Introduction
From Zero to a Full Commercial Ecosystem in a New Market
Tonino Lamborghini coffee and hot chocolate had no presence in North America when I took on the launch, and no agency behind it. Everything had to be built from scratch: the ecommerce infrastructure, the paid media system, the organic search foundation, a B2B HoReCa pipeline and a selected retail channel. Chain retail and major distribution were effectively closed to a luxury-priced product with no local velocity, so rather than spend two years trying to buy shelf, I routed around them: direct to consumer, B2B, and a small network of Italian premium retailers whose customers already understood the category and the price. The business reached $1.3M in revenue in under two years from a standing start, at 5.59x blended return on ad spend across Meta, Google and Microsoft.
A 35.57% repeat customer rate followed on a luxury-priced consumable, earned through positioning and customer experience rather than discounting. The result was a complete commercial ecosystem for a globally recognized luxury name in a new market.
How I Built It: Five Pillars of the North American Launch
Designed and launched a full Shopify ecommerce platform carrying 29 coffee and hot chocolate SKUs in three languages, with Google Merchant Center approvals for both markets. Built the entire digital foundation myself, with no external agency.
Building the eCommerce and Digital Infrastructure
Restructured the paid media account rather than adding budget: branded search separated out, non-branded Performance Max as the growth engine, and the keywords and display placements that burned budget filtered out. Audience quality was rebuilt with an AI layer that pulled Shopify data continuously into Meta and Google. The result was 5.59x blended return on ad spend across Meta, Google and Microsoft.
Delivering Exceptional Paid Media Performance
Built the organic search foundation from zero: the site architecture, a publishing programme around the questions coffee and hospitality buyers actually search, and product pages written to rank as well as convert. Organic search became a channel that compounds instead of one that has to be paid for every month.
Building Compounding Organic Traffic Through SEO
Identified and qualified 1,171 HoReCa leads and trade prospects across five Canadian cities (Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Ottawa), more than 80% of them engaged: hotels, restaurants, cafes and corporate offices targeted for ongoing B2B supply.
Developing the B2B HoReCa Pipeline
Reached a 35.57% repeat customer rate without discounting. On a luxury-priced consumable, which sits between two categories that behave in opposite ways, that rate came from brand positioning, customer experience and product quality.
Building Genuine Brand Loyalty in a New Market
$1.3M in under two years, from a standing start
01
5.59x blended ROAS across three platforms
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35.57% repeat customer rate, built without discounting
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15+ active Italian premium retailers in a selected network
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1,171 qualified HoReCa leads and trade prospects across five cities
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29 coffee and hot chocolate SKUs live in three languages