£1m Selling Sweets But Yet to Master Ecommerce

This week we had the pleasure of having Kane Dowell on the podcast, the Founder and MD of Ask Mummy & Daddy which is a gourmet confectionery brand with a playful name and serious potential. With a turnover of over £1 million, the business is thriving in the wholesale world—but now, the team wants to ramp up its direct-to-consumer (D2C) side. This podcast episode explores what it takes to transition a successful B2B product into an ecommerce powerhouse.

Business Overview

Founder Kane Dow built Ask Mummy & Daddy into a respected gifting brand, with luxury packaging and broad appeal. The business is stocked in top retailers and exports globally.

• £1M+ turnover
• 90% revenue from B2B (Selfridges, Moonpig, Liberty)
• Exporting to Australia, Middle East, Hong Kong
• 200+ small stockists
• 7-person team
• D2C revenue under 10%, target: six figures annually

Current Marketing Strategy

So far, the business has taken early steps into digital marketing for D2C. But they’re still finding their rhythm when it comes to growing traffic and conversions.

• £1K/month Google Ads spend
• Recently launched Performance Max campaigns
• Occasional email marketing via Klaviyo
• Strong organic brand (repeat buyers)
• Meta Ads paused due to account issues

Key Marketing Challenges

Despite their beautiful branding and clear product-market fit, the team is facing typical D2C hurdles.

• Driving awareness to the website
• Growing a social following and engagement
• Building an email list and subscriber base

Kane summed it up as one key pain point: acquiring new customers cost-effectively.

Platform Performance Insights

Early paid search performance has been promising, but the numbers need close monitoring to scale profitably.

Google Ads Takeaways:

• £724 spend yielded ~£1,477 revenue over 6 weeks (2x ROAS)
• Heavy reliance on brand searches
• Campaign structure includes feed-only and brand/non-brand split
• Performance Max needs more first-party data to improve results

Recommended Checks:

• Confirm brand campaigns are separated from new customer campaigns
• Plug in email list to enable first-party retargeting
• Review conversion attribution models
• Consider adding Demand Gen for upper-funnel reach

Creative Insight:

• UGC performs best for sweets brands on Instagram/TikTok
• Bright, vibrant photos contrast with dull video content—improve consistency

Opportunities for Growth

To reach their D2C revenue goals, Ask Mummy & Daddy must make strategic changes across platforms, product presentation, and retention.

• Increase AOV from £18 to £25–£30 via upsells, bundling, and offers
• Promote new subscription model more aggressively
• Enhance checkout experience with cross-sells and incentives
• Reignite Meta Ads for retargeting and new customer discovery
• Explore Pinterest Ads for visually-driven gift shoppers

Strategic Next Steps

Success online will come from combining numbers-driven decisions with a strong sense of brand and audience.

• Map out revenue targets—e.g., 25 D2C orders/day = ~£180K/year
• Calculate customer lifetime value (LTV) to guide target CPA
• Use Google Search Console to split brand vs non-brand visibility
• Strengthen Klaviyo flows to increase returning customer revenue
• Launch demand capture and demand generation campaigns
• Consistently apply a test-and-learn mindset across all creative

___

👋 Never miss an update. Sign up to T.E.A Break, our weekly newsletter.

👉 See our case studies to discover how we grow brands online.

👉 Subscribe to our YouTube channel.

👉 Follow our Grow with Evergreen podcast on Spotify, YouTube & Apple Podcasts.

👉 Download our new Home and Garden sector paid media report