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e.l.f. Cosmetics Case Study:
Taking e.l.f. Cosmetics to Number 1 in Make-up

Key metrics

e.l.f. Cosmetics Case Study:
Taking e.l.f. Cosmetics to Number 1 in Make-up
#1 Mass Cosmetics Brand on Amazon UK and #2 in DE within 3 months
e.l.f. Cosmetics Case Study:
Taking e.l.f. Cosmetics to Number 1 in Make-up
Impression surge by 133% in the UK and by 183% in DE
e.l.f. Cosmetics Case Study:
Taking e.l.f. Cosmetics to Number 1 in Make-up
Ad sales growth by 53.8% in the UK and 106.3% in DE

Introduction

e.l.f. Cosmetics is a global cosmetics and skincare company on a mission to make beauty accessible for everyone. They offer a wide range of affordable, high-quality products for all skin types and tones. Due to our sophisticated, insight-led strategy that combined Amazon Marketing Cloud signals with e.l.f.’s first-party data to drive exceptional, scalable outcomes, we strategically integrated AMC and DSP to unlock high-impact, incremental growth across Amazon and the open internet. Our granular audience segmentation, precise negative targeting, and full-funnel optimisation drove a +54% UK and +106% DE ad sales uplift, while improving ROAS. Most impressively, e.l.f. became the #1 Amazon mass cosmetics brand in the UK within three months — proving our data-driven, cross-supply strategy delivered sustainable market leadership.

Challenge

e.l.f. Cosmetics aimed to become the #1 mass cosmetics brand on Amazon UK and significantly improve their rank in Germany — but their growth had plateaued. Despite strong ROAS, their previous strategy leaned too heavily on branded search and DSP retargeting, missing key opportunities for incremental growth. They lacked a total sales-focused approach, underused AMC insights, and hadn’t fully integrated Sponsored Ads learnings into DSP strategy. Competing against larger-spending brands, the challenge was clear: evolve their media strategy to prioritise customer acquisition, incrementality, and scalable market share growth—without sacrificing efficiency—in two of Amazon’s most competitive beauty markets.

e.l.f. Cosmetics Case Study:
Taking e.l.f. Cosmetics to Number 1 in Make-up
e.l.f. Cosmetics Case Study:
Taking e.l.f. Cosmetics to Number 1 in Make-up
e.l.f. Cosmetics Case Study:
Taking e.l.f. Cosmetics to Number 1 in Make-up

Our approach

We began with a detailed analysis of e.l.f.’s historic ad performance, total sales data, and 600+ ASIN portfolio to identify inefficiencies and growth opportunities. A key focus was reducing defensive spend by nearly 50% to unlock incremental sales and new customer acquisition. Our granular DSP and Sponsored Ads setup, combined with negative targeting, ensured ad spend reached new audiences. Using AMC and our proprietary tech dashboard, we continuously optimized based on full-funnel insights, ad-to-organic sales ratios, and category CPC trends—strategically shifting from top-of-search dominance to scalable, cost-effective growth that prioritized total sales and market share expansion.

Our solution

e.l.f. Cosmetics Case Study:
Taking e.l.f. Cosmetics to Number 1 in Make-up
“Our strategy was informed by a deep analysis of historical campaign data, ASIN performance, and category dynamics. We used AMC to understand cross-channel behaviour and time-to-conversion, revealing key gaps filled by strategic retargeting. Insights from Amazon Ad Tag exposed D2C–Amazon customer overlap, guiding us to refine DSP tactics and avoid cannibalisation by focusing on lapsed or at-risk D2C users. Additionally, we audited Sponsored Ads to identify spend inefficiencies and used in-house tools to visualise Total ROAS and incrementality at scale. These insights enabled smarter audience targeting, budget shifts, and creative optimisation, all aligned with scalable, total sales growth.”
Toby Shelley, Senior Global Category Lead for CPG
toby.shelley@amerge.com

Results

Our strategy delivered outstanding commercial impact across both markets. In just six months, UK ad sales rose +53.8% with only a +9.5% increase in spend, while Germany saw +106.3% growth from a +49.6% spend rise — both with improved ROAS. New-to-Brand DSP orders surged +41% in month one and +55% in month two, validating our incremental focus. Impressions soared (+133% UK, +183% DE), CPCs dropped (–30% UK, –26% DE), and total shipped revenue grew +52% (UK) and +53% (DE) PoP. Most notably, e.l.f. became the #1 mass cosmetics brand on Amazon UK and #2 in Germany within three months.
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