Maximizing Ad Efficiency: POAS Implementation for a Lighting Retailer

Scaling Smart: How POAS Bidding Turned a Lighting Store Into a Profit Machine

About the brand

Gloeilampgoedkoop is an international lighting retailer with roots in the Netherlands and a presence in nine European markets. The company has carved out a unique position by focusing on halogen and incandescent lighting products, often overlooked in a world shifting to LEDs. In a niche where brand loyalty is virtually nonexistent Gloeilampgoedkoop stands out by offering a broad selection of fittings from various manufacturers and making the buying process as simple and cost-effective as possible.

The challenge

In a category where brand loyalty is virtually nonexistent and the customer journey is typically short, most traffic enters directly in the lower funnel or at the point of purchase. This dynamic makes brands heavily reliant on Google Ads, all competing for the same pool of high-intent traffic. As a result, cost-per-clicks are driven up while profitability comes under pressure.

Gloeilampgoedkoop offers a broad assortment ranging from its own private label to various reseller brands and different types of fittings, resulting in a wide spread of product margins. These factors combined make it difficult to scale profitably across markets. With Germany identified as a key opportunity for growth, the core challenge became how to increase sales while maintaining healthy margins in one of Europe’s most competitive advertising landscapes.

Our strategy

We implemented a structured Google Shopping strategy supported by a product performance labelizer. This tool allowed us to identify high-performing products and separate them from underperformers, ensuring that budget was allocated where it mattered most.

At the same time, we adopted a POAS (Profit on Ad Spend) approach using ProfitMetrics, shifting the focus from revenue to actual profit. This enabled the algorithm to scale on truly profitable products rather than those that generated sales but delivered minimal margin.

Instead of relying on Performance Max, we opted for a shopping-first strategy, which gave us greater control over bidding. By leveraging portfolio bid strategies with CPC caps, we were able to maintain cost efficiency while still achieving strong visibility.

To further strengthen our position, we deployed a custom script that monitors shopping campaigns in real time, automatically identifying high-performing, high-intent search queries. These are then fed into dedicated Search campaigns, allowing us to control the SERP and capture high-quality traffic through both Shopping and Search.

Results

46% growth in contribution margin

33% growth in sales

20% growth in orders