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Case Study Ariadna

Allegro

5x sales growth on Allegro for thread manufacturer Ariadna

Wooden spool with red thread and a needle
  • 5×more sales, Jul 2026 vs Mar 2025
    (PLN 75,590 vs PLN 15,044)
  • 36.5% → 27%drop in CPS, the total
    cost of selling
    (Mar 2025 – Aug 2026)
  • 217 → 1,000+orders per month
    (Apr 2025 – Aug 2026)

About the client

Ariadna is a Polish thread manufacturer with a history dating back to 1897, its own production machinery and an annual turnover of around PLN 60 million. The brand is well known in the Polish handicrafts and haberdashery market.

Its catalogue covers thousands of product variants. With such a wide range and so many colours, each product has a low unit price of a dozen or so PLN, which calls for a carefully planned listing structure.

Haberdashery shop with wooden shelves full of threads, crochet cotton and ribbons

What you’ll find in Ariadna’s range

CategoryProducts
Sewing threadsgarment threads, denim and upholstery threads, linen threads
Crochet cotton and embroidery threadscrochet cotton, stranded cotton, threads for cross-stitch and satin-stitch embroidery
Cords and yarnslinen cord for macramé and DIY, yarns
Haberdashery accessoriessewing machine needles, sewing and craft accessories

The industry

The thread and haberdashery market has its own distinct dynamics. Buyers choose a particular colour and type of thread, often putting together several shades at once, and the value of a single item is low. In a model like this, results depend on precisely matching listings to search terms and on basket value, because fixed platform and delivery costs are proportionally high.

The client’s challenges

In March 2025, Allegro was a secondary channel for Ariadna. For a business turning over tens of millions of PLN, monthly sales on the platform were only in the low five figures. The account was struggling with several problems at once:

  • Low revenue and high costs: sales of PLN 15,044 a month, with a total cost of selling (CPS) as high as 36.5%. For a manufacturer, this was unsustainable in the long run.

  • Burning through the Allegro Ads budget: return on ad spend (ROAS) was just PLN 3–7 for every PLN 1 spent.

  • Chaotic descriptions: thread listings featured banners for stranded cotton, which left buyers confused.

  • Weak titles (SEO): short and missing the keywords customers actually use when searching for threads.

  • Conflict with the B2B channel: fear of a price war with the company’s own wholesale partners (B2B), who were selling the same products on Allegro at lower prices.

Partnership goals

Goal 1: exceed PLN 35,000 in monthly sales. The aim was to scale sales on an account that had so far been treated as an add-on to the other channels.

Goal 2: CPS below 30%. CPS (Cost per Sale) is the total cost of selling relative to the value of sales. This was a demanding target given the platform’s fixed costs:

  • around 17.5%: base commission in the Handicrafts/Threads category,
  • 5–6%: fixed delivery and handling costs in the Smart! programme,
  • so the 30% limit left around 6.5–7.5% of sales for advertising, fees for additional listing options and margin.

What we did

Listing optimisation

We started by tidying up the listings themselves:

  • Rewritten titles: we use the full 75 characters and long-tail keywords – intended use, thickness, length, and colour number and name – the terms buyers actually type when searching for threads.
  • Improved description template: we introduced clear product specification tables and an official manufacturer’s shop section, which organises the information and builds trust in the brand’s listings.
Ariadna Talia 30 listing description on Allegro: keyword-rich title, technical specifications, uses and an official manufacturer’s shop section

A wide range instead of a price war with B2B partners

Rather than competing with the client’s wholesale partners on price for bestsellers, we expanded the account from around 1,000 to more than 5,000 active listings. We also added products that distributors are less likely to stock.

We implemented a universal variant structure: each colour gets its own listing. With several dozen base thread models and a very wide colour palette, this built organic visibility for many search terms at once, without cutting margins.

Allegro Ads under strict cost discipline

We ran Allegro Ads campaigns within a fixed limit: ad spend as a share of total sales (TACOS) was kept at around 3%. Advertising plays a supporting role. The bulk of sales comes from refined listings and ranking for long-tail keywords.

Keeping promotion costs in check

We deliberately dropped paid featured listings, coins and coupons. With hundreds of colour variants side by side, featuring individual listings made no economic sense, and the extra fees would have eroded the profitability of bestsellers. Customers looking for Ariadna threads buy because they recognise the brand, not because of price promotions.

Growing basket value

With products costing around PLN 10 each, order value is key. We introduced a multi-buy offer, ‘buy 5, get the cheapest 50% off’, which encourages customers to put together entire colour palettes in a single order.

