Online thrift store struggles with low site conversion rate. Implementing dynamic ads across marketing channels increased site conversion rate by 357% year over year.
The Challenge
An online thrift retailer faced two key obstacles: low brand awareness and a site conversion rate of just 0.6%. The unique challenge of thrift retail, where each product is one-of-a-kind, meant customers struggled to filter and find relevant items. This friction led to high bounce rates, low return visitation, and limited revenue growth.
The Insight
The core issue was not lack of demand, but shopping experience inefficiency. Without a seamless way to surface relevant products, customers abandoned sessions before ever reaching product pages. Solving this problem required a media strategy that could mirror the experience of a personalized storefront, highlighting the right product, to the right user, at the right moment.
The Strategy
I designed a dynamic, full-funnel media approach that both attracted new customers efficiently and re-engaged high-intent visitors. By leveraging the retailer’s product catalog dynamically across Search, Shopping, and Display, the media strategy effectively turned advertising into a smarter, more navigable storefront experience.
The Execution
Search: Launched Dynamic Search Ads with a Max Clicks strategy to capture long-tail queries (e.g., “Paige jeans size 7 dark wash”), driving cost-efficient traffic at scale.
Shopping: Built a 40,000+ SKU feed via Feedonomics, optimized to automatically remove out-of-stock items and prioritize best-selling categories. This ensured users saw only relevant, available products.
Display: Developed segmented remarketing campaigns based on site engagement (category visitors, product viewers, cart abandoners), maximizing return on site traffic with personalized creative.
The Results
The dynamic strategy delivered a 357% increase in site conversion rate (from 0.6% to 2.6% CVR), transforming how customers engaged with the brand. Landing page relevancy improved dramatically, remarketing campaigns recaptured high-purchase-intent users, and media spend became directly tied to profitable growth.
The Takeaway
This case demonstrates how media strategy can solve business problems beyond awareness or traffic. By aligning media execution with the unique realities of the thrift model, I was able to create a scalable, dynamic advertising system that both improved customer experience and accelerated revenue growth.