# Case Study: Three Brands, Three Years of Peak Trading, and the Year Spending More Bought Less | Crank Source: https://wearecrank.com/case-studies/beauty-group-peak-trading-three-years Across three consecutive peak periods, the brands that ran early access returned more than the one that didn't — and the year everyone spent hardest was the year returns halved. --- ![Beauty and skincare case study: Three Brands, Three Years of Peak Trading, and the Year Spending More Bought Less](/images/case-studies/beauty-peak-trading.png?dpl=dpl_2uJjggmfov9ibhArygujfRBb3pax) Beauty Group — Peak Trading, 2023–2025 # Three Brands, Three Years of Peak Trading, and the Year Spending More Bought Less Across three consecutive peak periods, the brands that ran early access returned more than the one that didn't — and the year everyone spent hardest was the year returns halved. Challenge A beauty group running the same peak trading event across three brands for three consecutive years, with no way of telling which decisions actually drove the result — the discount, the spend, the warm-up period, or the state of the customer database going in. Approach Treat three brands running the same event in the same week as a natural comparison rather than three separate reports. Hold the variables that differ — early access, sale extension, spend level, creative readiness — against the return each produced, across three consecutive years. Outcome Early access separated the brands consistently. In the most recent year the two brands that ran it returned 2.5 and 3.1 times spend, against 1.4 for the brand that did not. And across the group, the year spend rose hardest was the year return roughly halved. 01 ## The year spending more bought less Between the second and third year, one brand raised peak spend from £26,000 to £49,406 — a 90 per cent increase — and revenue went from £129,278 to £122,691\. More money, slightly less revenue, and return on spend falling from 4.97 to 2.5. A second brand raised spend from £9,598 to £28,166, nearly tripling it, and grew revenue from £71,538 to £86,601 — 21 per cent more revenue for 193 per cent more spend. Return fell from 7.5 to 3.1. The third brand did the opposite, cutting spend from £8,928 to £6,502, and revenue fell from £49,509 to £9,058\. Return fell from 5.5 to 1.4. Three brands, three different spending decisions, and returns fell in all three. Peak trading is the one period where every competitor is bidding at once, and the price of reaching the same customer rises for everyone regardless of what any single brand does. 02 ## What early access actually bought In the most recent year, the two brands that opened early access to their known customers returned 2.5 and 3.1 times spend. The brand that ran no early access returned 1.4 — and that was with the sale extended by two days to compensate. The year before, the same split appeared with the same direction. Early access is not a discount mechanic. It is the mechanism that lets the brand sell to people who already know it before the auction price rises for everyone. 03 ## When the audience was not the problem In the first year, one brand's known newsletter audience converted at 17.89 per cent during the sale while the same brand's paid social converted at zero — same week, same offer, same audience temperature. The review traced it to execution rather than audience: the adverts carried no discount or code, and there were no copy or creative variants to test between. A second brand in the same group did include the discount and code, and its known audience converted at 3.43 per cent against 2.86 on one social platform and 0.34 on another. The lesson was recorded as a specification rather than a sentiment — five headlines, five descriptions, five primary texts and four to six creative variants, provided two to four weeks before launch. 04 ## The things that actually moved the result Reviewed across three years, the factors that separated a good peak from a poor one were consistent, and none of them was the discount percentage: the warm-up period run eight to ten weeks ahead, creative delivered on time rather than at launch, pricing held at parity or better, the sale extended beyond competitors, and above all the size and engagement of the customer database going into the period. One brand's search adverts carried the sale message and a promotional extension. Another's did not, and its automated campaigns converted at 5.13 per cent against a 7.19 per cent account average. 05 ## What this means for you Peak trading is not won during peak trading. It is won in the eight to ten weeks before it, by the size of the audience that already knows you and the creative that was ready in time. And spending harder into a rising auction does not buy proportionally more. Across three brands and three years, the year everyone spent hardest was the year everyone's return fell. ## What three brands and three years of peak trading showed 2.5x and 3.1xvs1.4x Return on spend, with early access vs without +90% spend/−5% revenue One brand, year on year at peak 17.89%vs0% Known audience vs paid social, same week, same offer 8–10 weeks Warm-up period ahead of the event Drawn from Crank's post-campaign analysis of three consecutive peak trading periods, 2023 to 2025, for this beauty group. Clients not named. ## Want to know what this looks like in your own account? These findings came from asking straightforward questions before any budget moved. We're happy to do the same for yours. [ Talk to Wearecrank](https://wa.me/447457416922?text=Help%20my%20business)[Get in touch](/contact) [← Back to all case studies](/case-studies)