Now You Can Triple ROAS with AI-Powered Inbound Marketing
The digital marketplace is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Currently, 82% of purchases in Southeast Asia take place on e-commerce platforms—a figure that is expected to grow from $159 billion to $370 billion by 2030. Yet, as competition intensifies, brands like Teambank and Delivery Hero are proving that success hinges on more than just marketplace presence—it requires a sophisticated Inbound strategy powered by first-party data, AI, and cross-channel integration.
Inbound marketing in e-commerce is no longer about passive attraction; it’s about leveraging data to guide customers from discovery to purchase. For instance, Teambank tripled its ROAS by combining Performance Max campaigns with value-based bidding, while Delivery Hero balanced reach and quality using Google AI to predict customer lifetime value. These cases underscore a critical shift: Winning in marketplaces demands Inbound strategies that extend beyond the platform itself, tapping into consumer behavior across search engines, social media, and video content.
This article explores how leading brands are redefining marketplace success through AI-driven personalization, privacy-centric data usage, and omnichannel campaigns—proving that the future of e-commerce lies in bridging the gap between discovery and conversion.
I. Leveraging First-Party Data for Targeted Campaigns
The demise of third-party cookies has made first-party data (1P data) the cornerstone of effective Inbound marketing. Brands that harness this data gain a dual advantage: They comply with privacy regulations while delivering hyper-relevant experiences.
Teambank’s transformation exemplifies this. The German financial services provider faced a challenge—attracting loan applicants with strong creditworthiness. Traditional cost-per-action (CPA) bidding often wasted budgets on unqualified leads. By adopting value-based bidding (VBB) with target ROAS (tROAS), Teambank allowed Google AI to adjust bids based on the predicted conversion value. The key was enriching 1P data: They refined their loan application process to capture critical signals like desired loan amounts, feeding this into VBB. The result? A 3X ROAS increase, as AI prioritized high-intent users.
Delivery Hero took a similar Inbound approach but scaled it globally. The food delivery giant used Google Analytics 4 (GA4) to segment customers by lifetime value (LTV), then layered this data into three AI-driven bidding tiers:
CPA optimization for broad reach in emerging markets.
ROAS bidding in mature markets, using gross merchandise value (GMV) from initial orders to predict LTV.
Predictive modeling in advanced markets, where AI allocated budgets to users with the highest projected value.
In Latin America, subsidiary PedidosYa saw double the user value compared to CPA campaigns, while Southeast Asia’s Foodpanda achieved a 52% ROAS lift. These successes highlight a universal truth: 1P data isn’t just for reporting—it’s the fuel for AI to optimize every ad dollar in an Inbound framework.
II. AI-Powered Personalization and Creative Efficiency
AI’s role in Inbound marketing goes beyond bidding. It’s revolutionizing how brands localize content and streamline creative production—critical for standing out in crowded marketplaces.
Coupang’s cross-border e-commerce platform faced a language barrier. Korean product listings performed poorly in Taiwan due to untranslated descriptions. Their solution? A custom AI tool combining Google Cloud’s OCR and Gemini, Google’s advanced AI model. The system scanned Korean product images, extracted text, and instantly translated it into Chinese—localizing thousands of listings without manual effort. The outcome: Lower bounce rates, higher CTRs, and improved ad performance.
Meanwhile, mobile game publisher 37 Mobile Games tackled ad fatigue with generative AI (GenAI). For their RPG, GenAI analyzed top-performing ad copy and auto-generated variants that adhered to character limits and highlighted key features. This reduced creative production time by 40% while boosting CTR by 64%. Notably, AI-generated copy outperformed human-written ads in driving clicks, proving that machines can master the nuances of persuasive messaging in Inbound campaigns.
These cases reveal a pattern: AI isn’t replacing human marketers but empowering them. By automating repetitive tasks—translation, copywriting, A/B testing—brands free up resources to focus on Inbound strategy and storytelling.
Topkee’s TTO CDP exemplifies this synergy, offering full-funnel measurement that bridges AI automation with human decision-making. By tracking attribution across ads, creatives, and product pages, TTO enables marketers to validate AI recommendations and adjust strategies dynamically. Topkee’s social content management capabilities through YIS, which streamline multi-platform content creation and data-driven optimization.
III. Performance Max: Bridging Discovery and Purchase
Marketplaces prosper from impulsive purchases, yet the journey to making a purchase usually starts in other places. Google’s Performance Max (PMax) bridges this gap by connecting discovery channels (Search, YouTube, Discover) directly to marketplace product pages—a cornerstone of modern Inbound tactics.
L’Oréal Thailand’s dermatology brands (CeraVe, La Roche-Posay) used PMax to drive traffic to their Shopee Mall stores. The AI-powered campaigns dynamically adjusted creatives and bids across platforms, resulting in a 15% sales uplift and a 5X ROAS. Similarly, baby brand Kindee Kids—originally an offline retailer—scaled its Shopee store with PMax, achieving a 40X sales increase and doubling profitability.
PMax’s strength lies in its simplicity. Once linked to a marketplace (e.g., Shopee or Lazada), it uses product feeds to auto-generate ads, eliminating the need for manual channel management. For merchants, this means:
Broader reach: Capturing demand from users researching on Google.
Smarter bidding: AI allocates budgets to high-converting audiences.
Unified measurement: Tracking ROAS across all touchpoints in an Inbound framework.
With an average 500% ROAS for PMax adopters, the message is clear: Marketplaces are where purchases happen, but winning requires meeting customers earlier in their Inbound journey.
Topkee’s expertise in advertising operations and marketing integration ensures campaigns are not only automated but also strategically aligned with broader business goals. By combining PMax’s AI capabilities with Topkee’s data-driven approach—such as leveraging TTO for full-funnel measurement—brands can achieve even greater precision in targeting and performance optimization.
IV. Privacy-Centric Strategies for Sustainable Growth
As data regulations tighten, brands must balance personalization with privacy in their Inbound approach. Teambank future-proofed its strategy by implementing Enhanced Conversions (hashing customer emails for accurate attribution) and Advanced Consent Mode (adjusting tracking based on user permissions). This guaranteed adherence to regulations while maintaining campaign effectiveness.
In contrast, Middle Eastern subsidiary Talabat leveraged richer data pools to achieve 100% ROAS growth. Flexibility is key—AI models must evolve with local privacy landscapes to sustain Inbound success.
For brands seeking to replicate such success, Topkee’s TTO platform offers a robust solution. Meanwhile, its integration with WEBER ensures compliant data collection across owned channels—from website interactions to social media touchpoints—creating a unified yet privacy-safe measurement framework for Inbound initiatives.
Conclusion
The future of marketplace success lies in Inbound strategies that blend AI, 1P data, and omnichannel reach. From Teambank’s precision bidding to Coupang’s AI translations, leaders are proving that the path to purchase starts long before a customer lands on a product page. For brands, this means investing not just in marketplace listings, but in the tools and data that guide consumers there through Inbound excellence.
Ready to transform your marketplace strategy? Partner with experts to harness these insights—because in the age of AI, the brands that connect discovery to conversion through Inbound mastery will own the future.
