Store
THE STRATEGY
Granular Campaign Management to Amplify Efficiency and Drive More Business
The Warming Store and Sidecar partner across six different online channels. The retailer is live on Google Shopping and paid search, Bing Shopping and paid search, Facebook, and Amazon.
Identifying Top Terms and Growing Impression Share on Google
Sidecar first launched The Warming Store on Sidecar for Shopping and Sidecar for Paid Search. As a highly seasonal, weather-dependent retailer, The Warming Store benefits greatly from incorporating modifiers in its shopping campaigns. Sidecar’s technology uses product modifiers by state, targeting states that experience cold weather earlier in the year. The technology also added audience modifiers to target shoppers who previously engaged with or purchased from the retailer’s shopping ads.
Search query targeting also plays a big role in The Warming Store’s Google and Bing Shopping strategy. Sidecar breaks out branded and non-branded campaigns and layers a search query targeting method called “top terms” within both. Top terms are shopping terms Sidecar’s Search Query Manager identifies as most valuable to the retailer’s business. This targeting focuses on top performing queries and treats them like high value branded items.
Search query targeting also plays a big role in The Warming Store’s Google and Bing Shopping strategy. Sidecar breaks out branded and non-branded campaigns and layers a search query targeting method called “top terms” within both. Top terms are shopping terms Sidecar’s Search Query Manager identifies as most valuable to the retailer’s business. This targeting focuses on top performing queries and treats them like high value branded items.
As a best practice, Sidecar creates negative terms on Google and Bing paid search granularly across each segment to ensure less overlap in The Warming Store’s campaigns. “Before Sidecar, we noticed certain instances when trademark terms were not being properly blocked,” said Silverman. “Sidecar’s technology and team were able to break these terms out into dedicated campaigns and make more actionable decisions.”
Sidecar’s team created three paid search campaigns. Using Sidecar’s technology, it maintains separate goals for each campaign. Trademark terms maintain high impression share and top-of-page impression share. Branded terms prioritize impression share and emphasize ROAS as a safeguard to not overspend on one brand. Non-branded terms focus on efficiency.
Sidecar’s team created three paid search campaigns. Using Sidecar’s technology, it maintains separate goals for each campaign. Trademark terms maintain high impression share and top-of-page impression share. Branded terms prioritize impression share and emphasize ROAS as a safeguard to not overspend on one brand. Non-branded terms focus on efficiency.
Filling the Funnel on Facebook
Cross-channel learnings and audience building are at the heart of The Warming Store and Sidecar’s Facebook strategy. Sidecar’s team uses Sidecar for Facebook to bucket the retailer’s campaigns into two fields: prospecting and retargeting. These fields provide a two-way reliance between Google and Facebook. Facebook can target users who have clicked through a Google ad. On the other hand, Facebook is creating new users from prospecting campaigns than can be retargeted on Google Shopping.
To engage with new shoppers on Google and Facebook and move them down the funnel toward a purchase, Sidecar’s technology attaches custom UTM parameters to The Warming Store’s Google and Facebook ads. These parameters allow the technology to create specific audiences of shoppers who’ve clicked these ads. Sidecar’s technology then retargets shoppers who’ve clicked an ad in one channel with similar product ads in the other channel. Furthermore, the technology can add audience modifiers to the retailer’s Google strategy consisting of Facebook users who clicked these ads.
“Looking at search terms that convert on Google and building audiences on Facebook help us decide which levers to pull in one channel over the other,” said Silverman. “Driving a cross-channel strategy is a big win with Sidecar. We can engage with new shoppers and move them down the funnel in really creative ways.”
To engage with new shoppers on Google and Facebook and move them down the funnel toward a purchase, Sidecar’s technology attaches custom UTM parameters to The Warming Store’s Google and Facebook ads. These parameters allow the technology to create specific audiences of shoppers who’ve clicked these ads. Sidecar’s technology then retargets shoppers who’ve clicked an ad in one channel with similar product ads in the other channel. Furthermore, the technology can add audience modifiers to the retailer’s Google strategy consisting of Facebook users who clicked these ads.
“Looking at search terms that convert on Google and building audiences on Facebook help us decide which levers to pull in one channel over the other,” said Silverman. “Driving a cross-channel strategy is a big win with Sidecar. We can engage with new shoppers and move them down the funnel in really creative ways.”
"Driving a cross-channel strategy is a big win with Sidecar. We can engage with new shoppers and move them down the funnel in really creative ways."
