Overview
From retail-first to online growth: building a profitable Google Ads channel from scratch
A Munich-based vegan food brand, known for pioneering plant-based seafood alternatives and backed by high-profile investors including a former Formula 1 World Champion, was generating the majority of its revenue through retail distribution across major German supermarkets. Online shop sales through their Shopify store were underperforming relative to the brand’s potential. With no Google Ads presence in place, the brief was to launch and scale paid search and shopping activity to drive meaningful online revenue growth.
Initial Situation
- Online shop sales were limited despite strong retail presence and brand recognition
- The only paid activity running was Meta campaigns
- No Google Ads account, no product feed, and no Merchant Centre set up
- Product pages and checkout funnel in Shopify had room for significant improvement
- The brand had clear demand signals from retail and TV exposure but was not capturing them online
Objectives
- Launch Google Ads from scratch across Shopping, Search, and Performance Max
- Build and optimise the Merchant Centre and product feed as the foundation
- Improve product pages and checkout funnel in Shopify to support conversion
- Scale online shop revenue profitably
Approach
The foundation was built first. A clean Merchant Centre setup and an optimised product feed were established before any campaigns went live. Without this base in place, Shopping and Performance Max campaigns cannot perform reliably.
With the feed in place, campaigns were launched in a structured sequence. Shopping campaigns went live first to capture high-intent product searches. Search campaigns were added to cover branded and category queries. Performance Max campaigns were layered on top to extend reach across Google’s full inventory. In parallel, product pages in Shopify were improved to better convert incoming traffic, and the checkout funnel was streamlined to reduce drop-off at the point of purchase.
Bidding strategy was managed in phases. In the early stage, campaigns were optimised for number of sales to build conversion data as quickly as possible. Once sufficient data was in place, bidding shifted to Target ROAS to optimise for conversion value rather than volume. This sequencing allowed the algorithm to learn effectively before being asked to optimise for a more complex objective.
Results
- Online shop revenue scaled by 400% within 6 weeks
- Google Ads launched across Shopping, Search, and Performance Max
- Shopify product pages and checkout funnel improved for higher conversion
- Bidding successfully transitioned from volume optimisation to Target ROAS
- Brand’s online channel established as a scalable, profitable revenue stream alongside retail
Key Learnings
- A clean product feed and Merchant Centre are non-negotiable before launching Shopping or Performance Max campaigns. Poor feed quality limits everything downstream
- Launching Google Ads for an ecommerce brand with existing retail presence and brand awareness generates results faster than a cold start, as demand is already there waiting to be captured
- Bidding strategy must match the data available. Optimising for sales volume first before shifting to Target ROAS produces better long-term results than going straight to ROAS bidding with insufficient data
- Shopify optimisation is as important as campaign optimisation. Traffic without a converting product page and checkout is wasted spend
A brand with strong retail presence and TV exposure already has demand. The job is to build the right Google Ads infrastructure to capture it. When that is done correctly, results follow quickly.
