The Journey of Our Mystery Client": From Start to Success
We have a juicy story to share with you today. It’s about one of our most successful clients, an amazing b2b e-commerce business. But here's the twist – this marketplace powered by Topsort is so thrilled with the results they've achieved using Topsort technology that they've sworn us to secrecy. Why? Because they think our technology is just too good to share with the world! So, we're calling them "The mystery customer."
Let's dive into the story of this 3-year-old, non-traditional marketplace that's been making waves. Our "Mystery Customer" uses Topsort's core technology to drive growth and financial sustainability. Over the past year, the company grew its revenue 7x and is on track to grow another 3x by the end of this year.
Launched in November 2021, this B2B marketplace is designed for small to medium-sized food service businesses, including restaurants, bars, cafes, and bakeries — and provides a data-driven approach to demand generation, last-mile logistics, understanding purchasing behavior and even a credit solution.
Led by young, ambitious entrepreneurs, the team was looking for advanced technology to boost their growth. Enter Topsort.
The Challenge: Launching Retail Media in the B2B Space
Launching retail media in B2B isn't easy. Unlike the B2C market, B2B brands aren't used to spending on ads. This was especially true for our "Mistery Customer" where many partners are legacy or family-owned companies, often disconnected from technology in general. For some advertisers, this was their first experience with ads, while others had some prior exposure.
The Secret to Success: How They Used Topsort
Our "Mystery customer" started using Topsort's Sponsored Listings in categories that were more open to experimentation, such as alcoholic beverages. These advertisers were generally more innovative and familiar with technology. By first making the alcohol category successful, they created a compelling success case to onboard other advertisers. This approach is common among Topsort players, who start with a few advertisers willing to experiment and then build on those successes to onboard more.
This marketplace powered by Topsort started a pilot program with brands willing to invest, especially in categories like alcoholic beverages where buyers are price-sensitive or the average order value is high. In the first month, around 10 brands joined the platform. Despite their small team, the onboarding process was managed carefully, resulting in a doubling of active advertisers within two months.
Low Maintenance, High Results
With Topsort's easy-to-use platform, our customer’s sellers could manage their campaigns in minutes. With our auto-bidding feature vendors were able to optimize their budgets with minimal effort, ensuring the best possible returns. The ad revenue soared to 3x times their initial estimates within just one year!
Other Key Features:
- Super Simple Campaign Creation with our Sponsored Listings ad format
- Self-Service Dashboards
- Real-Time Analytics with CSV Reports
Key Results:
- Advertiser Engagement: Started with 10 brands, which doubled in two months, boosting CPC and ad revenue by up to 3x.
- Operational Sustainability: Revenue from ads supported operational costs, achieving a rapid payback.
- Advertiser Growth: An additional 30 sellers were brought in, doubling the number of brands advertising and the CPC again.
- Platform Usage: Topsort's platform enabled campaign creation in minutes and featured auto-bidding.
- Performance Metrics: Provided real-time metrics such as ROAS, CPC, impressions, clicks, and purchases.
- CPC Growth: Observed a 10x growth in CPC from the first month to six months later.
Even with their conservative estimates, the results have been amazing. In the last month alone, CPC and ad revenue have doubled once again. With more potential advertisers waiting to join, the future looks bright. This indicates high demand for the advertising space, suggesting that the platform or website is becoming more popular and valuable. Additionally, higher CPC might reflect that advertisers are willing to pay more due to the effectiveness of the ads in generating conversions or sales.
Lean Team, Big Impact
Remarkably, they operated the entire first year with just two people: one manager and another full-time employee running Topsort and other tools together. At one point, they managed everything with only one person. Now, they are growing their team to three, underscoring the scalability and efficiency of Topsort's platform.
As they continue to attract more retailers from across the globe, the power of Topsort's ads will only grow. This company is poised for even greater success, using Topsort’s platform to monetize ads and achieve outstanding growth.
So, while we might not be able to reveal the name of our "Mystery customer" we can certainly celebrate their incredible journey and the impressive results they’ve achieved with Topsort. Cheers to many more successes ahead!
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