Summary:
A premium pet food reseller partnered with us at the end of Q3 to reverse declining non brand performance, restore profit margins, and build a scalable account in a highly competitive market. The brand was spending heavily on paid search but seeing diminishing returns, shrinking margins, and very little new customer growth. In this pet food reseller case study, we’ll work through what we overcame and and how we got there.
Key Outcomes (Within 90 Days):
- 3× increase in conversion rate
- 72% reduction in CPA whilst increasing spend levels
- 12% increase in average order value (AOV)
- Net margin lifted from under 5% to 18%
- Ad spend scaled comfortably beyond the £10k+ range
- Non brand search returned to strong, profitable growth of 3.2 ROAS in the first month
The Challenge:
As a reseller of premium, high protein dog & cat food products, the brand competes in a high-intent, highly competitive landscape dominated by cost cutting exercises and a race to the bottom.
Before working with The Ad Lounge, the business faced several critical challenges:
- Non brand search performance was declining, limiting new customer acquisition
- CPA was too high, eroding already thin margins
- Net profit margin sat below 5%, making scaling unviable
- Google Ads lacked structure, limiting optimisation opportunities
- Product feed quality was poor, affecting Shopping visibility and cost efficiency
- High spend but low profitability, resulting in inefficient growth
- No paid social activity, leaving the brand reliant on search alone
The brand had demand. But the setup wasn’t allowing it to convert profitably.
Our Strategy
SKU Level Margin Audit
Resellers often face margin variability across product lines, and this brand was no exception. We conducted a deep SKU level profitability audit to:
- Identify products driving vs. draining margin
- Understand COGS and shipping impacts
- Analyse margin by brand, size and product type
- Prioritise high margin products in Search and Performance Max
- Shift spend away from low profit lines
This created a profit first foundation for scaling.
Full Google Ads Account Restructure
We rebuilt the entire Google Ads ecosystem from the ground up:
- New, profit aligned campaign setup
- Rebuilt Performance Max with strong audience signals and structured creative
- Complete feed overhaul with heavy feed optimisation (somehow didn’t include weight or protein percentages in previous setup)
- Better segmentation, cleaner targeting, and relevant exclusions
- Tracking fixes and enhanced conversion setup
- Margin informed bidding and clear product grouping
The result: dramatically improved efficiency and scale.
Reversing the Non Brand Decline
Non-brand performance had been sliding for months.
Within weeks of taking over, The Ad Lounge:
- Stabilised non-brand traffic
- Improved profitability
- Reduced waste
- Restored ROAS
- Recovered intent based acquisition
This turned non brand from a drain into a profitable engine for new customers
Meta Ads Launch
Two weeks prior to writing this case study, we launched Meta Ads with one objective: Drive incremental new-customer acquisition without cannibalising Google.
Initial signals have been strong:
- Healthy CPMs for a new account
- Strong add-to-cart volume
- High engagement across broad and interest based audiences
- A scalable creative framework ready for Q1
Meta is now set to become a major top of funnel growth driver.
The Results
The impact of the changes was amazing in less than 2 months:
- Conversion rate increased 3× through better structure, signals, and feed quality
- CPA reduced by 72%, allowing the brand to scale profitably
- AOV increased by 12%, driven by a stronger product mix and improved SKU visibility
- Net profit margin increased from under 5% to 18%
- Ad spend scaled beyond the £10k+ range with higher profitability
- Non-brand search returned to strong, sustainable growth
- Meta already showing promising early new-customer traction
Conclusion
Every brand hits a wall at some point, especially in competitive spaces like premium pet food. What mattered here wasn’t just the numbers, it was giving the client clarity, confidence and control again. Seeing their relief when CPAs fell, margins grew, and performance became predictable was one of the highlights of our work together. This case study is a great example of how a smarter Google Ads setup, improved product feed, and dataled optimisation can completely reshape an ecommerce business in months, not years.