UKFind out where your retail ad spend is leaking — and where the real growth is.
A senior, paid diagnostic of your Google Ads, Shopping, Performance Max, Merchant Center, product feed, tracking and seasonal budget — delivered as a prioritised action plan you can act on immediately, whether or not we ever manage your account.
Why this is not a free audit
Most agencies give away a “free audit” to get you on a sales call. It’s usually an automated scan, run in twenty minutes, designed to find enough problems to make you nervous and book a meeting.
The Retail Growth Diagnostic is the opposite of that.
It’s a paid, senior-level review carried out by the person who would actually do the work — not a junior, not a tool, not a sales script. You’re paying for focused expert attention on your account, your feed, your tracking and your budget, and you walk away with a commercial plan you own outright.
We charge for it because it’s worth charging for. And because the retailers who get the most from it are the ones who treat it as a serious commercial decision, not a freebie.
The problem
If you’re spending real money on Google Ads and Shopping, the issues are rarely where you think they are.
- Performance Max is quietly absorbing budget into brand traffic you’d have won anyway.
- Your Merchant Center has disapprovals, warnings or feed gaps capping how often your products can even show.
- Conversion tracking is double-counting, under-counting, or measuring the wrong action — so every decision after that is built on bad data.
- Brand and non-brand are blended together, making your ROAS look healthier than your actual customer acquisition is.
- Budget is spread evenly across the year while demand is wildly seasonal, so you underspend in your best windows and overspend in your worst.
- Nobody can tell you, in plain terms, which products and categories are actually driving profit.
None of this shows up in a free audit. It shows up when someone senior sits with the full picture — ads, feed, Merchant Center, GA4 and your seasonal demand — and connects the dots.
Who this diagnostic is for
This is built for ecommerce and retail businesses that are already spending on Google and want clarity, not guesswork. It’s a strong fit if you:
- Run an online store or omnichannel retail brand selling physical products.
- Spend somewhere between €3k and €100k+ per month on Google Ads.
- Use, or should be using, Shopping and Performance Max.
- Manage a product feed through Merchant Center.
- Have a suspicion that spend is being wasted but can’t pinpoint where.
- Are considering changing agency, bringing it in-house, or scaling up — and want an independent read first.
It’s not for lead-gen or services businesses with no product feed, pre-revenue stores with no spend history, or anyone looking for a free opinion.
What we review
Every diagnostic covers the full commercial picture, not a single channel in isolation:
- Google Ads account structure — Search, Shopping and Performance Max, and how they interact.
- Brand vs non-brand performance — what you’re actually paying to acquire new customers.
- Merchant Center health — disapprovals, warnings, suspensions risk, and feed completeness.
- Product feed and eligibility — titles, attributes, GTINs, missing data and the products being held back.
- GA4 and conversion tracking — accuracy, attribution, and whether you can trust your own numbers.
- Wasted spend and missed opportunity — where money is leaking and where demand is going uncaptured.
- Budget allocation — how spend maps to demand, margin and seasonality.
- Priority action plan — ranked by commercial impact, not by what’s easiest to fix.
Ready to find out where your ad spend is going?
The three diagnostic tiers
Retail Growth Diagnostic
The core senior review for a single-market store.
- ✓Google Ads account audit
- ✓Search, Shopping and Performance Max structure review
- ✓Merchant Center audit
- ✓Product feed and product eligibility review
- ✓GA4 and conversion tracking review
- ✓Wasted spend and missed opportunity analysis
- ✓Brand vs non-brand performance review
- ✓Budget allocation review
- ✓Priority action plan
- ✓60-minute walkthrough call
Retail Growth Diagnostic + Seasonal Budget Strategy
Everything in Tier 1, plus a forward-looking plan built around your demand curve.
- ✓Seasonal demand review
- ✓Promotional calendar alignment
- ✓Monthly or quarterly budget allocation plan
- ✓Target ROAS recommendations
- ✓Conversion value growth strategy
- ✓Category and product prioritisation
- ✓Recommendations for peak periods — bank holidays, Father's Day, summer, Black Friday, Christmas and other relevant retail windows
- ✓90-day or 6-month strategic growth roadmap
Most retailers choose this tier. The diagnostic tells you what's wrong now; the seasonal strategy tells you what to do across the year.
Apply for a DiagnosticComplex / Multi-Market Diagnostic
For larger and more complex accounts.
Built for multi-country retailers, high SKU counts, multiple feeds, complex Merchant Center setups, or accounts spending €30k+ per month on Google Ads. Scoped per account — talk to us about your setup and we'll confirm the figure before you commit.
