Chapter 1: Vision & Goals

The Problem: Retailers Waste Ad Spend on the Wrong Products

Every day, thousands of Shopify merchants pour money into Google Ads without a strategy for which products deserve the most budget. The result is predictable and costly: winter jackets get the same ad spend as shorts in January, dead stock competes with bestsellers for clicks, and new arrivals languish in obscurity while clearance items drain the budget.

The root cause is straightforward. Google Ads Performance Max (PMAX) campaigns treat all products equally unless the merchant manually segments them using custom labels in Google Merchant Center. But managing those labels is a manual, error-prone process that most merchants either skip entirely or configure once and never update.

The Scale of the Problem

Consider a retailer like Nexus Clothing with 5,582 products across 90 product types and 175 vendors. In winter, puffer jackets and hoodies should receive maximum ad spend while shorts and sandals should be excluded entirely. When spring arrives, the priorities must reverse. Multiply this by seasonal transitions four times per year, new product arrivals weekly, and clearance cycles monthly, and the manual management burden becomes untenable.

THE WASTED AD SPEND CYCLE
=========================

  Merchant sets up PMAX campaign
           |
           v
  All products treated equally
           |
           v
  Budget spread across entire catalog
           |
           +---> Shorts get clicks in January (wasted)
           |
           +---> Dead stock gets impressions (wasted)
           |
           +---> New arrivals buried under old products (missed opportunity)
           |
           +---> Seasonal items out of sync (wrong timing)
           |
           v
  Poor ROAS  -->  Merchant blames Google Ads  -->  Reduces budget
           |
           v
  Fewer sales  -->  Competitor with better segmentation wins

Why Manual Management Fails

Challenge	Impact
Time-consuming	Updating labels for thousands of products takes hours per season change
Error-prone	Manual CSV uploads introduce typos, wrong IDs, stale data
Often forgotten	Season changes happen gradually; merchants miss the transition window
Doesn’t scale	Works for 50 products, breaks at 500, impossible at 5,000+
No automation	New products sit unlabeled for days or weeks
Siloed knowledge	Only the person who set it up understands the logic

The Solution: AdPriority

AdPriority automates product priority scoring with a simple, opinionated 0-5 scale. Instead of forcing merchants to build complex feed rules from scratch, AdPriority provides a purpose-built scoring system that maps directly to Google Ads budget allocation through Google Merchant Center custom labels.

The 0-5 Priority Scale

The scoring system is deliberately simple. Every product gets a single number from 0 to 5 that directly controls how aggressively it is advertised.

PRIORITY SCALE
==============

  5  |  PUSH HARD     Maximum budget, aggressive bidding
     |                 Seasonal bestsellers, hot new arrivals, peak demand
     |
  4  |  STRONG         High budget, balanced approach
     |                 Strong performers, seasonal relevance, name brands
     |
  3  |  NORMAL         Standard budget, conservative bidding
     |                 Average products, year-round staples
     |
  2  |  LOW            Minimal budget, strict ROAS targets
     |                 Declining season, overstocked, low margin
     |
  1  |  MINIMAL        Very low budget, highest ROAS threshold only
     |                 End of season, slow movers, clearance
     |
  0  |  EXCLUDE        No advertising spend
     |                 Dead stock, archived, out of stock, non-ad products

Priority Score Definitions

Score	Name	Budget Behavior	Typical Use Cases
5	Push Hard	Maximum spend, aggressive bidding	Seasonal peaks (shorts in summer, jackets in winter), hot new arrivals, proven bestsellers with strong margins
4	Strong	High spend, balanced approach	Core performers, seasonal relevance, name brand products, rising demand categories
3	Normal	Standard spend, conservative bidding	Year-round staples (jeans, fitted caps), average performers, baseline catalog
2	Low	Minimal spend, strict ROAS targets	Off-season items still in stock, low-margin products, overstocked items, underwear and basics
1	Minimal	Very low spend, only highest ROAS	End-of-season clearance, slow movers, items approaching dead stock
0	Exclude	Zero ad spend	Archived products, dead stock (DEAD50 tagged), out-of-stock variants, gift cards, non-shoppable items

How Priority Scores Are Assigned

AdPriority calculates scores automatically using a layered rules engine. The merchant configures high-level rules (category mappings, seasonal calendars, tag modifiers), and the engine handles the per-product calculations.

