Upriver Strategy - Amazon

Range Selection

• Competitor brands were studied to understand the best-selling styles on Amazon and other marketplaces. Based on this, Nykd’s product range was curated and SKUs were listed on priority, across Amazon, Flipkart, and other marketplaces.
• Data from Nykaa was also analyzed to see which styles performed better in terms of sales and conversions. This data was then normalized to remove the effect of ad push and other strategic advantages available to in-house brands on Nykaa and Nykaa Fashion.
• Priority was given to everyday wear SKUs, as the data showed that this category performs better on marketplaces compared to fashion-led styles.

Upriver Strategy - Amazon

Listing

• A detailed SOP for premium listings was shared, covering all hygiene factors for each marketplace.
• Training sessions were conducted with the Nykd team to explain each marketplace’s requirements for listing photos, product videos, brand videos, A+ content, brand story, and brand page.
• Creatives were developed jointly with the Nykd team, keeping the differentiated requirements of each marketplace in mind. A detailed competitor listing analysis was conducted to study customer feedback and address customer needs in Nykd’s listings.
• Key problem areas were identified from reviews and insights. Customer-referenced keywords were added to titles and descriptions to improve SEO performance.

Upriver Strategy - Advertising

Amazon Streams & AI Tools:

Upriver leveraged Amazon’s native tools along with advanced AI-driven solutions to expand the brand’s reach and capture valuable data. A combination of manually managed and AI driven ad-campaigns were run, to maximise ad-efficiency and mnimise Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS). Cutting edge AIleveraged Ad platfroms and other tools were deployed to maximise sales & minimise ACoS.

Full Funnel Strategy:

Upriver initiated a strategy to expand the brand’s reach and boost overall impressions, while simultaneously gathering valuable data. Upriver implemented a comprehensive full-funnel strategy, resulting in increased impressions, clicks, and a high click-through rate (CTR), which ultimately led to a significant and rapid increase in the brand’s conversion rate (CVR).

Upriver Strategy - Advertising

Brand Defence:

As a market shaker, Nykd gradually captured the attention of its competitors and existing market giants, who aggressively launched campaigns to stall Nykd’s growth. In response, Upriver deployed brand defense campaigns aimed at countering the competitive pressures and strengthening Nykd’s foothold in the market.

CVR | CTR | ROAS | CPC | TACOS:

With Upriver’s comprehensive optimizations and regular monitoring, the brand successfully reduced the Total Advertising Cost of Sales (TACOS) from over 35% in the first year to under 10% in the third year. Additionally, Upriver’s efforts led to improved overall conversions, lower Cost-Per-Click (CPC), and high Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS). These outcomes signify a more efficient and cost-effective advertising strategy that yields better results.

Upriver Strategy - Amazon

Ai Ads & Other Tools For Growth:

• Since the lingerie category on Amazon is largely search-led, Upriver identified that a strong advertising strategy would be critical to drive growth and profitability. Nykd was onboarded on Perpetua, an AI-powered Amazon advertising software, which handled data analysis and decision-making through machine learning.
• With Perpetua’s dynamic bidding feature, keyword-level bids were continuously optimized to maximize ROI. The tool also scraped data from Amazon’s buyer portal in real time to analyze placements more effectively. This allowed the Upriver team to focus on strategic tasks such as experimenting, adjusting spends on SKUs, and managing category-level inclusions or exclusions.

Upriver Strategy - Amazon

Ai Ads & Other Tools For Growth:

• Since multiple SKUs were competing on the same generic keywords, Perpetua prevented overlap by ensuring only one bid per keyword at a time, further optimizing campaigns based on conversions.
• Data and insights from Amazon Pi, as well as from the category teams of marketplaces, were used to strategise growth. Joint Business Planning meetings were conducted with category teams of various marketplaces to set and achieve quarterly and annual targets.

Upriver Strategy - D2C

Creative Format Testing:

We  began  by  testing  different  ad  formats  to  understand which drove the best results. Initially, catalog and carousel ads were used, but upon observing higher conversion rates, we  shifted  to  video  ads.  This  strategic  pivot  led  to  a measurable improvement in engagement and sales.

Website Audit and Conversion Improvements:

A  comprehensive  audit  of  the  website  highlighted  several areas  for  improvement.  We  suggested  and  implemented design and functionality enhancements to improve the user experience, resulting in:

• A 30% decrease in bounce rate
• Over a 33% increase in time spent on the site
• A 30% increase in conversion rate

Upriver Strategy - D2C

• Cart Value Offers:

To increase Average Order Value (AOV), we introduced strategic cart value offers, encouraging customers to purchase more per transaction. This led to a significant improvement in the brand’s ROAS, enhancing profitability.

• Identifying Hero Products:

By maintaining a sell-through sheet for top-selling products, we identified three new hero products that contributed to 37% of the total revenue. This insight allowed us to allocate ad spend more effectively, focusing on these high-performing products.

• Festive Offer Campaigns:

During the Diwali festive season, we introduced tailored offers to capitalize  on  the  shopping  surge.  These  targeted  promotions resulted in a 30% increase in ROAS in November compared to October, significantly boosting revenue during the festive period.