CASE STUDY — POLAR PUFFS & CAKES
+35% eCommerce growth on a $1.13M channel — owning it end-to-end
A beloved heritage bakery's online channel lagged its retail strength, with rising delivery costs eating margin and no daily visibility into campaign returns. Taking ownership of a $1.13M eCommerce channel — daily tracking, a first customer persona, and a self-collection push — grew Q1 2024 revenue 35% year on year.
E-Commerce Marketing Executive, heritage F&B. Oct 2023 – Sep 2024.
Problem
Polar Puffs & Cakes, a heritage Singapore bakery brand, had an eCommerce channel that lagged behind its retail strength. Rising last-mile delivery costs were eating into margin on every online order, and there was no daily visibility into what campaigns were actually returning.
Constraints
Delivery-cost margin pressure meant growth had to come with cost discipline, not just more spend. The brand had never built a customer persona, so campaign targeting was based on assumption rather than data. Any change to the online experience had to work alongside — not against — the existing retail footprint and Retail team processes.
Process
Took full ownership of the eCommerce channel. Kickstarted daily sales tracking and campaign reporting so performance conversations happened in real time instead of monthly. Built the company's first customer persona to guide targeting and product offering decisions. Partnered with the Retail team on a self-collection push specifically to cut logistics cost per order, easing the delivery-margin problem directly.
Result
Q1 2024 eCommerce revenue came in 35% up year on year — SGD 323.6K against SGD 239.9K — with February alone up 44%. And a daily reporting habit the business kept using after the role ended.
What I'd do differently next time
Formalise the customer persona earlier — it was built mid-quarter and would have sharpened targeting from day one if it existed before the campaign calendar was set.