Step by Step, Not Rip and Replace: Inside DocMorris Advertising's Retail Media Overhaul

DocMorris Advertising, the retail media unit of DocMorris, one of Europe's leading online pharmacies, has selected Pentaleap as its retail media technology partner. Rather than replacing its existing setup in one move, DocMorris took a phased path: prove relevance improvements first, then unlock the full platform once the early results held up.

TL;DR:

DocMorris didn't take a rip-and-replace approach to modernizing its retail media stack. Pentaleap first worked alongside DocMorris' incumbent technology partner purely to improve relevance and user experience. Once that produced clear, fast results, DocMorris progressively unlocked Pentaleap's full platform, including its Campaign Manager frontend and RTB capabilities to connect major ad platforms. Managing Director Björn Wolak called the transition "fast, smooth," with "immediate performance improvements." Read the full press release.

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Step 1: Prove Relevance Before Touching Anything Else

Rather than migrating DocMorris' stack wholesale, Pentaleap started narrow: working alongside DocMorris' incumbent technology partner to improve relevance and user experience, with nothing else in the stack changed yet.

In an early A/B test, the results were immediate. Ad revenue and conversion value both climbed sharply, clicks and conversions rose meaningfully, and click-through rate improved, all while impressions grew only modestly in comparison, since Pentaleap was filtering out irrelevant products rather than simply showing more ads. That combination, more clicks and conversions from a smaller, more relevant set of impressions, is exactly the kind of result that let DocMorris trust the next step without needing to bet the whole stack on it.

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Step 2: Migrate Brands Onto Pentaleap's Own Campaign Manager

Once the relevance layer proved itself, DocMorris moved to the next phase: adopting the full Pentaleap platform, including the Campaign Manager frontend, giving brands a simpler, more cost-efficient way to run their own campaigns.

Looking at the weeks before and after this migration, performance kept climbing. Ad revenue rose further, ROAS roughly doubled, and conversion value saw an even sharper lift, with click-through rate and conversion rate both improving too. Migrating the campaign layer, not just the ad-serving layer, is what unlocked this second jump.

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Step 3: Broader, More Relevant Search Coverage

The same migration period also widened how many distinct search queries DocMorris' sponsored products could actually compete for. The average number of search queries filled per SKU rose substantially, and at the high end, the maximum queries filled multiplied several times over. Broader, more relevant targeting like this is what fed directly into the click and ad revenue gains seen in Step 2, rather than a separate, unrelated improvement.

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What's Next: RTB and Additional Demand

With relevance and campaign management now running on Pentaleap, DocMorris' next step is using Pentaleap's RTB capabilities to connect with major ad platforms and meet brands where they already buy media, the same demand-expansion logic Pentaleap has applied with other customers, layered on top of a foundation that's already proven itself in production.

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Key Takeaways

• ‍A phased rollout let DocMorris validate each step before committing tothe next. Relevanceimprovements came first, running alongside the existing technology partner,with no disruption to brands or shoppers while early results were being provenout.
• The relevance-only phase alone drove a sharplift in ad revenue and conversion value, filtering out irrelevant products rather than simply serving more ads.
• Migrating campaign management onto Pentaleap'sown Campaign Manager roughly doubled ROAS and lifted conversion value further still, on top of the gains alreadyachieved in the relevance phase.
• Broader, more relevant search coverage was adirect driver of those gains,with both average and maximum search queries filled per SKU risingsubstantially.
• The stack isn't finished. DocMorris' next phase connects Pentaleap's RTBcapabilities to major ad platforms, extending the same foundation rather thanrequiring another disruptive change.

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FAQ

Did DocMorris have to replace its entire retail media stack at once? No. Pentaleap first worked alongside DocMorris' existing technology partner to improve relevance only. DocMorris adopted the rest of the platform, including the Campaign Manager frontend, only after that initial phase proved itself.

How fast were the results? The relevance-only phase showed clear performance gains within a short test window, giving DocMorris evidence to build on before committing to further changes.

What changed when DocMorris migrated its campaign management to Pentaleap? ROAS improved substantially and conversion value rose sharply in the following weeks, on top of the gains already delivered by the earlier relevance-only phase.

What's next for DocMorris' retail media stack? DocMorris will use Pentaleap's RTB capabilities to connect with major ad platforms, letting brands reach DocMorris' inventory through the demand sources they already use.

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Learn more about Pentaleap.