As the UK's leading bike specialist, Evans Cycles was established in 1921 and today has over 55 stores across the UK. Its e-commerce website launched in 1999. The site and nationwide network of stores offer a click-and-collect service, combining the unique benefits of in-store expertise with an easy online shopping experience.
Approach
Transitioned from Product Listing Ads to Shopping ads campaigns
Integrated shopping campaign structure alongside existing text ad campaigns
Used advanced features such as priorities and custom labels to categorise products
Maintained and manipulated product feeds to drive success
Goals
Grow ecommerce sales driven by search ads
Develop more tailored communication of product catalogue on search
Results
Exponential growth in traffic
Significant revenue increases over previous Product Listing Ads campaigns
Year-on-year sales up by one-third
The goal of Evans Cycles' online activity is to inspire and enable more people to enjoy bike riding. The diverse online marketing mix includes display, affiliates, content, email, social and more. In its search campaigns, the company recently transitioned from Product Listing Ads to Shopping ads campaigns. "Beyond the Product Listing Ads' historical performance, we were looking to develop a more tailored communication of our product catalogue on Google," explains Evans Cycles' Online Marketing Manager Ange Bussy-Socrate.
Working in conjunction with Google and the paid search agency iProspect Manchester, the shopping campaign structure was designed to be integrated alongside the brand's existing text ad campaigns. "As the migration was carried out during our peak season, we built the campaigns according to business priority," Ange says. "The campaigns were rolled out using advanced features such as priorities and custom labels in order to categorise products correctly."
Once live, weekly updates between the Google team and iProspect Manchester ensured effective management of the campaigns. "The impact was quite immediate," he reports. "Just after the migration to shopping campaigns, we saw revenues increase over the levels produced by Product Listing Ads. The campaigns drove double-digit incremental sales, and year-on-year our sales went up by a third." The ability to closely manipulate and maintain the quality of the product feed were key success factors.
The biggest surprise in the results? "The traffic potential unlocked by this migration," Ange says. "Shopping campaigns allowed us to expand our exposure in the online market to grow our traffic exponentially since the transition (although the cost per click was subject to a significant increase when the campaigns first went live, which was unexpected). The Grand Depart of the Tour de France in the UK for example generated an increase in cycling interest online. The shopping campaigns were a key component of the online marketing mix to leverage that unique opportunity."
Ange believes there are further opportunities that Evans Cycles can exploit in this area. "We are looking to keep testing other Shopping ads innovations. We have physical store presence across the country, so the local shopping campaign variations are definitely on the roadmap for us in terms of paid search. It will be quite interesting to see the impact of this mobile traffic to our store footfall in the UK."
