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The perfect fit: schuh drives footfall with Google Ads

Back to all success stories

The perfect fit: schuh drives footfall with Google Ads

Goals
  • Grow overall business using digital tools.
  • Drive increased footfall into stores.
  • Leverage the impact of smartphone traffic and provide an exceptional mobile experience for potential customers.
Investment
  • Used Google’s location and localised search capabilities to create in-store inventory ads.
  • Focussed on nearby audiences and streamlined their buying experience.
  • Google Ads included images of shoes, distance to store and stock levels, as well as store opening hours and contact details.
Results
  • 16x Off-peak return on ad spend.
  • 27% Increase in store visits YoY.
  • 596k Customers found schuh through Google local solutions.

“Measuring our offline impact with store visits through Google Ads has been a significant driver of business”

- Sean McKee, Director of Ecommerce and Customer Experience, schuh

About the company

1981

schuh was founded.

132

Stores across the UK and Ireland.

4,000

Employees.

About the goals

schuh recognised that consumers are spoilt for choice when it comes to purchasing footwear, whether online or offline. In a retail market where convenience often beats loyalty, many high street stores are losing out to the ease of online shopping. With a successful ecommerce strategy already driving customers’ online journey, schuh wanted to grow overall business by using digital tools to drive increased footfall into its stores.

Investment

To better serve their target demographic, schuh used information from Google reports to uncover the importance of mobile traffic from young customers who are often on the move. In fact, on Cyber Weekend 2018, a key retail event for the company, over 77% of schuh’s website traffic came through smartphones.

Recognising consumer demand for services like click and collect and local stock indications, schuh’s team used Google’s location and localised search capabilities to create in-store inventory ads. These were designed to drive footfall to their stores by streamlining the buying experience. The ads armed shoppers with a photo of the shoes they want, the distance to their closest store and an indication of availability, as well as opening hours and store contact details. By targeting nearby audiences and encouraging search-first shopping, schuh gives customers more choice; they can buy online or pop to their nearest store safe in the knowledge that their shoes are in stock and ready to try on.

What is Google Ads?

Google Ads is an advertising service by Google for businesses that want to display ads on Google search results and its advertising network.

Try Google Ads now

Results

16x

Off-peak return on ad spend.

27%

Increase in store visits YoY.

596k

Customers found schuh through Google local solutions.

While schuh’s team was already conscious of the need to adapt their online presentation to fit mobile screens, Google Ads has allowed the company to use location search features and local inventory ads to meet the needs of its clientele and drive sales. Google reporting has also enabled schuh to measure the impact of this strategy in a very concrete way, building the team’s confidence in the online-to-offline process. Describing the impact of this strategy, schuh notes that store visits through Google Ads have been a significant driver of business.

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