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The need to focus on brand, the dominance of big tech in online marketplaces and consumers demanding more in an AI-driven era are just a few challenges facing One Retail Group.<\/p>\n
Giulio Beltramo, the company\u2019s head of marketing, is acutely aware of how the industry has changed.<\/p>\n
Adaptability, he says, is essential.<\/p>\n
We caught up with him to discuss how One Retail Group balances performance marketing and brand storytelling, manages marketplaces and owned channels, and navigates growth and retention in a rapidly evolving market.<\/p>\n
With a portfolio spanning home appliances, personal care and lifestyle consumer goods brands, One Retail Group must navigate ultra-competitive markets and cut through the noise.<\/p>\n
Marketing, as Beltramo explains, touches almost every part of the business and has evolved significantly since he first joined.<\/p>\n
\u201cFundamentally, I\u2019m responsible for all performance-based marketing,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat includes everything driving traffic to our websites, activity across marketplaces, collaborating closely on our Amazon strategy, and managing DSP and Prime Video activity. From a channel perspective, that covers paid social, PPC, CRM, affiliates, influencers and organic social \u2013 the full digital marketing mix.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Beltramo\u2019s role goes beyond performance.<\/p>\n
He is heavily involved in product development \u2013 deciding what to bring to market, why, and the commercial rationale behind each decision \u2013 as well as shaping the creative and visual identity of the brands.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have dedicated product and creative teams, but I approach it from a commercial and customer perspective: how does this fit our customer, how do we take it to market, and how do we scale it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Creative direction follows the same principle: assessing whether initiatives align with the brand identity and can move it forward.<\/p>\n
Beltramo also oversees larger strategic projects. With around ten brands under the One Retail Group umbrella, Pro Breeze is the largest, and this year a key focus is cementing it as a household name. That means more brand marketing \u2013 video, content, blogs, and careful app management across the customer journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then, of course, there\u2019s reporting, budgeting and all of that jazz,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n
Performance vs brand. And the impact of AI on this battle<\/strong><\/p>\n Post-Covid, performance marketing has been the bread and butter of e-commerce, Beltramo says. \u201cIt has all been about your PPC setup, paid social funnel, and how that integrates across channels. Two or three years ago, you could still get real incremental value from those channels \u2013 put in one pound and get a lot more back. The likes of Google and other major platforms, despite their mysteries, have all become very \u201cplug-in-and-play\u201d for Beltramo.<\/p>\n Yet while performance remains vital, the market is shifting towards brand, and AI is changing everything.<\/p>\n \u201cSearch behaviour is evolving; core category terms that drove huge traffic are no longer performing, even when rankings haven\u2019t changed,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Consumers now search in richer, more nuanced ways. \u201cWith ChatGPT or Gemini, people aren\u2019t typing one keyword; they\u2019re asking full, detailed questions with guardrails. The one-word search prompt has become a couple of sentences.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertising exposure points are shrinking because generative AI chatbots do not carry ads and platforms like Meta are oversaturated. Cutting through the noise is harder, and that is where brand wins, Beltramo says.<\/p>\n \u201cBrand creates moments that build mental availability and leave a lasting impression, prompting people to actively seek you on Amazon, an app, or via a search.\u201d<\/p>\n He adds: \u201cWe\u2019re entering a more post-performance-led world, where brand is becoming important again. Even the biggest players recognise this. Amazon has invested heavily in Prime Video and now controls premium media inventory across streaming platforms.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a shift towards longer-form, traditional brand advertising, done in a digitally optimised way with behavioural targeting.\u201d<\/p>\n Of course, the brand vs performance clash will always be nuanced, but for Beltramo, balance is key.<\/p>\n \u201cPerformance marketing captures demand wherever a consumer enters your ecosystem. Brand reaches people beyond finite impressions and grows demand rather than just harvesting it,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n The challenges of marketplaces<\/strong><\/p>\n One Retail Group sells in over 40 marketplaces globally, from Amazon to regional players like Bol in the Netherlands and Worten in Portugal. Ensuring consistent sales and customer journeys across all platforms is a huge challenge.<\/p>\n When the company formed in 2013, growth and acquisition were the focus.<\/p>\n \u201cIn that phase, brand and creative direction mattered less and decisions were more impulse-driven and based on product benefits,\u201d Beltramo says.<\/p>\n Now, however, consistency across markets is vital.