Results

Sales

After the changes were implemented, the account’s sales grew from PLN 15,044 in March 2025 to PLN 75,590 in July 2026. That is an increase of around 400% – a fivefold rise. The account passed the PLN 35,000 monthly threshold as early as July 2025 (PLN 41,342), and since July 2025 every month has closed above PLN 40,000. Over the whole period from March 2025 to August 2026, the account generated PLN 873,166 in sales.

Sales value on Allegro

Total sales value on Allegro, Jan 2025 – Aug 2026. The lighter colour marks the period before the partnership.

Sales value on Allegro
January 202510,650.95
February 202514,473.39
March 202515,043.76
April 202510,569.98
May 202519,902.45
June 202526,901.17
July 202541,342.1
August 202544,022.9
September 202551,723.94
October 202556,697.16
November 202555,113.61
December 202540,177.5
January 202651,124.37
February 202656,952.75
March 202667,202.18
April 202664,194.26
May 202670,632.58
June 202658,424.11
July 202675,590.02
August 202667,550.73

CPS: lower cost of selling

The total cost of selling fell from 36.46% in March 2025 to 26.60–27.86% in most months of 2026 (the exception being February 2026: 30.48%). That is a reduction of around 9 percentage points with the same platform cost structure.

CPS (total cost of selling)

CPS is the total cost of selling (Allegro fees and advertising) relative to sales value.

CPS (total cost of selling)
January 202534.85
February 202533.77
March 202536.46
April 202536.52
May 202531.54
June 202528.34
July 202529.21
August 202527.79
September 202527.37
October 202528.33
November 202528.24
December 202527.5
January 202627.01
February 202630.48
March 202627.87
April 202626.6
May 202626.97
June 202627.45
July 202627.24
August 202627.86

Allegro Ads campaign results

Return on ad spend (ROAS) rose from PLN 6.97 in March 2025 to PLN 14.20 in September 2025 and PLN 16.94 in January 2026. Over the same period, sales from ads grew from PLN 8,983 to more than PLN 22,900 a month (November 2025).

At the same time, ad spend as a share of total sales (TACOS) fell from 8.6% in March 2025 to around 2.4–3.1% from September 2025 onwards. In August 2026, ad spend was PLN 1,973 against sales of PLN 67,551, i.e. around 2.9%. For comparison, businesses typically spend 8–15% of sales on advertising.

On a marketplace, such a low share of advertising is sometimes seen as a warning sign – the client’s auditors asked whether everything on the account was working properly. For many, it’s a ‘red flag’; for us, it’s proof of flawless long-tail organic SEO and precisely targeted Ads.

Allegro Ads: sales from ads and ROAS

Sales from ads (bars) and ROAS (line), Jan 2025 – Jan 2026. TACOS is ad spend as a share of total sales.

Allegro Ads: sales from ads and ROAS
January 20255,067.655.987.96 %
February 20255,734.517.055.62 %
March 20258,982.926.978.56 %
April 20253,327.775.026.27 %
May 20256,575.196.565.03 %
June 20259,353.9410.343.36 %
July 202512,563.38.983.38 %
August 202515,851.8311.933.02 %
September 202517,564.2414.22.39 %
October 202521,131.3512.343.02 %
November 202522,940.8513.423.1 %
December 202514,785.7415.042.45 %
January 202620,992.3216.942.42 %

Order value and volume

  • Average order value (AOV): rose from PLN 48.71 in April 2025 to around PLN 65 in April and August 2026, an increase of roughly 33%.
  • Number of orders: from 217 in April 2025 to more than 1,000 a month in August 2026.
  • Basket: consistently around 6.5 units of thread per order.

Summary

Ariadna shows that a marketplace can be a profitable channel even for a large manufacturer that wants to protect its relationships with B2B partners. The key turned out to be a combination of three elements: a wide range built on long-tail keywords, the right variant strategy, and tight control of advertising and promotion costs.

The trial period the client set at the start of the partnership ended successfully, and we are still developing the account today. We are currently focusing on maintaining the volumes achieved and keeping costs low. Decisions on increasing ad budgets or entering further markets, such as Allegro CZ and SK, will be made in line with the client’s plans.

Our partnership with Ariadna continues uninterrupted, and we keep adapting every element of sales to the changing conditions for sellers on Allegro. We are grateful to Ariadna for their trust.

Selling as a manufacturer and looking to achieve similar results?

We specialise in supporting manufacturers and distributors that sell on Allegro and other marketplaces. For many years, we have been helping companies increase listing visibility, improve conversion and scale their online sales.

If you’re wondering whether your business has the potential to grow on marketplaces, let’s talk. We’ll analyse your situation and tell you honestly whether – and how – we can increase your profits.

  • PLN 873kin sales on Allegro
    (Mar 2025 – Aug 2026)
  • 16.94Allegro Ads ROAS, Jan 2026
    (6.97 in Mar 2025)

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