How Instacart Ads and Perpetua helped Country Archer reach new audiences and grow ROAS by 5X

Country Archer Provisions was founded at a roadside stand on a trip to the Grand Canyon, and has quickly grown to become the #1 better-for-you jerky brand in the US. Recently named to the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing companies in America, Country Archer has paved their way differently from other consumer goods brands in the space.

Where many of today's brands start online and expand to brick & mortar retail, Country Archer did the opposite. They brought their all-natural, 100% grass-fed beef jerky to market in key retailers who shared their brand values of authenticity and sustainability. The team leveraged their proof of success with these retailers to help them expand to other mass grocery and convenience stores across the U.S.

The Challenge

Country Archer's marketing team historically allocated significant resources to field marketing activities like sampling and events and saw tremendous growth from these efforts. However, in early 2020, consumer shopping behavior dramatically shifted, driven primarily by pandemic-related lockdowns.

As eCommerce emerged as a top grocery sales channel in North America, the marketing team had to shift their focus to efficiently expand their online marketplace presence and grow their digital brand to better serve the needs of their consumers.

"Early in 2020, we made a strategic decision to reallocate some of our internal resources, and our entire field marketing budget, to accelerate the expansion of the Country Archer brand in eCommerce channels." Said Jeff Wong, VP of Marketing at Country Archer Provisions. "We were doing this at a time when consumer purchase behavior in the food and grocery category in online marketplaces was at its peak."

The Solution

From a market share perspective, Instacart emerged as the leader in online grocery delivery in North America, with more than half of all total online grocery orders happening on their platform*. In order for Country Archer to maintain and grow market share, they needed to strive to up-level their Instacart presence, just as they’d done across  brick and mortar for years.

"We truly understood the importance of being present at the point of purchase, and how critical search is in influencing shoppers at the buying stage of customer journey. On Instacart, there was an opportunity to advertise at multiple touchpoints through the decision-making journey." Said Jennifer Swift, Brand Manager and Country Archer Provisions.

"This gave us the ability to meet shoppers when their purchase intent was highest. With Perpetua's expertise and campaign optimization, we are able to achieve this with maximum efficiency."

In their first month of advertising on Instacart, with Amazon Advertising performance as their benchmark, Country Archer saw:

• 5x Higher Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)

• 4.2x Higher Conversion Rate (CVR)

• 5.4x Lower Cost Per Click (CPC)

"We quickly learned that a significant portion of purchases are made from the “Your Items” section, which is front and center to shoppers in the Instacart UI." Said Adam Epstein, VP of Growth at Perpetua. "This behavior replicates what you'd see in the grocery aisle. As a result, we encourage our customers to consider Featured Products as an accelerant to driving repeat purchases and increasing market share."

"Winning with shoppers early, with the right placement at the right time, has a prodigious impact on the LTV of that customer."

The Results

As a result of their ability to respond quickly to market dynamics, and their partnership with Perpetua, the Country Archer marketing team  was able to successfully drive an acceleration in sales in an uncertain time.

They were able to move quickly to enjoy early mover advantages on Instacart and are steadily building on the momentum those early wins brought. They have reinvested profits earned and increased their Instacart Advertising budget through the course of this year. Despite heightened competition on Instacart, the Country Archer team has continued to see a 2x higher ROAS, compared to other marketplace efforts.

Country Archer has also seen sustained higher performance across their top 4 flagship, category keywords.

"Instacart was an easy and natural marketplace for us to adopt. They represent the intersection of brick and mortar and eCommerce for both shoppers as well as CPG brands." Said Jeff Wong.

The combined power of Instacart's Featured Products with Perpetua’s conversion-based approach to bidding and sharp focus on incremental total sales, will ensure our advertising drives continued business growth.”

To get started or learn more about how Perpetua can help you scale your eCommerce business, contact us at hello@perpetua.io.

*According to Second Measure data, April 2020