Success Story - Arena Flowers
Arena Flowers is an online supplier of ethically grown blooms, founded in the UK in 2006. From its very earliest days, the business has used AdWords to reach customers around the world, and to grow turnover year-on-year.
The business launched with the aim of bringing ethically sourced flowers direct to consumers at an affordable price. While a focus on ethics and sustainability provided a real point of differentiation for the new brand, it would be of no use to growers or consumers if it went undiscovered in the highly competitive floristry marketplace.
Founder Will Wynne discussed the potential of AdWords with a member of the Google Account Support Team, who explained how Search advertising works and assisted with essential set-up and campaign strategy. “It just takes a bit of thought and setting up and you have access to a giant population,” says Will, “some of whom would only ever want to buy online.” By using highly specific keyword targeting and negative keywords to prevent ads being shown against products or locations that the business couldn’t fulfil, Arena ensured that every penny of their budget went towards connecting with customers who were more likely to convert.
Arena’s first ever customer found the site via AdWords, placing an order from the USA. Immediately, AdWords traffic accounted for 40% of the brand’s business, with turnover growing from £1.6m in year one to more than £3m in year two. “Pretty astronomical growth for a couple of guys and a warehouse doing AdWords!” Will observes.
AdWords continues to be a significant growth engine for Arena Flowers, with Will and his team making use of the platform’s rich data to optimise campaigns and make their marketing spend work even harder. Next on the agenda is the vital task of getting to grips with mobile. With an increasing number of visits coming from smartphones, Will is now using other tools from the Google suite to help build a mobile version of the site. “Arena Flowers would not exist without Google and definitely not without AdWords,” Will says, reflecting on the importance of online marketing to the success of his business. “Going forward, both have a huge role to play in our expansion plans and continued success.”
Check out Arena Flowers here!
