Platou Sport

From internal competitor to shared growth strategy. How Platou built an online store that lifts the whole chain

Platou Sport is one of Norway’s most established mountain sports and outdoor retailers. Founded in 1918, with 70 employees across six stores and an online store, the company now has annual revenue of NOK 120 million. In an industry where price pressure and international players are on the rise, Platou has chosen a different path from most.

They have gone from seeing online sales as an internal competitor to the stores, to having online and in-store play on the same team. Maksimer built the technical platform and works closely with Platou on marketing and growth initiatives for the online store. Maksimer has also managed the Google Ads account since May 2023.

Results at a glance

• The client’s total revenue has grown by around 33 percent during the period Maksimer has managed the Google Ads account
• The share of revenue that can be traced directly to Google Ads has nearly tripled
• Conversion value from Google Ads has increased by more than 225 percent since the first year

The sports retail industry is tougher than most people think

The Norwegian sports market is worth NOK 25.1 billion a year, and Norway sells more sporting goods per capita than any other country in the world. Even so, margins are thin. A typical sports store operates with a 38 percent gross margin, 20 percent payroll costs and an operating margin below 5 percent.

Around 20 percent of sports retail, or NOK 8 billion, happens online. Price is the main driver of online sales, and consumers expect the same price whether they are standing in a store or sitting on the sofa.

The online versus in-store dilemma

For a chain like Platou, where in-store staff is one of its most important competitive advantages, e-commerce creates a real dilemma:

• Price is the main driver of online sales
• There is less room to influence the customer’s product choice online
• The stores have higher profitability requirements
• Customers expect the same price across all channels

Many retailers solve this by building a separate e-commerce department that competes with the stores. Platou chose the opposite strategy.

An online store that pulls its weight alongside the stores

The online store is the hub of Platou’s growth strategy, but it is built to strengthen store operations, not compete with them. A key decision was to include online sales in the stores’ sales budgets, so the entire organisation works towards the same targets. Local e-commerce through Meta and Google is actively used to support each store’s catchment area, and campaigns are planned across channels.

In practice, this means:

• The same team runs both the stores and the online campaigns
• The focus shifts from margin percentage to contribution margin
• The product mix is deliberately balanced between trend and price, and between online and in-store
• Decision-makers are in the driver’s seat and can step on the gas when it pays off

An integrated platform that works as one

For a chain with 70 employees across stores and online, it is not realistic to spend time moving data between systems manually. Every time someone has to copy a product number, update a stock level or adjust a price in several systems, errors and friction occur that eat into the margin.

Maksimer has built a platform where the systems talk to each other, so product data, orders, inventory and customer communication flow automatically:

• WooCommerce is the online store and the hub of the solution
• PCKasse is the point-of-sale system in the stores, keeping inventory and prices in sync with the online store
• Hello Retail powers personalisation and product recommendations on the website
• Mailchimp handles newsletters and customer communication
• Zendesk brings all customer service together across channels
• Reprice monitors the market and supports competitive pricing
• Bring and Logistra make sure shipping and deliveries run automatically
• Meta and Google Ads are used for both central and local marketing for each store. The Google Ads account has been scaled up more than five times since 2023, while maintaining profitability

When everything is connected, Platou spends less time on maintenance and more time on what actually moves revenue: campaigns, product mix and local e-commerce.

From platform to growth in Google Ads

Maksimer took over the Google Ads account in May 2023 and relaunched the campaigns with proper tracking of purchases and revenue. This gave Platou a basis for seeing what its ad spend actually returns, and for scaling up where the numbers justify it.

Growth since the takeover:

• Conversion value from advertising has increased by more than 225 percent since the first year
• The number of conversions has more than tripled over the same period
• The share of total revenue that can be traced directly to Google Ads has nearly tripled
• Return on ad spend has remained solid throughout the period, even though the ad budget has been scaled up more than five times

The most interesting part, however, is not the volume but the efficiency. Cost per conversion has fallen by almost 17 percent over the past year, while the number of conversions has increased sharply. The account has become more precise, not just bigger.

Seven and a half months into 2026, the account has already generated more conversions than in all of 2024, and the strongest months of the year, with Black Week and Christmas, are not yet included in the figures.

Brede Birkeland on working with Maksimer

We have gone from seeing online and in-store as internal competitors to playing on the same team. Maksimer has been an important partner in that transition, not just as a technology provider, but as someone who understands that e-commerce has to serve the whole business, not just the online store.

Brede Birkeland, Platou Sport

The road ahead for Platou

With a scalable platform and an organisation that works together, Platou can now add new areas to the business without building everything from scratch. The next steps are:

• A new loyalty programme
• B2B sales
• A rental portal

These initiatives build on the same principle that has driven online sales: as little friction as possible, high data quality, and decision-makers who can act quickly when opportunities arise. In parallel, scaling in Google Ads continues into the peak season, following the same principle: increase where the numbers justify it.

What other retailers can learn from Platou

The most important lesson from Platou is easy to put into words but demanding to carry out: get the whole organisation working towards the same goal. When online and in-store are measured on the same numbers, run by the same team, and support each other instead of competing, the online store becomes an amplifier for store operations rather than a threat to them. That requires connected systems, high-quality data, and decision-makers who are close enough to act quickly.

Maksimer helps retailers build scalable e-commerce that works hand in hand with the rest of the business. Get in touch for a no-obligation conversation about what could be improved in your business.