Apply for a DiagnosticWhat you receive at the end
You don’t get a slide deck full of screenshots and generic advice. You get:
- A clear, written diagnostic of what’s working, what’s wasting money, and what’s being missed.
- A priority action plan, ranked by commercial impact.
- A budget and seasonality view (Tier 2 and 3) showing where your spend should go and when.
- A 60-minute (Tier 1) or 90-minute (Tier 2/3) walkthrough where we talk it through, not just hand it over.
- A growth roadmap you can hand to your in-house team, your current agency, or us.
You own all of it. There’s no obligation to work with us afterwards — and plenty of clients take the plan and run it themselves.
Why seasonality matters
Retail demand is not flat, but most ad budgets are.
The businesses that win on Google aren’t the ones spending the most overall — they’re the ones spending the right amount at the right moment. A flat monthly budget means you under-invest during your highest-converting weeks and quietly overspend during your slowest ones.
Father’s Day, summer clearance, the back-to-school window, Black Friday, Christmas, January sales — each has a different demand profile, a different competitive cost, and a different margin reality. Performance Max and Shopping will happily spend through all of them at the same intensity unless someone tells them otherwise.
The Seasonal Budget Strategy maps your spend to your actual demand curve and margin, so your best windows are fully backed and your quiet periods aren’t bleeding budget. For most retailers, this is where the largest commercial gains sit.
Why Sumoblue is qualified to deliver this
Sumoblue is a specialist Google Ads and ecommerce growth agency for retailers — not a generalist marketing agency that also does PPC.
- Google Partner with a focus on retail, Shopping and Merchant Center specifically.
- Diagnostic-first, forecast-led approach — we lead with evidence and commercial modelling, not opinions.
- Deep Merchant Center and feed expertise — the area most agencies treat as an afterthought is where we start.
- GA4 and tracking literacy — we read the data properly before recommending anything.
- Multi-market experience across Ireland, the UK and the EU.
- Work delivered across retailers including Euronics, Expert and an apparel who appeared on SHARK TANK who showed year on year growth and efficiency with us.
This is the same senior thinking we apply to managed accounts — packaged so you can buy it on its own terms.
Free audit vs senior diagnostic
A free audit tells you that something's wrong. A senior diagnostic tells you exactly what's wrong, what it's costing you, and what to do about it — in order.
The process
Apply
Tell us about your store, your spend and your markets through the short application form.
We review suitability
We only take on diagnostics we can genuinely add value to. If you're not a fit, we'll tell you, and point you in a better direction.
Payment and access
Once confirmed, you pay, and we get secure access to your Google Ads, Merchant Center and GA4.
Diagnostic work begins
We carry out the full review — typically delivered within 10 working days, depending on tier and account complexity.
Walkthrough and roadmap delivered
We present the findings live, answer your questions, and hand over the written diagnostic, action plan and roadmap.
Frequently asked questions
Is this really not a free audit?
Correct. It’s a paid, senior diagnostic. If you want a free scan, plenty of agencies will give you one — it just won’t tell you much.
How much does it cost?
From €2,500 + VAT for the core diagnostic, €3,500 + VAT with the Seasonal Budget Strategy, and from €5,000 + VAT for complex or multi-market accounts.
How long does it take?
Most diagnostics are delivered within 10 working days of getting account access. Complex multi-market accounts can take a little longer; we’ll confirm the timeline upfront.
Do I have to work with you afterwards?
No. You own the diagnostic and the plan outright. Some clients hand it to their in-house team or existing agency. Others ask us to implement it. Both are fine.
Can the diagnostic fee be credited against ongoing management?
If you go on to a qualifying management retainer with us, we’ll credit the diagnostic fee against your first month. Ask us when you apply.
What if you don't find anything wrong?
That’s a good outcome, and it’s rare. If your account is genuinely in great shape, we’ll confirm it, tell you where the remaining growth is, and you’ll have independent senior validation of your setup — which has its own value.
What access do you need?
Read or admin access to your Google Ads, Merchant Center and GA4. We’ll send clear instructions; nothing changes in your account without your say-so.
Can I just book a call instead?
You’re welcome to talk to us first to check fit. But the call is not the diagnostic — the value is in the work, not the conversation.
Stop guessing where your retail growth is.
A free audit makes you nervous. A senior diagnostic gives you a plan. If you’re spending real money on Google and want to know exactly where it’s working, where it’s leaking and what to do next, apply below.
Not sure which tier fits? Apply anyway — we’ll recommend the right one before you pay anything.