Marks & Spencer Group (M&S) is a major multinational retailer, specialising in selling clothing, homeware and luxury food products. Founded in 1884, M&S has been a stalwart presence on UK high streets for over a hundred years. Today, it operates over 1,000 stores in the UK and 428 international stores in 56 territories across the world. Its ecommerce site is present in 33 countries in 30 languages. Combined, its global revenue is over £10.5bn.
12 markets & 8 languages
Marks & Spencer wanted to grow and mature its international business through an enhanced consumer experience, smarter digital investments and better strategic decisions on market entry and expansion. Improving Paid Search was identified as a key success factor to achieve this in the overall marketing mix, and it turned to DEPT® to help.
The initial goal was to take full ownership across branded search, and to build and execute a scalable and complete market-specific Paid Search strategy.
DEPT® helped M&S take full advantage of Paid Search advertising in 12 markets and 8 languages, including Ireland, France, USA and Australia.
We first conducted initial account audits, analysed Google Search data, and leveraged explicit channel knowledge to estimate market potential. This was a crucial element in designing and prioritising the optimal approach.
Together with M&S, DEPT® built roadmaps and forecasts for each market, and executed the Paid Search strategy across all nominated countries.
Achieving growth with consistent optimisation
Restructuring a fragmented set-up
The first challenge DEPT® overcame was to move away from a fragmented and unstructured Paid Search setup where international markets where treated with a a one-size-fits-all approach.
DEPT® restructured the accounts based on a combination of analyses and deep channel understanding. Designing a scalable and consistent Paid Search campaign structure made it possible to implement the Paid Search initiatives at a fast pace across the 12 countries.
The optimisation journey
It’s easy to turn on a campaign, but in order to achieve growth and ongoing development, DEPT® works in a three pillar approach: Structure; Quality; Financial Performance.
In doing so, we follow a transparent optimisation model tailored to both the specific market needs and Marks & Spencer’s marketing calendar. Automation helps to ensure the smooth and effective execution of promotion campaigns across multiple countries and languages.
70% increase in revenue
Thanks to a structured and consistent approach and our local language and market competencies, DEPT® managed to realise a large share of the international potential.
During the collaboration, revenue from the Paid Search channel increased between 25% – 70% across the twelve markets.
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Strategy Director
