Orchestrate digital channels to support a new store opening 

1. Goals

Digital and traditional ecosystems are often seen by retailers as two separate channels. Nevertheless, now more than ever, it becomes essential to integrate these two universes in a synergic way with common business objectives, since the distinction between them is blurring.

The brand has expanded rapidly in Italy, opening a growing number of physical stores, including a new flagship store in Lombardy. 

The main project goal was to support the store opening with the realization of an effective drive-to-store omnichannel strategy, based on the orchestration of digital channels. 

2. Our Approach

The Drive-To-Store strategy we conceived was based on a thorough online advertising plan, rolled-out in 2 phases:

1. 1. Pre-opening activities, for the 15 days before the opening; Awareness and Lead generation were the main objectives of this initial campaign phase. The lead magnet was a free gadget at the opening event reserved for the first 500 users who had signed up in the dedicated lead form. 
2. 2. Post-opening activities, for 1 month and a half after the official opening, with the aim of generating Traffic to the new store and to the dedicated landing page.

1. The pre-opening plan included the creation of Youtube and Google Discovery campaigns to work in the mid-to-upper funnel. Lead generation and Traffic campaigns on Meta were also implemented in acquisition and retargeting.

In the post-opening phase, we focused on Google, creating search campaigns localized in the geographical area of reference, in order to collect the previously generated demand and search intentions. A Local campaign and a Discovery campaign were also activated to support the traffic to the new store.

All campaigns were geographically set around the specific area of interest, in order to reach a very segmented and defined target audience. 

3. Key Wins

Pre-opening phase:

• 4M Impressions 
• +34K Sessions to the lead form page
• +2400 Leads collected by Meta to an average CPL lower than the benchmark 

The impact of the strategy was demonstrated by the huge footfall driven to the new store: 4,727 accesses were recorded at the opening event. On the second and third day from the opening, the entrances were +2,900 and +1200 respectively.