Ecommerce · Amazon · Shopify · Meta · Klaviyo · Systems & Reporting
AAE — Ecommerce Division Transformation
Transforming a fragmented ecommerce operation into a high-performance multi-channel revenue engine.
African American Expressions (AAE) is a multi-million-dollar retail brand selling gifts, décor, and stationery nationwide. Despite strong brand equity, its ecommerce division — spanning Amazon, Shopify, and paid media — was underperforming due to poor structures, shallow agency work, and fragmented strategy. I rebuilt the ecommerce systems from the ground up and helped deliver the strongest revenue performance in the company's history.
Overview
African American Expressions (AAE) is a multi-million-dollar retail brand selling gifts, décor, and stationery nationwide. Despite strong brand equity, its ecommerce division — Amazon, Shopify, and paid media — suffered from weak systems, inefficient account structures, and inconsistent management by external agencies. The brand was doing well in spite of its digital infrastructure, not because of it.
I was brought in to rebuild the entire ecommerce operating system. That meant restructuring Amazon, improving Shopify performance, redesigning ads and funnels, implementing lifecycle email, and putting real reporting in place. Over the following months, we achieved the highest Q4, Q1, Q2, and Q3 sales in company history, a 70% increase in top-line revenue, and a 100% increase in bottom-line profit year-over-year.
The Client
African American Expressions is a Sacramento-based ecommerce and wholesale brand specializing in culturally inspired gifts, décor, calendars, and stationery. The company distributes nationwide through Amazon, its own Shopify store, retail partners, and national distribution channels.
The Objective
AAE didn't just need more campaigns. It needed a unified system that could handle multi-channel ecommerce at scale. The core objectives were:
- Increase revenue across Amazon and Shopify.
- Improve ROAS and profitability on Meta.
- Reduce wasted ad spend and clean up inefficient campaigns.
- Improve conversion rates across key products and offers.
- Strengthen retention through email and repeat purchases.
- Replace underperforming agencies with a clear, internal system.
- Implement transparent reporting and dashboards leadership could trust.
The Challenges
Amazon Challenges
- •Low account-wide conversion rate of approximately 2%.
- •Outdated, unoptimized listings with weak titles, images, and descriptions.
- •Atrocious PPC structure with inefficient campaigns and no real strategy.
- •ACOS hovering around 50% with sub-2x ROAS.
- •No negative keyword governance and no clear campaign segmentation.
- •Over 800 SKUs, many low-demand or poorly performing, dragging down overall metrics.
- •No SKU prioritization framework — equal effort spent on weak and strong products.
- •No FBA strategy, reducing Prime eligibility and conversion rate.
- •External agency focused on vanity metrics like impressions and clicks rather than profit.
Shopify & Meta Challenges
- •Meta ads stuck at roughly 2–3x ROAS, with no structure or scaling plan.
- •Weak retargeting and funnel design for direct-to-consumer sales.
- •Underutilized email and lifecycle automation.
- •Shopify conversion rate underperforming.
- •No cohesive strategy connecting paid media, ecommerce, and retention.
Leadership Challenges
- •CEO trusted agency reports but lacked real visibility into profitability.
- •No central dashboards showing what was working or failing.
- •Decisions made from incomplete or misleading data.
- •No internal owner managing the ecommerce system end-to-end.
The Approach
My approach was to treat AAE's ecommerce division like a system, not a set of disconnected channels. That meant rebuilding the foundation, then layering in performance improvements and reporting.
Phase 1 — Audit and SKU Strategy
- •Audited 800+ Amazon SKUs for demand, profitability, and performance.
- •Identified the SKUs truly driving revenue.
- •De-emphasized low-quality or low-demand SKUs.
- •Designed an 80/20-based SKU prioritization framework.
- •Moved hero SKUs into FBA for better Prime eligibility and velocity.
Phase 2 — Advertising System Rebuild
- •Rebuilt Amazon PPC campaigns from scratch.
