Scaling a Local Footwear Brand Internationally With Paid Media

At Balkan eCommerce Summit 2026, Madalina Stanescu shared a practical framework for scaling local eCommerce brands internationally through paid media, using the Romanian footwear brand Marelbo as a case study. The lecture focused on how brands can move beyond stagnant local growth by using data-driven market selection, structured validation, and efficient advertising strategies before committing significant budgets to international expansion.

Local Growth Eventually Reaches a Ceiling

Madalina began by explaining that:

almost every successful eCommerce store eventually reaches a growth plateau in its home market.

Typical symptoms include:

• audience exhaustion
• rising customer acquisition costs
• and stagnant ROAS performance.

According to the presentation:
this happens because algorithms eventually optimize as much as possible within a limited local market.

The key insight was:

growth often requires entering new markets rather than endlessly optimizing the same audience.

Cross-Border Commerce Is Already Mainstream

The lecture highlighted that:

international eCommerce is no longer a niche opportunity.

According to Google data shared during the session:
70% of consumers globally already make cross-border purchases.

Madalina emphasized that:
Central and Eastern Europe offers especially attractive expansion opportunities because:

• CPMs are lower
• competition is weaker
• and consumers are increasingly comfortable buying from regional brands rather than only from global marketplaces like Amazon or Zalando.

However:

the biggest challenge is not the market itself, but the methodology used to enter it.

Most Brands Expand Based on Assumptions Instead of Data

One of the central themes of the lecture was:

many businesses choose new markets emotionally instead of analytically.

Common mistakes include selecting markets because:

• they are large
• geographically close
• linguistically similar
• or because competitors entered them first.

Madalina demonstrated how:
large markets such as Germany and France appear attractive at first glance,
but come with operational and localization complexities:

• strong preference for local language
• high advertising costs
• strict consumer expectations
• demanding return policies
• and local payment preferences.

The presentation argued that:

brands should first enter markets where they can win quickly and profitably,

before expanding into more difficult markets.

A Three-Stage Framework for International Expansion

Optimized developed a structured framework consisting of:

1. Research
2. Validation
3. Scaling.

Each stage is based on:

measurable data signals rather than assumptions.

The lecture emphasized that:
brands should only move to the next stage when predefined criteria are achieved.

Research Should Happen Before Spending Advertising Budget

Using Marelbo as a case study,
Madalina explained how the company evaluated multiple Central and Eastern European markets before investing in international advertising.

The research phase relied entirely on:

free Google tools.

The main tools included:

• Google Trends
• Google Market Finder
• Google Keyword Planner
• and Google Analytics Geo reports.

These tools were used to evaluate:

• search demand
• buyer behavior
• market accessibility
• advertising costs
• and existing organic interest from foreign visitors.

The lecture highlighted that:

this approach helped Marelbo avoid entering two markets that would likely have wasted budget and resources.

Data-Based Market Selection Reduces Risk

The framework converted market research into a:

simple scoring system.

Markets received “green signals” based on factors such as:

• strong search interest
• high keyword volume
• low competition
• and existing organic traffic from those countries.

According to the model:
markets with three or more positive indicators became expansion candidates,
while markets with multiple warning signs were postponed.

This structured approach allowed Marelbo to prioritize:

faster-win opportunities instead of larger but more complex markets.

Google Ads Is Better for Market Validation Than Meta Ads

One of the strongest tactical recommendations from the lecture was:

using Google Ads first when testing a new international market.

Madalina explained that:
Google captures existing purchase intent,
while Meta ads interrupt users who may not currently be shopping.

For early-stage market validation,
this makes Google significantly more efficient.

The campaign budget structure used was:

• 70% Google Ads
• 30% Meta Ads.

Within Google Ads,
the strategy focused primarily on:

• Search campaigns
• and Standard Shopping campaigns.

Standard Shopping Campaigns Were Preferred Over PMAX

The lecture explained why:

Performance Max campaigns were intentionally avoided at the beginning.

PMAX requires:

• historical conversion data
• and significant machine-learning signals

to optimize effectively.

Because new markets initially lack this data,
Optimized started with:

Standard Shopping campaigns and exact-match Search campaigns,

allowing for:

• tighter control
• cleaner testing
• and better understanding of search intent.

Localization Is Critical for International Performance

A major takeaway from the lecture was:

local language matters enormously in international advertising.

Madalina stressed that:
consumers in markets like Germany and France strongly prefer native-language communication,
and localization impacts:

• trust
• conversion rates
• and operational performance.

The presentation also highlighted that:
local consumer behavior differs significantly between countries,
including:

• return expectations
• payment preferences
• and response to advertising styles.

Fast-Win Markets Can Finance Larger Expansion

One of the most practical strategic lessons was:

brands should not start with the biggest markets.

Instead,
they should first scale in:

• easier
• cheaper
• and operationally manageable markets,

build profitable growth,
and then use that performance to fund expansion into more competitive regions.

For Marelbo,
markets like Hungary and Bulgaria provided:

• lower advertising costs
• strong demand
• and lower operational friction,

making them ideal starting points.

Key Takeaways

The lecture demonstrated that:
international expansion should be based on structured market validation rather than intuition
cross-border eCommerce is already mainstream and especially promising within Central and Eastern Europe
local growth plateaus are often solved by entering new markets, not endlessly optimizing the same audience
free Google tools can provide highly valuable market intelligence before spending advertising budget
brands should prioritize markets where they can achieve fast profitable wins rather than immediately targeting the largest markets
Google Ads is more effective than Meta Ads for early-stage market validation because it captures existing purchase intent
Standard Shopping campaigns are often better than PMAX in new markets without historical conversion data
localization, native language communication, and operational differences strongly impact international performance
market expansion should happen in stages with clear data-based validation criteria
successful international scaling depends on disciplined methodology, not gut feeling.