The Strategic Surge: How B&Q Mastered the Peak DIY Window Through Multi-Partner CSS Resilience

The Challenge

For B&Q, peak trading is defined by the high-intensity Spring DIY window and the competitive Black Friday period. In 2025, the brand faced a complex challenge: how to dominate search auctions during volatile peak windows without causing internal conflict between Paid Search and Affiliate teams.

The Strategy

By moving from a passive, single-partner model to a sophisticated multi-partner Comparison Shopping Service (CSS) ecosystem working with Redbrain and Genie Shopping via the impact.com platform, B&Q created a high-agility framework. The affiliate channel was treated as a pressure-release valve to capture incremental demand that internal search teams could not reach efficiently.

Execution and Innovation

The affiliate channel was treated as a pressure-release valve to capture incremental demand that internal search teams could not reach efficiently.

Results

A 34% year-on-year revenue increase, with the CSS vertical becoming the primary driver of programme growth, accounting for 70% of total traffic and 50% of total revenue.

Judge's Verdict

"Crystal-clear objectives and incredibly impressive results across revenue, ROAS, and traffic growth."

"Rare ability to manage multiple major partners simultaneously at enterprise scale, with properly verified incrementality."