Northfinder
How we increased sales by 62% at a time when others were stagnating.
Segment
Outdoor Fashion
Services
Google Ads, Facebook and Instagram Ads, price comparators
Northfinder is known for its functional and high-quality products. It specialises in outdoor clothing and accessories. The company planned an ambitious growth of 60% for 2023, which we managed to achieve – and surpass.
We want a growth rate of 60%, how do we achieve it?
Northfinder is no newbie when it comes to e-commerce. It boasts sales that other online stores can only dream of. The owner knew that he still wanted to keep growing and decided to set an ambitious goal – a 60% increase in sales in 2023.
During this period, Dexfinity managed Meta Ads (advertising on Facebook and Instagram) and Google Ads for the Slovak, Czech, Slovenian and Hungarian markets.
Romania was run by a local Romanian agency. During the course of 2023, Dexfinity also gained control of Bulgaria, which was a market that Northfinder decided to expand into.
The increase in sales was hindered by 3 problems
- In the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the brand began to reach its limits due to the size of the markets. There was a lack of sufficient numbers of potential new customers to allow the company to grow faster.
- Northfinder knew where to find them – across the border. The company already had experience with expansion (into Hungary and Poland), but the Romanian market was not bringing in the sales they had hoped for.
- The e-commerce sector, which was dormant after Covid-19, did not help the numbers either. In Slovakia alone, year-on-year online store sales fell by 13%.
That didn’t stop us.
"With Northfinder, we achieved overall revenue growth of 62% and a 30% reduction in CoS."
How did we achieve this?
By making the right changes at the right time. These were not only done by us, but also by the client. All the joint efforts fell into place and thanks to mutual cooperation, we achieved wonderful results. Let’s take a look at the whole journey with precise, step-by-step solutions.
Changing the marketing mix
We realised that it was time to change the ratio of spending on Meta and Google Ads. Northfinder has reached a point where we could reduce the branding spend a bit.
Warning signs for change
- New and existing customers in established markets (Slovak and Czech) knew the brand very well.
- Campaigns were being displayed frequently and to the same people and lacked effectiveness.
- They were always addressing the same target group without a significant increase in sales.
More for Google, less for social media
We reduced the budget for Meta from the original 45% to 35% of the total budget. We then transferred the saved money into advertising on Google.
In the new markets, the channel structure remained different. If no one knows the brand (yet), it does not make any sense to put too much money into Google Ads. First, we need demand and awareness. These can be gained through social media.
The key word is “simplicity”
1. We simplified the structure of Northfinder’s advertising campaigns.
We are not fans of fragmenting advertising accounts. Clients like to see more campaigns, but a simple structure is the most efficient for the algorithm. It has enough data and learns much faster.
2. We use a single Pixel for all countries.
Northfinder is currently expanding to European markets, where, from our experience, customer behaviour on social media does not differ greatly.
"Thanks to a single Pixel, we already have data we can work with before entering a new market. We know what had been sold and which campaigns worked, and we prioritise testing them."
Thanks to this data, we were able to launch several successful campaigns relatively quickly when we entered the Bulgarian market.
Romania under Dexfinity: 14 days before Black Friday
After successful growth in managed markets, Northfinder made a bold move. The leadership transferred the Romanian market under the management of Dexfinity just two weeks before the Black Friday sales.
Until then, the client believed that a local agency would do the job better. The results showed that it doesn’t matter where the agency comes from, but how it does its job.
Campaigns on social media underwent major changes. We found several issues.
The previous agency had mixed remarketing and lookalike audiences
This means that within one ad, they addressed both people who had already bought something, as well as brand new visitors. We immediately separated the audiences and tailored appropriate communication for each group.
They targeted campaigns ineffectively
They focused on post reach and impressions. Although they did obtain data in this way, they did not utilise it in the next steps of communication.
After taking over the account, we added metrics such as purchases and pageviews, which had real power to bring in sales. We obtained data for remarketing and could finally show customers specific products and categories that had interested them in the past.
