For more than seven years, before the brand’s closure in 2026, we worked as a strategic marketing partner to GOREWEAR, a global performance sportswear brand known for its technical running and cycling apparel.

Our partnership supported the brand across multiple regions, seven languages and multiple channels, including paid advertising, seasonal creative strategy, global shoot production, cross-language campaign support and wider brand strategy.

As part of this work, we helped support GOREWEAR’s evolution from a cycling-specific brand into a broader performance sportswear brand.

Within this wider partnership, one key challenge was improving the profitability and product mix of its Performance Max campaigns.

The campaigns were generating sales, but Google’s automation was prioritising lower-value products because they typically had higher conversion rates. This meant lower-margin products were receiving too much visibility and spend, while higher-value signature products, including jackets, bibs and tights, were not being prioritised enough.

The challenge was to shift campaign performance away from low-value volume and towards a healthier, more profitable product mix.

‍

To shift performance away from lower-value volume and towards a healthier, more profitable product mix, we implemented a product segmentation strategy within Performance Max. The goal was to give GOREWEAR greater control over how budget was distributed across different product groups, while still allowing Google’s automation to perform effectively. This included three key changes:

‍‍

1. Adding new custom labels

We implemented custom labels based on product price, as well as categories such as outlet, discounted, new arrivals and best sellers.

This created a clearer structure for campaign management and gave us more control over how different product types were prioritised.

‍

2. Creation of High and Low AOV Performance Max campaigns

We separated products into different Performance Max campaigns based on product value.

This allowed us to prioritise higher-value products with dedicated budget and visibility, rather than allowing lower-value items to dominate due to stronger conversion rates.

‍

3. Segmentation of outlet items

We moved outlet and discounted products into a separate campaign.

This meant we could control spend more carefully on lower-margin items and apply a higher ROAS target to reflect their reduced profitability.

Rather than simply chasing more conversions, the strategy helped align campaign performance with GOREWEAR’s broader commercial and brand goals.

‍

After segmenting the products by value, we saw a sudden increase in AOV, which culminated in a 29% year-over-year increase. This led to a significant boost in sales of GOREWEAR’s signature products, such as jackets by +108%, and bibs & tights by +64%. 

In addition to the increase in sales, there was a significant uplift in the contribution of jackets to the total number of sales. Jackets, which accounted for just 9% of total sales in 2023, now contributed to 21.8% of sales in 2024—a remarkable 143% uplift.

The percentage of sales including discounted items within GOREWEAR’s Performance Max campaigns dropped to 28%, compared to 36% sitewide. This indicates a shift towards more profitable, full-price sales.

‍

“PK balances a proactive strategic approach with being completely immersed in the day-to-day success of our ongoing business goals.”‍

Jenny Wassmer, GOREWEAR