Case Study
Godrej Appliances increased market share by 6x in air-conditioner category on Amazon
Goals
- Increase brand recall in AC category: 3x vs. pre-season (measured by share of branded searches)
- Increase share of new-to-brand customers for Godrej ACs (from 2.7% in pre-season to 5%+)
- Increase consideration for the brand on Amazon (from ~2% in 2022 season to 5%+)
- Increase market share for the brand on Amazon (from ~1.1% in 2022 season to 5%+)
Approach
- Pre-season start to the campaign to reach audiences at the start of their research journey; use of geo-targeting in southern and western states, where the season picks up early, to ensure relevancy and performance
- Selection of highly relevant SKUs for promotion (four and five stars for 1.5T units) from the previous year’s search trends; use of external sources like GWI to understand consumer personas and preferences that went into designing the campaign banners, which had callouts of the technical specifications along with eco-friendly background and neutral colors
- Use of multiple touchpoints (via different ad products) to ensure constant engagement and improved brand recall among the target audience (since the research journey for ACs on Amazon is ~21 days)
Results
- 175K+ branded searches and a ROAS of 17 for the campaign
- Increase in brand recall by 665%+ during the season (February to April 2023) when compared to pre-season (January 2023)
- New-to-category customer share improvement to 7.2% during the 2023 season (vs. 2.7% in 2022 season)
- Consideration improvement to 5.35% during the 2023 season (vs. 1.95% in 2022 season)
- Market share improvement to 6.20% during the 2023 season (vs. 1.12% in 2022 season)
Godrej Appliances, founded in 1958 in India, is a legacy large-appliance brand, operating in multiple categories including refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners (ACs), microwaves, and dishwashers. For over 60 years, the brand has focused on creating products that encompass the Indian lifestyle, region-specific habits, and unique environments in which customers live and work.
Air conditioners are the fastest-growing subcategory within major appliances over the past decade (12.5% compound annual growth rate in the last 10 years) and still continues to be highly underpenetrated (7% penetration at pan-India household level),1 offering a huge future growth potential for brands. Godrej Appliances wanted to engage with relevant audiences for driving reach, improving consideration, and increasing conversion for their new line of ACs. On Amazon.in, the business objective was to double the market share of Godrej ACs from approximately 2.2% in 2022 to 5% in the 2023 summer season.
Godrej launched a new line of ACs for the 2023 season, followed by an energy efficiency ratio (EER) rating change for ACs in July 2022.2 Since around 45% of AC sales happen on Amazon between February 15 to April 30,2 the season campaign helped to bring traction to this new series of ACs and meet the brand’s business objective of increasing reach among audiences on Amazon.
Since the focus was on driving performance and preferring relevant reach over just reach, relevant audience segments were selected for the campaign, which included recent movers, in-market audience for home appliances >INR 20,000 average selling price, in-market audiences for ACs, and brand browsers. The full-funnel strategy included display on Amazon’s mobile app and website, Amazon DSP third-party ad placements to reach audiences where they were, and sponsored ads. The execution was all about the collaboration between the brand and Amazon Ads team.
Some of the differentiating features included analyzing daily traffic trends and parking 80% of budgets during peak hours, looking over weekly search term reports to understand high-converting keywords for Godrej, and experimenting with creative banners and landing pages, including callout differentiations as well as a Brand Store landing page to maximize performance on display and Amazon DSP ads.
Improving consideration and sales with an “always on” display
The success of Godrej in the AC category on Amazon for the 2023 season can be attributed to the meticulous planning and execution that helped delivery and impact. Owing to the pre-season start and “always on” display during the campaign, the searches and brand recall for Godrej ACs increased by 665% during the season (February to April 2023) vs. pre-season (January 2023).
A thoughtful mix of products and multiple touchpoints helped the brand improve share of new-to-category customers to 7.2% during the 2023 season vs. 2.7% in 2022 season. Lastly, identifying the relevant audiences and optimizations during the campaign improved consideration (measured by the category’s page view share) to 5.35% during the season vs. 1.95% a year before. As a result, Godrej’s market share on the Amazon improved to 6.2% during the 2023 season, from 1.12% in 2022 season.