- •Implemented coherent structures for branded, category, competitor, and automatic campaigns.
- •Created negative keyword system to reduce wasted spend.
- •Introduced structured optimization cycles.
- •Allocated bidding/budgets based on profitability and competition.
- •Built Meta campaigns aligned with ecommerce goals, not just generating clicks.
Phase 3 — Conversion & Creative Overhaul
- •Updated Amazon listings for hero SKUs with improved titles, bullets, descriptions, and images.
- •Improved product presentation for clarity and conversion.
- •Adjusted Shopify product pages to reduce friction.
- •Directed AI-assisted creative testing for ad angles that resonate with AAE's audience.
Phase 4 — Retention & Email Infrastructure
- •Implemented lifecycle flows in Klaviyo: welcome, cart abandonment, browse abandonment, post-purchase.
- •Segmented customers to improve deliverability and relevance.
- •Strengthened repeat purchase rate through behavior-based messaging.
Phase 5 — Analytics & Reporting
- •Built custom Looker Studio dashboards for key KPIs across Amazon and Shopify.
- •Automated ingestion of Amazon and Shopify data via PMA + Sheets.
- •Shifted leadership focus from vanity metrics to revenue, margin, ACOS, CVR.
- •Provided a real-time view of what was driving growth.
The Systems I Built
Amazon Systems
- •Completely rebuilt PPC architecture tailored to AAE's catalog.
- •Keyword clustering and negative keyword rules.
- •Listing optimization workflows for hero SKUs.
- •FBA strategy for top performers.
- •Daily/weekly optimization routines.
Shopify Systems
- •CRO improvements on product pages.
- •Clearer merchandising and communication of value.
- •Improved tracking via Pixel and analytics tools.
Meta Systems
- •Full-funnel Meta structure (prospecting + retargeting).
- •Offer frameworks and creative testing cycles.
- •Scaling strategies for Q4 and seasonal peaks.
Klaviyo Systems
- •Automated lifecycle flows.
- •Segmentation for targeted messaging.
- •Repeat-purchase retention support.
The Execution
This wasn't a consulting-only engagement. I was directly responsible for building and operating the systems day to day.
- Rebuilt Amazon PPC campaigns from the ground up.
- Eliminated wasted spend and reallocated budgets to profitable SKUs.
- Prioritized SKUs using an 80/20 lens.
- Improved listings and creative for hero SKUs.
- Increased Amazon conversion rate from ~2% to ~5%.
- Clarified why CVR is weighted lower across a large catalog of weak legacy SKUs.
- Designed and optimized Meta campaigns for ecommerce.
- Created AI-assisted ad creatives.
- Implemented and optimized Klaviyo flows.
- Built Looker Studio dashboards.
- Exposed underperforming agency work and provided leadership clarity.
The Results
Amazon Results
- 70% YoY increase in top-line Amazon revenue.
- 100% YoY increase in Amazon profit.
- Conversion rate improved from ~2% to ~5% despite a large, weak catalog.
- ACOS reduced from ~50% to ~30%.
- After gaining full control, months delivered ~100% YoY growth.
- Record-breaking Q4, Q1, Q2, Q3.
Shopify / Meta & Email Results
- Meta campaigns delivered ~7–9x ROAS at $2.5K/month spend.
- Q4 scaling to ~$20K/month achieved ~20–30x ROAS.
- Email revenue increased from improved lifecycle flows.
- Stronger retention and repeat purchase rate.
Tools Used
- •Amazon Seller Central
- •Amazon Campaign Manager
- •Shopify
- •Meta Ads Manager
- •Klaviyo
- •Looker Studio
- •Power My Analytics
- •Helium10
- •Google Sheets
- •AI tools for copy & creative
Testimonial
"Mathew took our ecommerce division to a completely new level. His systems, clarity, and execution drove the strongest revenue performance we've ever had across every channel."