From local retailer to high-performing online channel: how Recreation Station grew online sales 249% in 12 months.
When Clint Marston first came to us, his online store was an afterthought — less than 10% of total revenue. Twelve months later, it was his fastest-growing channel.
Meta Ads, Google Ads, Email Marketing, Store OptimisationA trusted local retailer with untapped online potential.
Recreation Station had been a trusted local sporting goods retailer in Christchurch for years. Strong product range, loyal local customers, solid in-store revenue. But the online store was essentially a brochure — it existed, but it wasn’t working. Online sales accounted for roughly 10% of total revenue, and Clint knew the opportunity was being left on the table.
The challenge wasn’t the product. It was the system — or the lack of one. The store wasn’t converting. There was no paid acquisition engine. Email marketing was barely set up. And without a clear picture of where the leaks were, every attempt to grow online felt like guesswork.
Pique took our online store from something we barely thought about to the fastest-growing part of the business. They explained every decision and the numbers spoke for themselves.
We built a foundation worth driving traffic to.
Before spending a dollar on ads, we rebuilt the store. The original site was slow, hard to navigate, and not structured to convert. We redesigned the homepage and collection pages using conversion principles and reorganised product listings so customers could actually find what they were looking for. The results from store work alone were significant: site speed improved by 75.82%, and average order value climbed 13.77%.
Then we built demand that converts.
With the store ready, we built a paid acquisition engine on Meta. We simplified the account structure, conducted market research to understand exactly who Recreation Station's ideal buyers were, and used live product feeds to showcase collections dynamically. The result: a 15.26x average ROAS at a cost per purchase of just $25.20, generating over a million impressions across NZ.
We captured the demand already searching.
Recreation Station's customers were already searching for the brands and gear they stock — we made sure the store was there to meet them. A tightly managed Search and Shopping program focused on high-intent terms and best-selling categories, delivering one of the most efficient returns of any channel on the account.
And we turned one-time buyers into repeat revenue.
An engaged customer base was sitting in an underused email list. We built out the core Klaviyo flows — welcome, abandoned cart, post-purchase — and a consistent campaign calendar around Recreation Station's seasons and promotions. Email went from a rounding error to one of the most profitable channels in the business.
A channel that now drives the business forward.
In twelve months, Recreation Station’s online store went from a neglected afterthought to the fastest-growing part of the company — online sales up 249%, a blended 23.13x return on ad spend, and a once-dormant email list generating over $229k in revenue.
More importantly, Clint now has a system he can trust: a store that converts, paid channels that pay for themselves, and a clear view of where every dollar goes. The online channel is no longer the opportunity he’s missing — it’s the engine he’s building on.
For the first time, I actually understand my online numbers — and they keep going up. Pique didn't just run our ads, they built us a channel.
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