Fluid Marketplaces uses sponsored ads to help premium bike-wear brand launch in the United States

Reaching consumers in a new country can be a daunting task, particularly in competitive shopping categories like apparel. For companies to succeed, they must find ways to establish brand awareness and differentiate themselves from their competitors. So when the U.K.-based premium bike-clothing brand Le Col decided to expand into the United States, they wanted a compelling and robust advertising campaign to make an impact in an already-crowded space.

Le Col, which specializes in high-value performance kits, engaged Amazon Ads partner Fluid Marketplaces to help boost revenue and drive brand awareness. With a thoughtful and holistic advertising strategy from Fluid Marketplaces, Le Col dramatically increased sales revenue while keeping a low total advertising cost of sales (TACOS), all in just 12 months.

Le Col is a dynamic bike-wear company that grew from the determination of a professional rider seeking to craft the ultimate performance cycling gear. Their products and collections draw inspiration from the world of professional bicycle racing and are designed with advanced technical components that contribute to on-road success.

After establishing themselves as a recognizable bike-apparel brand in the U.K., Le Col wanted to extend their reach online and elevate their delivery offering in the U.S. Although they knew that the simple step of implementing Fulfillment by Amazon would facilitate their exploratory pilot, Le Col also recognized the need for a high-impact advertising campaign to differentiate themselves and generate attention in a saturated space. In early 2022, they engaged Fluid Marketplaces to help them achieve their ambitious vision.

Drawing on their expertise in selling on Amazon, Fluid Marketplaces designed a holistic advertising strategy that would meet Le Col’s unique needs. To build brand awareness, Fluid Marketplaces came up with specific goals, including boosting revenue growth with an efficient TACOS, increasing new-to-brand (NTB) orders by 25% within 12 months, and achieving a nearly 166% year-over-year increase in monthly Brand Store views in the first year.⁵

With these goals defined, Fluid Marketplaces got to work on their prelaunch strategy for Le Col, which included optimizing the brand’s product detail pages for U.S. consumers and verifying that their Amazon standard identification numbers (ASINs) complied with best practices. Because Le Col is a premium-priced brand, Fluid Marketplaces recommended developing content messaging across their product detail pages and Brand Store using A+ Content to highlight the brand’s value proposition.

From here, Le Col launched their page alongside a robust sponsored ads strategy. They used Sponsored Products to promote their individual product listings, both with shoppers already familiar with the brand and on pages for similar products. Fluid Marketplaces later introduced Sponsored Brands to assist with building NTB orders and Sponsored Display to help reengage customers who had previously viewed their products or similar products.

Within six months of launching the campaign, Fluid Marketplaces began supplementing their advertising strategy using Posts, incorporating high-quality lifestyle imagery and user-generated content to represent the brand in an authentic way. Additionally, to help generate product reviews as a new seller, Le Col enrolled in Amazon Vine, an invitation-only program that allows insightful reviewers on Amazon to share product experiences.

Within 12 months, Fluid Marketplaces and Le Col saw the campaign deliver on or exceed key milestones. Notably, Le Col was able to reach their TACOS goal and grow their U.S. revenue by 750% from May 2022 to April 2023.⁶

The strategy also helped generate a surge in user traffic. In July 2022, Le Col launched their first Prime Day promotions, attracting over 1,000 Brand Store views for the first time.⁷ After a brief return to historic levels, page views have steadily grown, topping 1,000 views daily since February 2023.⁸ Based on these results, Le Col is committed to continuing their global expansion.

Using a combination of Brand Store development, organic listing optimization, and sponsored ads, Fluid Marketplaces has helped Le Col achieve success within a new country and put them on track for future growth.