<\/p>\n While One Retail Group\u2019s owned channels allow richer product pages and branding, Beltramo warns of a \u201cconfusing, mismatched experience\u201d if the brand isn\u2019t consistent.<\/p>\n \u201cConsumers shop around. They\u2019ll compare options and often buy wherever it\u2019s cheapest. We can\u2019t ignore that shoppers add products across multiple channels before choosing one.\u201d<\/p>\n He says, marketplaces are catching up, but still lag in brand-building.<\/p>\n \u201cAmazon, Walmart, Debenhams and B&Q are investing heavily in advertising and in improving what they can offer brands and consumers, because they understand the long-term potential of the marketplace model.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of competition between platforms to provide better tools and experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n He says it\u2019s worth remembering that each platform has its own variables.<\/p>\n \u201cThe task is to make each customer journey feel similar despite those differences. That\u2019s especially difficult when building a consolidated brand.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIf the goal is purely sales, competitive products, delivery, reviews, and prices suffice. But to upsell, build equity, or play premium, consistency and vigilance are critical.\u201d<\/p>\n Customer retention<\/strong><\/p>\n Up until recently, Beltramo admits, there has been no cross-sell between One Retail Group\u2019s brands so retention and ensuring long-term customer value has become a relatively new focus.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a shame because there\u2019s so much audience overlap,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n Marketplaces control customer data, making it challenging to centralise information. \u201cFor example, Amazon is quite protective of its customer data and owns all of it \u2013 so we don\u2019t get access. That makes things difficult, because you don\u2019t necessarily know who those customers are. We have to be tactical.\u201d<\/p>\n One way the company deals with this is through warranties, where consumers register their product.<\/p>\n \u201cThat creates a lead-generation moment and allows us to identify where the customer came from and start building a clearer picture,\u201d Beltramo says.<\/p>\n And he is also focused on sophisticated product suggestions.<\/p>\n \u201cIf someone buys a dehumidifier, we also have portable moisture absorbers. Correlated products can be tied together via on-site optimisation or post-purchase emails,\u201d he notes.<\/p>\n Through more advanced product retargeting the company can begin to start making informed assumptions about customer profiles and suggest other relevant products. \u201cUltimately, this is a huge opportunity for us, and one we\u2019re actively working to build out in a much more structured way.\u201d<\/p>\n Making the case for marketing when results are under scrutiny<\/strong><\/p>\n Proving marketing\u2019s value when budgets tighten is a career-long challenge for Beltramo.<\/p>\n For him, successfully making a case for the discipline is dependent on who you are trying to inform, because everyone has their own perception of marketing\u2019s value. Part of his role is to lobby the right people in his team to truly understand what it is they are trying to achieve.<\/p>\n Beltramo believes that most people in the industry only focus on \u2018promotion\u2019 in the \u20184Ps\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cProduct, price, and placement are just as important. Placement is often owned by a sales or e-commerce team because they manage the storefronts, but where a product sits and how it\u2019s positioned directly affects sales.\u201d<\/p>\n The marketing lead feels the discipline\u2019s wider, holistic impact must be shown. \u201cPeople often ask, \u201cWhat\u2019s the point of brand marketing?\u201d You might need it to get into John Lewis for long-term growth. That decision can\u2019t easily be quantified as ROI \u2013 it may come down to relationships or perception. You need to demonstrate impact on overall revenue \u2013 spend versus returns and whether proportions are rising or falling.\u201d<\/p>\n Share of voice is also \u201chuge\u201d for One Retail Group. \u201cWhat are we doing beyond immediate sales? How often is our brand mentioned or ranking highly on Google? These are leading indicators of organic growth. Anyone can generate revenue with performance marketing, but that requires constant investment. The goal is to build organic growth alongside paid efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n Beltramo admits that even with all the data and insights at their disposal, the value of marketing is not always immediately visible. \u201cIt\u2019s important to understand the wider context, economic, social, and digital.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes a random product gets picked up on Amazon, becomes a bestseller, while another loses share. Things change fast. You need to ride the highs, take the lows, and pivot,\u201d he advises.<\/p>\n At One Retail Group, adaptability has become second nature. \u201cWhen demand is too expensive, we switch off ads, reallocate spend, or focus on better-performing channels,\u201d Beltramo explains.<\/p>\n In pressure moments, marketing extends beyond paid media. \u201cYou have to find the right influencer, secure a media endorsement or leverage micro-moments that drive real impact. These opportunities are often the saving grace.\u201d<\/p>\n