1. About ETERNA: Heritage Fashion Brand with Sustainable Innovation

Founded in 1863 in Passau, Germany, ETERNA is a heritage apparel brand that blends traditional craftsmanship with modern innovation. Renowned for its premium men’s and women’s shirts and blouses, ETERNA invented the non-iron cotton shirt and maintains OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100 certification for sustainable textile production. Its customers are style-conscious professionals who value quality, comfort, and timeless design. The brand operates primarily in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, with a growing presence across Europe. Sales channels include wholesale partnerships, branded retail stores, and a direct-to-consumer E-commerce platform. Germany remains its most important market, both in revenue share and as a hub for in-store experiences that reinforce its premium positioning.

2. Business Challenge: Balancing Online Growth and In-Store Footfall with Paid Search

ETERNA’s growth strategy depends on balancing online and offline sales, both vital for brand equity and revenue. Thus, the challenge was to ensure that investment drove not only E-commerce transactions but also in-store visits. In particular, the German market – ETERNA’s largest – presented an opportunity to increase footfall via Paid Search while retaining strong ROAS. The brand needed a way to integrate store visit measurement, understand the contribution of different store types, and refine targeting to eliminate wasted spend. Campaigns required precision in location targeting to address the differences between full-price stores, outlets, and other location categories.

Relevant article: Think Bigger than just Online: Why an Omnichannel Strategy is Pivotal

3. Strategy: How Crealytics Used Google Ads Store Visits to Drive Foot Traffic

Crealytics implemented dedicated Google Ads Store Visits campaigns, leveraging ETERNA’s Google My Business data to create precise location groups. We tested different radius targeting strategies, initially grouping all stores before segmenting based on performance insights. The campaign setup included:

· Two primary location groups: Outlets and Full-Price stores.

· Ongoing analysis of visit and direction conversion rates by store type.

· Exclusion of remote locations such as outlets (due to “already on the way” visits) and naturally highly frequented locations, which distorted performance averages, such as central stations and large shopping malls.

· Deep dive into sub-categories suchas pedestrianized retail streets, shopping malls, and central stations torefine targeting. We prioritised high-margin full-price stores in city centres, ensuring budget efficiency and better incremental value from footfall campaigns.

4. Paid Search Campaign Results: Store Visits and Location Insights

Headline Performance:

· COS% below 10%, indicating high efficiency.

· Store Visits contributed significantly despite modest budgets.

· Pedestrianized retail street locations delivered the highest visit and direction conversion rates, despite only 14% of impressions.

Store Location Insights:

· Outlets had a 762% higher visit/impression rate than full-price stores but offered low incremental value due to pre-planned visits.

· Shopping malls showed strong visit rates but weaker direction rates.

· Central station stores underperformed, with high direction rates but very low visits – indicating potential pass-through traffic.

By narrowing focus to high-intent locations, the campaigns maximised return from limited spend and uncovered valuable geographic performance patterns.

5. Key Learnings on Location Targeting and Store Visit Campaigns

Store traffic implementation demonstrated the value of segmenting store types and applying critical thinking to location-based targeting. Pedestrianized zone shops proved especially effective, showing both higher direction conversion rates and visit conversion rates than other location types, despite generating only 14% of impressions. These locations benefit from tight radii, as most customers are already within walking distance, suggesting they could be separated into their own campaign if additional budget is available.

Conversely, some locations were identified as poor investments. Shopping mall locations exhibited the same “Outlet Fallacy” pattern seen in outlet stores, with high visit rates driven by customers already en route, offering little incremental value. Central stations, while generating high direction rates, produced very low visit rates – indicating that many people may be heading to the station itself rather than the store.

A key question remains around radii targeting: could wider radii improve performance by reaching a larger audience, or would they dilute intent and reduce conversion rates? This highlights the need for controlled testing. By focusing budget on high-intent, high-margin locations while excluding low-value areas, Paid Search store visit campaigns can deliver stronger incremental returns and more meaningful footfall for fashion retailers like ETERNA.

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Need some help with your in-store traffic through paid media? Reach out to us.

Relevant insights

· Case study: Crealytics Delivers Greater Automation, Revenue Growth For Foot Locker Europe

· Article: Google Ads Are Coming to AI Mode: What This Means for SEO and Performance Marketing

· Video: Is the Funnel in Digital Marketing Really Dead?

About Crealytics

Crealytics is an award-winning full-funnel digital marketing agency fueling the profitable growth of over 100 well-known B2C and B2B businesses, including ASOS, The Hut Group, Staples and Urban Outfitters. A global company with an inclusive team of 100+ international employees, we operate from our hubs in Berlin, New York, Chicago, London, and Mumbai.