Case Study
Sandro and Maje: from zero on Shopify to about USD 1M each in year one
Mohamed Gamal, Gambra’s founder, led performance marketing for the sandro.ae and maje.ae launches while working for SMCP’s Gulf partner. He built the five-year forecasts and set up paid channels, domain verification and product feeds for both stores. Each launched on Shopify within one quarter and recorded about USD 1M in its first year.
per store in year one, from zero
two official stores, zero to live
The brief
Sandro and Maje are Paris contemporary fashion brands owned by SMCP. Their Gulf partner had operated physical stores since 2015, starting with nine openings across Dubai and Abu Dhabi. In 2022, it launched the brands’ official UAE online stores on Shopify. Gamal was responsible for performance marketing on both launches, before founding Gambra.
The constraint
Both stores had to launch in the same quarter, with no online sales history to use for planning. The forecasts covered five years. Meanwhile, the product feeds had to handle sizes, colours and stock changes across seasonal collections. An incorrect variant or availability setting could send advertising spend towards products customers could not buy.
The approach
Gamal built a five-year budget and forecast for each store, covering sessions, conversion, orders, average basket, revenue, media spend and cost per order. That gave the team a plan to compare with trading performance after launch. Paid channels were connected through Shopify’s native integrations so Meta and Google could receive order and revenue data. Domain verification was completed before the first campaigns. A feed management app handled the catalogue’s size and colour variants, prices and availability for Shopping and catalogue ads as collections changed.
The result
Both official stores launched within one quarter and began acquiring customers from day one. Each recorded about USD 1M in its first year. Four years after launch, sandro.ae and maje.ae still run on Shopify.
Why it matters
The two launches needed the same preparation done for two separate catalogues and trading plans. Forecasts, channel connections and product feeds were in place before campaigns started. This work forms part of the launch experience Gamal brought to Gambra.
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Frequently asked questions
Who are Sandro and Maje?
Sandro and Maje are Paris contemporary fashion brands owned by SMCP. In the Gulf they are run by a franchise partner that has operated their stores since 2015, and Sandro's Dubai Mall store is the brand's highest-turnover store worldwide.
What did Gamal own?
Gamal led performance marketing for both launches before founding Gambra. His scope included the five-year budgets and e-commerce forecasts, Shopify paid-channel integrations, Meta and Google domain verification, and product feeds.
What were the results?
Both official stores launched from zero inside one quarter and each did about USD 1M in its first year. Four years later sandro.ae and maje.ae still run on Shopify.
How can I check this?
The two launches are listed on Mohamed Gamal's LinkedIn profile under Projects with the same scope. SMCP's 2015 press release names the Gulf partner and the first nine stores. sandro.ae and maje.ae are live today and run on Shopify.
