How We Boosted a Shoe Brand's Sales by 60% and Cut Advertising Costs in Half

Background

In March 2024, we took over Amazon PPC for a shoe brand in trouble. They were burning cash on ads with a TACOS of 12-14%, fighting resellers for the Buybox, and struggling to grow. The goal? Grab more market share, increase sales, and fix the Buybox mess.

The Game Plan

1. Rebuild from the Ground Up: We tore down their campaigns and rebuilt them. Micro-level campaigns let us track each product like a hawk, optimising on the go.
2. Harvesting Gold: By digging into SQP Reports, we found the targets that really convert. These got their own campaigns with hero ASINs, boosting visibility and driving better conversions.
3. Winning the Buybox War: We built campaigns just for Buybox winners, pouring more money into these to ensure they dominated.
4. Smarter Ad Groups: Multiple ad groups in a single campaign gave us better control of ACOS while keeping sales strong.
5. Laser-Focused Spend: We put 65% of the budget on Sponsored Products, 15% on Sponsored Brands, and 15% on Sponsored Display. We pushed bids for top-of-search during peak hours to grab more eyeballs.
6. Weekly Buybox Audits: Every week, we checked who’s winning the Buybox and adjusted campaigns to keep our key styles in the game.
7. Gender Segmentation: We split campaigns by gender—men’s, women’s, and kids’—and used hyper-relevant keywords to ensure every penny was well spent.
8. Match Type Tweaks: Phrase match was our MVP. We leaned hard on it after seeing it beat exact and broad match keywords.
9. Keyword Cleanup: Dead-weight keywords? Gone. We cleared out underperformers weekly, especially in broad and phrase matches, to cut waste.
10. Doubling Down on Winners: Using STR reports, we found top-performing search terms and built dedicated campaigns around them.

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Results:

• March 2024: 41.3% Year-on-Year growth.
• April 2024: A staggering 61.9% YoY growth.
• May 2024: Held strong with 15.3% YoY growth.
• June 2024: Continued momentum with 6.3% YoY growth.
• July 2024: Blew it out of the park with 60.5% YoY growth and a 177% jump in PPC sales.

Oh, and TACOS? We cut it to under 10%. Efficient spending, serious results.

Takeaway

By overhauling their PPC, focusing on high-converting targets, and making continuous adjustments, we turned this shoe brand around. We didn’t just grow their sales—we slashed their costs and dominated the Buybox. This case shows what happens when data-driven strategies meet relentless execution.

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