The 551,190.92 campaign

The Mission

The mission was simple: build a solid, high-traffic e-commerce store and get it live with no room for errors in the order process (this was specifically repeated to me, a week before launch, as a final reminder :-) and do it fast & flexible. That counts as a final warning...

The Setup: fast, focused and built to sell

In under 30 days, a fully functional Shopify store was launched featuring just two product variations. Obviously, the lead-time of this whole campaign was a lot longer, as good ideas sometimes need time to mature.

The store served as the central hub for everything: sales, marketing-tracking, email capturing, fulfillment, and customer communication. Despite the limited scope, the stack was solid: a clean front-end, powerful automations in the back-end, and a few smart touches of custom code for logistics.

Orders were shipped across three countries, routed through multiple warehouses, and managed by a custom script implemented in under 15 minutes—streamlining the entire order processing flow.

From purchase confirmation to shipping updates, every customer received real-time notifications, eliminating confusion and reducing support load.

The Campaign: a three-week sellout

The full online campaign lasted only three weeks. It didn’t need an extended run or an increasing ad budget to perform. In fact, no extra media spend was added after the initial boost. The campaign gained momentum early and rode on strong -quality- product positioning, and a sense of urgency aka 'limited edition'.

Despite having no intention of creating a pre-sale, a delay in product production led to what could have been seen as a setback. Instead, it became a 'happy accident' that turned out well. A “pre-sale” campaign was quietly launched to capture early buyers—and it worked incredibly well. This accidental detour turned into a strength, allowing the brand to secure thousands of pre-orders and build anticipation while inventory was finalized.

The Secret Weapon: a year of preparation by the client

Behind the scenes, the client had been doing their homework. Throughout the year before launch, they consistently gathered leads, emails, and built a warm, engaged customer base. When the campaign was ready, they unleashed various well-timed email marketing pushes and social media campaigns to the database of tens of thousands of potential customers.

That move definitely paid off. (lesson 1)

Instead of spending thousands to find cold traffic, the campaign focused on reactivating known leads and converting warm audiences into buyers. This email-first approach created high-converting traffic from day one, while paid ads amplified the reach without doing all the heavy lifting.

Big Team, Smaller ROI — but still a blueprint for everyone

Let’s be clear: this was a quality product with a strong brand, and a client with internal resources. Their internal team (for the first release) was large, and while that gave them production power, it also meant that their return on investment (ROI) wasn’t as high as it could’ve been for a leaner business.

But this doesn’t make the digital campaign less of a blueprint — in fact, it proves the opposite.

This launch shows exactly how a small business with lower budget and the same playbook could replicate or even outperform these results. With the right tools, good timing, and clear execution, this kind of campaign is not exclusive to big teams. It’s absolutely within reach for independent creators, small brands, and startups.

Built alone, powered by AI, an inspiration for What’s Next

The store? Built by me. No agency team. No offshore folks. Just smart workflows, late-night coffees, some excellent Spotify-playlists (or noise-cancellation headphones) and tons of real-time AI feedback to accelerate the custom code development on the Shopify platform.

Some features indeed required custom code, but only because of specific client requests. For most businesses, like yours, that’s not even necessary. The tools today are more than good enough to launch powerful stores without writing a single line of code.

This isn’t just a case study. It’s the reason why I relaunched a new type of agency.

I believe more brands deserve fast, efficient, and affordable access to e-commerce success. Not bloated budgets. Not endless meetings. Smart launches, built to convert. Think, talk, go-getter style.

What’s next?

This campaign marked the starting point of something new: a blueprint to help other businesses launch with speed and clarity, using a similar approach.

If you're dreaming of launching your store—or wanting to relaunch your e-commerce project the right way—this is your sign. Let's talk.