How a Beverage Brand Won Black Friday Without Inflating TACOS

This premium beverage brand offers café-style drink powders, including matcha, chai, flavored coffee, and hot chocolate. The catalog spans multiple SKUs and serves both direct consumers and B2B buyers.

Historically, one product—matcha—has driven a disproportionate share of revenue, acting as the primary growth engine within the portfolio.

The Challenge

The account entered peak season with a structural imbalance.

A single hero product accounted for over half of ad-attributed revenue, while the majority of the catalog contributed a relatively small share. This created a clear risk: scaling aggressively during Black Friday could quickly erode efficiency if too much budget concentrated on one SKU.

Previous inventory disruptions had already exposed this vulnerability. Over-reliance on a single product meant that any instability—whether from stock or competition—could significantly impact overall performance.

At the same time, non-hero products lacked sufficient visibility and contribution, limiting the account’s ability to stabilize performance during high-demand periods.

The challenge was not just to grow—but to grow without losing control.

Why Quartile

Scaling a hero product is easy. Scaling it responsibly is not.

Quartile recognized that the matcha SKU needed to remain the primary growth driver—but within clear efficiency guardrails. At the same time, the broader catalog needed to play a larger supporting role to reduce concentration risk.

This required a dual strategy:

• Treat the hero ASIN as a controlled growth lever  

• Strengthen the rest of the catalog to stabilize performance  

By balancing these two priorities, Quartile enabled aggressive scaling without compromising profitability.

The Solution

Quartile implemented a controlled peak-season scaling strategy.

For the hero product, Sponsored Products campaigns—particularly exact and phrase match—were scaled aggressively throughout November and December. Budgets and bids were adjusted daily based on real-time performance signals, ensuring that increased demand was captured without exceeding efficiency thresholds.

At the same time, the broader catalog was reinforced.

Sponsored Brands product collection campaigns were expanded to increase visibility across multiple SKUs, reducing reliance on a single product. Non-branded and category-level campaigns ensured continued coverage beyond the hero ASIN, supporting more balanced revenue contribution.

Quartile’s Pro Suite played a key role in optimization. High-performing search terms were continuously identified and promoted into exact match campaigns, improving conversion efficiency as spend increased.

This structure allowed the account to scale confidently—capturing peak demand while maintaining control over performance.

Results & Impact

The strategy delivered both scale and efficiency during the most competitive period of the year:

• 151% increase in total sales year over year during November–December  

• 153% growth in units ordered, reflecting strong demand capture  

• 134% increase in total order volume, reinforcing sustained growth  

• Maintained TACOS at approximately 6–7% despite aggressive scaling  

During peak months, performance remained strong and stable, with the hero product continuing to drive significant contribution while the broader catalog supported overall growth.  

These results demonstrate that growth and efficiency are not mutually exclusive. With the right structure, scaling can be both aggressive and controlled.

Ongoing Value & Future State

The account now operates with a more balanced and resilient structure.

While the hero product remains a key driver, the broader catalog plays a stronger role in supporting performance. This reduces risk and creates more flexibility for future scaling.

Quartile continues to refine campaign structure, expand non-hero contribution, and optimize search term coverage—ensuring that future growth builds on a stable foundation.