Achieving ACoS and Revenue Targets on Amazon
The Warming Store had little experience managing Amazon campaigns prior to working with Sidecar. It devoted a small percentage of budget to the channel, but a simple campaign structure failed to give the retailer a competitive edge.
Sidecar for Amazon analyzed The Warming Store’s Amazon account and developed advertising cost of sale (ACoS) and revenue goals. Sidecar’s team separated campaigns between the retailer’s house brand products and other brands the retailer sells. For house brands, campaigns break out across sponsored product ads, sponsored brand ads, and display ads. Other brands bucket into sponsored product ads and sponsored display ads.
Sidecar’s technology further breaks out The Warming Store’s sponsored product ads by automatic non-branded, manual branded, manual non-branded, and product targeting buckets. Sponsored brand ads filter into three campaigns while other brand sponsored product ads break out across automatic, manual, and product targeting. Manual branded and non-branded campaigns are managed by Sidecar’s technology and determined by Sidecar’s team using keywords.
“We didn’t have a strong grasp on our Amazon business before Sidecar,” said Silverman. “Sidecar’s team and technology were able to look at our product catalog and determine what our biggest moving products were based on our channel goals.”
Sidecar for Amazon analyzed The Warming Store’s Amazon account and developed advertising cost of sale (ACoS) and revenue goals. Sidecar’s team separated campaigns between the retailer’s house brand products and other brands the retailer sells. For house brands, campaigns break out across sponsored product ads, sponsored brand ads, and display ads. Other brands bucket into sponsored product ads and sponsored display ads.
Sidecar’s technology further breaks out The Warming Store’s sponsored product ads by automatic non-branded, manual branded, manual non-branded, and product targeting buckets. Sponsored brand ads filter into three campaigns while other brand sponsored product ads break out across automatic, manual, and product targeting. Manual branded and non-branded campaigns are managed by Sidecar’s technology and determined by Sidecar’s team using keywords.
“We didn’t have a strong grasp on our Amazon business before Sidecar,” said Silverman. “Sidecar’s team and technology were able to look at our product catalog and determine what our biggest moving products were based on our channel goals.”
THE RESULTS
Improved ROAS During Peak Season
Google, Bing, Facebook, and Amazon each play a specific role in achieving The Warming Store’s business goals. This multichannel approach has driven new customer acquisition, increased impression share, and harnessed cross-channel insight to fill the purchase funnel. In turn, efficiency has improved while revenue grows.
Top Terms Boost ROAS on Google and Bing Shopping
The winter months are crucial to The Warming Store. Sidecar placed particular emphasis on the post-holiday season on Google and Bing Shopping, ensuring that the retailer’s top terms were optimized across devices. The Warming Store’s Google and Bing Shopping strategy on mobile focused on non-branded terms like “heated socks,” “heated insoles,” and “heated vest” to drive 25% higher ROAS in January year over year (4.1 to 5.1).
Paid Search Impression Share Jumps During Year-End Holidays
To increase visibility across Google and Bing’s SERP during its peak season, The Warming Store increased its paid search budget between October and December. With a focus on branded, non-branded, and trademark terms, Sidecar’s technology delivered 15% more impression share year over year in November and 159% more impression share in December year over year. Despite higher ad spend during this period, November ROAS in Google and Bing paid search increased 18% year over year.
Increased Revenue with a Full-Funnel Facebook Approach
Its unique prospecting and retargeting campaign structure with Sidecar allowed The Warming Store to see instant results on Facebook. CPCs across its campaigns decreased 47% ($0.95 to $0.50) between November and February compared to the previous year. Cost savings improved 2.5% over that period along with a 68% increase in revenue.
Amazon Orders and Revenue Skyrocket
With a granular campaign structure in tow, The Warming Store and Sidecar were able to generate more orders and revenue on Amazon between November and January. Dedicated ad groups and sub-ad groups of products helped determine exactly which products performed best during the peak season. As a result, year-over-year orders between November and January increased 455% while revenue grew 166% over that time period.
Up Next: Google Display Ads
The Warming Store’s advertising mix with Sidecar recently expanded to include Google Display ads. Silverman and his team have seen strong early results and are confident in Sidecar’s ability to handle its diverse portfolio. “There are two main benefits we receive from Sidecar. One is improved efficiency of our ad spend,” said Silverman. “The other is the trust we have in Sidecar’s team and technology. It’s a fantastic partnership.”
