Home & kitchen · Shopify
Revenue was flat for a year. Profit had been falling the whole time.
Platform ROAS looked stable at 3.4x while contribution margin quietly eroded. Restructuring Shopping around product-level margin and cutting three unprofitable hero SKUs from paid rotation changed the economics without changing top-line spend.
- Ad spend
- $60k–$90k / month ad spend
- Timeframe
- 7 months
- Channels
- Google Ads, Meta Ads, Creative, CRO
Headline outcome
+68%
Profit
Same ad budget, different allocation
Placeholder data — replace with verified client results before publishing.
Before and after
What actually changed.
Measured in ScaleAble against the store's own Shopify data across the engagement window.
| Metric | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Profit | $142k | $239k | +68% |
| Contribution margin | 18.4% | 27.1% | +8.7pt |
| Blended MER | 2.9x | 3.8x | +31% |
| Ad spendHeld broadly flat | $74k | $76k | +3% |
Profit
+68%- Before
- $142k
- After
- $239k
Contribution margin
+8.7pt- Before
- 18.4%
- After
- 27.1%
Blended MER
+31%- Before
- 2.9x
- After
- 3.8x
Ad spend
+3%- Before
- $74k
- After
- $76k
Held broadly flat
Placeholder data — replace with verified client results before publishing.
The trend
Profit and spend, plotted together.
The view we manage from. If the profit line does not respond to the spend line, the spend is not working — regardless of what the ad platform says.
Placeholder series — replace with the client's actual monthly figures. Values shown in $000s.
The breakdown
Problem, change, outcome.
Vertical · Home & kitchen
Spend · $60k–$90k / month ad spend
Window · 7 months
The problem
- Google Ads and Meta Ads were both hitting their platform ROAS targets, so nothing looked broken inside the accounts.
- Shopping and Performance Max were pushing budget toward the highest-revenue SKUs, several of which had single-digit contribution margin after shipping and fulfilment.
- No one in the business could answer whether a budget increase in the previous quarter had made or lost money.
What we changed
Modelled true cost per product
COGS, shipping, fulfilment, processing fees and packaging were loaded into ScaleAble, producing profit and margin for every SKU rather than a blended store-level number.
Rebuilt Shopping around margin tiers
Products were segmented into margin tiers with separate campaigns, budgets and target returns. High-revenue, low-margin SKUs were removed from aggressive bidding entirely.
Reset Performance Max control
Asset groups and listing groups were restructured so the campaign could no longer quietly reallocate budget to the products with the best platform ROAS but the worst margin.
Tested offers instead of bids
Bundle and AOV testing on the highest-margin range did more for profit than any bid adjustment available in the accounts.
What happened
- Profit grew while ad spend stayed effectively flat.
- Paid revenue dipped slightly in month two before recovering — visible in ScaleAble, and accepted deliberately because profit was rising.
- Budget decisions moved from monthly ROAS reviews to weekly profit checks with event markers on every change.
Client quote slot
A short, approved quote from the founder or marketing lead goes here — two or three sentences about the change in how decisions get made. Add it to quote on this case study once you have written permission.
Brand or product imagery for the home & kitchen case study
Recommended: 1,600 × 900px
Aspect ratio: 16:9
Next step
Find out what your ad spend is actually earning you.
A 30-minute call: we look at your current Google Ads and Meta Ads structure, your Shopify economics, and tell you where profit is being lost. No deck, no pitch theatre.
$1,500 per month
Paid search, paid social, creative, CRO and profit analytics in one retainer.