Inside B&Q’s shift to AI-driven paid media
This article is provided by by BRC Associate Member, Upp.ai.
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When B&Q decided to transition all of its Shopping activity to Performance Max (PMax), the team knew it wouldn’t be a simple switch. As one of the UK’s most recognised home improvement retailers, B&Q manages a massive and constantly growing product inventory, and making sure every product gets the right level of visibility is no small task.
Tara West, Head of Performance Media and SEO, explains that the shift to PMax was done gradually. While the platform promised automation and scale, the team quickly discovered that success depended on more than turning campaigns over to Google’s algorithm. To make the most of the move, they needed a way to guide performance more strategically, especially for newer or less-established products.
Before working with Upp.ai, one of the main challenges was ensuring that new product ranges had a fair chance to succeed. With standard bid strategies favouring products with a performance history, newer SKUs were often overlooked. Upp.ai helped to fix that. The platform uses AI to analyse data in real time and identify opportunities for visibility across the full range, regardless of past performance.
It wasn’t just about optimising campaigns. Upp.ai also surfaced valuable pricing insights that went well beyond what the team could get from Google Merchant Centre. This helped B&Q make faster, more informed decisions and strengthened their vendor relationships. Once the improved results were shared, many partners increased their investment, enabling B&Q to scale its vendor-funded marketing activity even further.
The impact has been clear. Since implementing Upp.ai, B&Q has achieved a 40% uplift in marketplace product visibility, even as the product catalogue grew from 250,000 to over one million SKUs. Return on ad spend improved by 16%, driven by better efficiency and greater reach across their marketplace inventory. The team also saw a significant boost in vendor-funded budgets, fueled by transparency and trust in the performance data.
Today, Upp.ai is a core part of B&Q’s digital strategy; without it, the team would be forced back into a far more manual and time-consuming way of working, with less visibility and lower performance.
Find out more here: https://upp.ai/customer/bandq/
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