Case Study: Optimizing E-Commerce Without Privacy-Sensitive Data

As privacy regulations tighten, businesses are being pushed to find new ways to optimize their online performance without relying on customer data. At the recent OrangeValley Digital Trend Event, De Wit Schijndel, AdResults, and Bigshopper shared how they’ve tackled this challenge. By using alternative data such as pricing, performance, and volume metrics, De Wit Schijndel has successfully optimized its campaigns and sales performance, all without needing sensitive customer information.

About

De Wit Schijndel, a long-established name in camping, garden, and sports equipment, has been a leader in its field for over 75 years. Their huge showroom in Schijndel covers 70,000 square meters and they’ve built a loyal customer base both online and offline. De Wit Schijndel’s key goal is not necessarily to be the cheapest, but to remain competitive, manage stock levels efficiently, and avoid leftover inventory from past seasons.

Their journey to e-commerce success has been supported by AdResults, a performance marketing agency based in Groningen, specializing in SEA, SEO, social media, and marketplace strategies for large businesses. Together with Bigshopper, De Wit Schijndel has leveraged cutting-edge tools to stay competitive, with a special focus on data-driven decision-making.

Optimizing Without Privacy-Sensitive Data: The Approach

As data privacy laws evolve, relying on customer-specific data has become more difficult. De Wit Schijndel turned to alternative data sources, such as price and performance data, to guide their strategy. This shift has proven essential to maintaining their edge in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

“Data is king,” says Marcel Wiersma, Senior Online Marketing Consultant at AdResults. “And with the right tools, you can make informed, actionable decisions that directly impact your bottom line.”

The Importance of Price Data

It’s no secret that price is a key factor for consumers when making purchasing decisions. Research shows that 60% of consumers consider price the most important factor when shopping online, but surprisingly, only 26% of companies actively monitor the market when setting their prices. This is where Bigshopper’s Price Monitoring Tool comes into play, giving De Wit Schijndel a powerful advantage.

Through the tool, De Wit Schijndel can:

• Monitor competitors and their pricing strategies in real time.
• Analyze pricing trends across their entire product catalog, ensuring they are always competitive without giving away margins.
• Simulate price changes to see how adjustments could impact their competitiveness and sales before making any real-world changes.

This dynamic approach ensures that De Wit Schijndel stays competitive in the marketplace while safeguarding their product margins. “With the Bigshopper Price Monitoring Tool, we gain insights into how our competitors price their products, especially during sales periods,” says Wiersma. “This data helps us stay competitive while avoiding large amounts of unsold stock.”

Google Shopping Optimization: Performance & Volume Data

Another vital part of De Wit Schijndel’s strategy is optimizing their Google Shopping campaigns using Bigshopper’s LabelWiser tool. LabelWiser helps them categorize products into different buckets, allowing more granular control over their campaigns. The tool provides insights into which products perform best at different price points and how they contribute to overall performance.

Here’s how De Wit Schijndel uses performance and volume data to drive results:

• Identifying sleeping products: These are products that aren’t getting the visibility they deserve in standard campaigns. By creating separate, targeted campaigns for these products, De Wit Schijndel was able to increase impressions and even generate conversions.
• Managing high-cost "bandit" products: These are products that eat up budget but don’t deliver returns. LabelWiser helps identify them so that campaigns can be adjusted, either by lowering the budget or increasing the target ROAS.

As Wiersma explains, “Initially, we identified over 2,700 sleeping products—items that weren’t receiving impressions. After creating targeted campaigns, we saw 22,000 impressions in just a few days, with many resulting in conversions. Now we’re down to just 500 sleepers, mostly new products.”

Data-Driven Decision Making for Long-Term Success

Using a combination of pricing and performance data, De Wit Schijndel has created a flexible strategy that allows them to stay agile in a highly competitive market. Key results include:

• Competitive pricing: Dynamic pricing adjustments ensure they don’t fall behind or lose margin unnecessarily.
• Improved Google Shopping performance: Targeted campaigns boost impressions and conversions while eliminating unproductive spend.
• Increased overall profitability: Using data to inform decisions helps De Wit Schijndel optimize both revenue and stock levels.

“Data allows us to turn assumptions into facts,” says Wiersma. “When we back up our marketing strategies with hard data, we can make smarter choices about where to allocate budget, which products to promote, and how to stay ahead of the competition.”

Final Thoughts: What You Can Learn From This

De Wit Schijndel’s approach demonstrates how businesses can continue to thrive in an age of increasing privacy regulations. With tools like Bigshopper’s Price Monitoring and LabelWiser, companies can base their decisions on data-driven insights without relying on privacy-sensitive customer data.

At Bigshopper, we’re committed to helping businesses unlock the full potential of their data. Interested in seeing how we can help you do the same? Contact us today to learn more!