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A Change in Strategy

The Wasserstrom Company is the world’s leading restaurant supplier and distributor of foodservice supplies and equipment, with over 160,000 products and $300 million in revenue. The company has historically focused on a national commercial business that sold to major restaurant chains through a direct sales force. In 2008, Wasserstrom revamped its website to launch a new retail business focused on selling to independently owned restaurants, bakeries, caterers, bars and other small businesses. While Wasserstrom had strong brand recognition among restaurant chains, the company faced a challenge in establishing a brand among smaller businesses.

The Need for a Search Partner

Wasserstrom recognized that search marketing was the key to acquiring new retail customers and driving profitable revenue growth. The challenge was how to do that efficiently. “We lacked the in-house expertise to drive consistently strong results,” explains Dale Edman, Vice President of eCommerce & Online Marketing for Wasserstrom’s E-Commerce Group. The company began searching for a partner to dramatically increase the success of its paid search program.

Wasserstrom Partners with Adlucent

Wasserstrom evaluated several paid search vendors and chose Adlucent in 2010. “Two things really stood out about Adlucent,” explains Dale. First was Adlucent’s performance-based compensation model, which enabled Wasserstrom to share the risk of acquiring new customers. “The revenue share model is core to Adlucent’s philosophy, which aligns with ours.” The other key difference for Wasserstrom was Adlucent’s willingness to be a strategic partner. “We didn’t want our vendor to be a black box,” says Dale. “We wanted to be kept in the loop about what’s going on with our campaigns. We wanted to learn, and to participate. Adlucent was willing to do that.”

Year-over-year Revenue Jumps 141 Percent

Adlucent’s unique approach to paid search has been successful for Wasserstrom. After just three months of working with Adlucent, Wasserstrom’s sales generated through online search increased by 102 percent, and the third month was the company’s best sales month ever. And after 12 months of working with Adlucent, Wasserstrom’s year-over-year revenue from paid search was up 141 percent. While most of these sales came from customers of the new retail business, Wasserstrom has seen a lift in sales to its commercial customers as well.The company is also starting to see sales pick up down the long tail of its catalog, due in part to Adlucent’s ability to identify profitable “hidden gems” in its product catalog and develop effective campaigns to promote them.

Wasserstrom says that they have partnered with the right firm. As Dale explains, “I have an open line to the Adlucent team. I can call them to ask about high-performing products and keywords, or discuss new products. They’re helpful and collaborative. And with a diverse catalog of 160,000 products, it really helps to have a team of retail paid search experts continuously helping us evaluate what we do.”