Enterprise Fragrance Portfolio Unlocks 17% YoY Growth with Quartile

This enterprise-level prestige fragrance portfolio manages more than 500 ASINs across nine globally recognized designer brands on Amazon US.

Operating in a luxury, gift-driven category, the business competes in an environment where seasonal demand spikes are dramatic and competitor conquesting is aggressive. Each brand carries distinct positioning, audience alignment, and promotional cadence.

Managing one premium brand is complex. Managing nine—each with its own hero products, brand equity, and seasonal relevance—requires disciplined structure and precise execution.

The Challenge

In the prior year, this portfolio delivered strong annual performance—but it was structurally dependent on the fourth quarter.

A disproportionate share of annual advertising investment was concentrated during the holiday period. That concentration created predictable patterns:

• Revenue softened in the first and second quarters.

• Scaling in Q4 required aggressive budget increases.

• Efficiency compressed during the most competitive weeks of the year.

In prestige fragrance, the fourth quarter is not just busy—it is crowded with luxury brands defending territory and bidding aggressively on competitor terms. Costs rise. Impression share becomes harder to secure. Returns tighten.

The portfolio’s leadership recognized the risk. Continuing to rely on one peak window would eventually cap growth and strain profitability.

For the following year, the mandate was clear:

Unlock consistent year-round growth while maintaining a disciplined Total Advertising Cost of Sale (TACOS) ceiling.  

This was not about spending more. It was about structuring investment more intelligently.

Why Quartile

The scale and complexity of the account required more than tactical adjustments.

With nine brands, hundreds of products, and multiple advertising channels active simultaneously, the portfolio needed:

• Brand-level budget control without sacrificing portfolio-wide efficiency

• Defensive branded coverage while expanding into competitive non-branded terms

• Upper-funnel awareness that translated into lower-funnel performance

• Continuous optimization at the Amazon Standard Identification Number (ASIN) level

Manual seasonal shifts and reactive budget spikes could not solve the structural issue.

Quartile was selected for its ability to unify full-funnel execution with disciplined automation—balancing scale and control across Sponsored Products, Amazon Demand Side Platform (DSP), and Google to Amazon, while leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) audience intelligence to refine targeting precision.

For an enterprise portfolio, precision is not optional. It is required.

The Solution

Quartile rebuilt the annual plan from the ground up.

Step 1: Treat the Calendar as a Strategy

Instead of allowing Q4 to dictate performance, Quartile mapped every major gifting and promotional moment at the start of the year:

• Valentine’s Day

• Mother’s Day

• Father’s Day

• Prime Days

• Black Friday and Cyber Monday

• Holidays

Budgets were allocated at the brand level based on event relevance and audience alignment. Q4 remained the largest period, but it was no longer the only growth engine.

Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day were repositioned as strategic revenue drivers rather than minor seasonal lifts.

This redistributed pressure away from Q4 and built momentum earlier in the year.

Step 2: Rebalance Branded and Non-Branded Investment

Each brand’s branded and non-branded investment was reassessed.

In a category defined by conquesting, branded defense must remain strong. But growth requires disciplined expansion beyond owned demand.

Allocations were adjusted based on:

• Competitive intensity

• Brand equity strength  

• Seasonal demand signals

• Efficiency thresholds

This ensured the portfolio did not over-defend at the expense of expansion, or over-expand at the expense of profitability.

Step 3: Build a Coordinated Full-Funnel System

The strategy extended beyond search.

Sponsored Products maintained high-intent conversion coverage across hero products.

Amazon Demand Side Platform (DSP) and Google to Amazon campaigns built awareness ahead of key gifting events, creating qualified demand before peak conversion windows.

Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) audiences, activated through Quartile Pro Suite, refined targeting and improved Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) through more precise audience segmentation.

Timeframe boosts increased Top of Search visibility during deal windows and promotional periods.

At the product level, continuous ASIN assessments ensured investment flowed automatically to hero products while moderating underperformers.

This was no longer a seasonal spike strategy. It was a synchronized system designed to build demand, capture intent, and preserve efficiency.

Results & Impact

By the end of the next holiday season, the transformation was measurable.

• Revenue increased 17% YoY

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) improved 18% year over year

• Total Advertising Cost of Sale (TACOS) improved by 8%

Most importantly, growth accelerated into double digits beginning in March and sustained throughout the year.

By December—the highest investment month—TACoS improved by five percentage points compared to the prior year.

The portfolio did not just grow. It grew more efficiently, with less structural pressure on a single quarter.

In a mature luxury category with aggressive competition, that shift represents a durable competitive advantage.

Ongoing Value & Future State

The seasonal framework is now embedded into the portfolio’s operating model.

Investment aligns with gifting intent across the calendar, not just holiday urgency. Brand-level controls remain disciplined. Audience targeting continues to evolve through Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) insights.

Instead of reacting to Q4 pressure, the portfolio now builds momentum throughout the year.

For enterprise advertisers managing complex multi-brand ecosystems, this shift—from reactive scaling to structured orchestration—changes what is possible.