Case study, Swiss webshop, watersports
Surfdeal.ch: From 100 Products to a Seven Figure Shop
A small watersports shop with a freelancer's Google Ads account became the Swiss market leader in its niche, holding its share while Decathlon entered the market. Six summers of growth, on measurement, campaign structure and the automation that keeps 100,000 products live.
Revenue from Google Ads
+272%
in the first year, sustained since
Return on ad spend
+225%
grown during the engagement and kept while scaling
Years of engagement
5
and counting, since January 2019
Products kept live
100,000
every day, on automation we built
Surfdeal, a Swiss ecommerce store for watersports gear, achieved a 272 percent revenue increase in the first year and has kept growing for six years since, consistently meeting its target ROAS. With our guidance Surfdeal scaled its operations and became a market leader in the seasonal watersports business. The key moves were restructuring the Google Ads campaigns, integrating dropshipping through supplier APIs, and migrating from WooCommerce to Shopware 6, which let the catalogue grow to more than 100,000 products. Surfdeal now generates seven figure revenue, with a growing share from its own private label products.
The challenge
- In 2018 Surfdeal was a small webshop with 100 products and a modest offline store.
- A freelancer had set up Google Ads, but the account underperformed.
- Revenue was in the five figure range, too low to cover the costs.
- Competing against established retailers in the niche was a major challenge.
- In 2019 Surfdeal partnered with us to scale and grow.
The approach
- Free strategy call. We discussed the business goals, audited the current setup and identified the areas for improvement. The result was an action plan with a quote.
- Google Ads overhaul. We restructured the account with Search, Shopping, remarketing and Performance Max campaigns for maximum ROAS.
- Profit based scaling. ROI targets were set and the ad spend adjusted dynamically based on performance.
- Product expansion. Supplier APIs and Google Merchant Center were integrated, growing the catalogue from 100 to more than 100,000 products.
- Platform migration. We supported the migration from WooCommerce to Shopware 6 for better scalability.
- Brand promotion. A social media push and the promotion of Surfdeal's own brand drove significant private label sales.
The results
- 272 percent sales growth on Google Ads in year one, taking revenue into seven figures.
- More than 100,000 products, with the catalogue expanded through API integration and dropshipping.
- Private label success: the own brand became a major sales driver and lifted profitability.
- Optimised ad spend: smart segmentation and continuous optimisation led to a high ROAS.
- Competitive edge: Surfdeal outperformed industry giants like Decathlon while keeping margins stable.
What's next
Surfdeal continues to lead in watersports retail, using our digital marketing strategies to stay competitive against large marketplaces and aggressive competitors like Decathlon. The summer seasonal cycle even allows the owner to work as a CRO expert for our agency in winter.
Quote
"Our ecommerce business stands and falls with sales and reliable data on profits. No sales, no income, no profit. And no money to invest in our battle to defend our position in the watersports market against large players like Amazon."
Services in this project: paid ads and tracking, custom technical solutions, strategy and consulting.
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