Sales growth in the Romanian market: A comparison of 2022 and 2023. In 2022, the market was still managed by a Romanian agency, from November 2023 it had been taken over by Dexfinity.
New visuals, new products
The credit for growth does not go to Dexfinity alone. A great deal of work was also done by the client, who was actively looking for solutions to improve the presentation of the brand and to cover weaker months:
- They added outdoor shoes to their product range. This became the best-selling product in August 2023 and brought sales growth in 2023. At the same time, Northfinder continuously innovates and improves products for ski mountaineering, which makes it one of the the 5 strongest ski mountaineering clothing brands in Europe.
- They unified and modernised visual communication. They focused on the emotions and feelings that the products bring rather than the sale itself.
- They started working with influencers.
Partnership as the pathway towards growth
We appreciate that the client understood that effective advertising needs engaging visuals. Furthermore, once again we confirmed how important the partnership between us and the client is. Without cooperation, there are no results and we must work to complement each other.
The change of visuals was immediately reflected in the performance of the campaigns. With so many visuals, we were able to test them and see which ones deliver the best results.
"During the coronavirus pandemic, you could release anything and it worked. Nowadays, it no longer works that way. You have to work on the creative. For social media, the visual is the be all and end all, without which you will not achieve performance."
New and engaging visuals from Northfinder’s workshop significantly helped the performance of PPC campaigns.
Always aim for up-to-date stock data in ads
Thanks to the experience and contacts of the Dexfinity team, it was possible to create and apply a script to improve product flows to campaigns.
The product feed is usually updated once a day. This means that Google Merchant Center loads all products once every 24 hours. However, with the help of a new script for Northfinder, an update takes place every hour.
More frequent updates ensure that in the ads, customers only see products that are actually in stock and that they can buy. This really helps particularly during big sales offers, such as Black Friday, when products sell out quickly.
The project in numbers
Results
+62%
Year-on-year growth in sales
In 2022, Northfinder already grew by 42%. The goal to grow by 60% in 2023 at a time of declining e-commerce sector was an ambitious plan that we managed not just to meet, but to surpass.
-30%
Reduction in CoS
In addition to the increase in sales, we also managed to reduce advertising costs thanks to a change in the marketing mix. The result was up to 30% lower CoS.
+160%
Year-on-year growth in Romania
The Romanian market delivered breathtaking numbers. After taking over in November 2023, just two weeks before Black Friday sales, changes in campaign structure and targeting led to a three-digit year-on-year sales growth.
-55%
Reduced CoS in Romania
Thanks to the efficiency of our specialists, we also managed to reduce CoS in Romania by up to 55% compared to the previous year.
80% year-on-year increase in Pixel revenue and 5% lower CoS
A simple account structure and effective targeting brought a very nice increase in revenue from social media (Pixel revenue). At the same time, we managed to make them more efficient, even though we were working with a smaller budget due to the change in the marketing mix.
We are pleased with the excellent results and believe that we will soon conquer other markets together.
The specialists behind this project
Gabriel Simco
Gabriel has built several e-commerce projects from the ground up that now operate in various European countries. Thanks to this, he has an in-depth understanding of e-commerce matters and is able to help clients comprehensively in all areas from marketing, through logistics, to finance and data analytics.
Peter Slavka
Social Media Project Manager
Michal Cechovsky
PPC Project Manager
Denisa Pufflerova
Social Media Project Manager & Team Leader
DIRECT CONTACT DETAILS
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Share your project with us and let’s discuss it’s potential.
Michal Lichner
Global BizDev, Sales, Marketing Consultant
+421 911 585 689
michal.lichner@dexfinity.com
Eva Cechovska
Sales & Export Consultant
+421 918 341 781
eva.cechovska@dexfinity.com
Pavol Adamcak
International Marketing Strategy Consultant, Founder
+421 918 435 105
pavol.adamcak@dexfinity.com
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