Rule Hierarchy (highest priority wins):

Manual override – Merchant locks a specific score
Exclusion tags – archived, DEAD50 force score to 0
Inventory warnings – warning_inv_1 reduces score by 1
New arrival boost – Products created within 14 days get score 5
Tag modifiers – in-stock adds +1, NAME BRAND adds +1, Sale subtracts -1
Seasonal calendar – Category-specific seasonal adjustments
Category default – Base score from product type mapping

Real-World Example: Nexus Clothing in Winter

Product: "Rebel Minds Puffer Jacket" (active, Winter)
  Category group: Outerwear - Heavy --> seasonal Winter score: 5
  Tags: none relevant
  Final priority: 5 (PUSH HARD)

Product: "Jordan Craig Stacked Jeans" (active, Winter)
  Category group: Jeans & Pants --> seasonal Winter score: 4
  Tags: NAME BRAND --> +1
  Final priority: 5 (PUSH HARD)

Product: "New Era Yankees 59FIFTY" (active, Winter)
  Category group: Headwear - Caps --> seasonal Winter score: 3
  Tags: NAME BRAND --> +1
  Final priority: 4 (STRONG)

Product: "Generic Mesh Shorts" (active, Winter)
  Category group: Shorts --> seasonal Winter score: 0
  Tags: none relevant
  Final priority: 0 (EXCLUDE)

Product: "Old Season Hoodie" (archived, DEAD50)
  Exclusion tag override: archived --> 0
  Final priority: 0 (EXCLUDE)

How It Works: End-to-End Data Flow

AdPriority connects three systems: Shopify (product catalog), Google Merchant Center (product feed), and Google Ads (campaign bidding). The data flows in one direction, from product data to ad spend allocation.

END-TO-END DATA FLOW
=====================

+-------------------+     +------------------------+     +-------------------+
|                   |     |                        |     |                   |
|   SHOPIFY STORE   |     |   AdPriority ENGINE    |     |  GOOGLE MERCHANT  |
|                   |     |                        |     |     CENTER        |
|  - 5,582 products |---->|  1. Fetch products     |---->|                   |
|  - 90 types       |     |  2. Apply category     |     |  Supplemental     |
|  - 175 vendors    |     |     rules              |     |  Feed (Google     |
|  - 2,522 tags     |     |  3. Apply seasonal     |     |  Sheets)          |
|  - Webhooks for   |     |     calendar           |     |                   |
|    product changes|     |  4. Apply tag          |     |  custom_label_0:  |
|                   |     |     modifiers           |     |    priority-5     |
+-------------------+     |  5. Calculate final    |     |  custom_label_1:  |
                          |     priority (0-5)      |     |    winter         |
                          |  6. Generate custom    |     |  custom_label_2:  |
                          |     labels              |     |    outerwear      |
                          |  7. Write to Google    |     |  custom_label_3:  |
                          |     Sheet               |     |    in-stock       |
                          |                        |     |  custom_label_4:  |
                          +------------------------+     |    name-brand     |
                                                         |                   |
                                                         +--------+----------+
                                                                  |
                                                                  | GMC fetches
                                                                  | daily (auto)
                                                                  v
                                                         +-------------------+
                                                         |                   |
                                                         |   GOOGLE ADS      |
                                                         |   PERFORMANCE MAX |
                                                         |                   |
                                                         |  Campaign 1:      |
                                                         |    Priority 5     |
                                                         |    (max budget)   |
                                                         |                   |
                                                         |  Campaign 2:      |
                                                         |    Priority 3-4   |
                                                         |    (normal budget) |
                                                         |                   |
                                                         |  Campaign 3:      |
                                                         |    Priority 1-2   |
                                                         |    (min budget)   |
                                                         |                   |
                                                         |  [Priority 0:     |
                                                         |   excluded]       |
                                                         |                   |
                                                         +-------------------+

Custom Label Schema

AdPriority uses all five available GMC custom label slots to provide rich segmentation data to Google Ads campaigns.

Label	Purpose	Example Values	Unique Values
`custom_label_0`	Priority Score	`priority-0` through `priority-5`	6
`custom_label_1`	Season	`winter`, `spring`, `summer`, `fall`	4
`custom_label_2`	Category Group	`t-shirts`, `jeans-pants`, `outerwear-heavy`, `headwear-caps`	~20
`custom_label_3`	Product Status	`new-arrival`, `in-stock`, `low-inventory`, `clearance`, `dead-stock`	5
`custom_label_4`	Brand Tier	`name-brand`, `store-brand`, `off-brand`	3

This schema stays well within GMC’s limit of 1,000 unique values per label.

The Sync Pipeline

For the MVP and Starter tier, AdPriority uses a Google Sheets supplemental feed as the transport mechanism. This approach requires zero GMC API authentication from the merchant and auto-syncs daily.

SYNC PIPELINE (Google Sheets MVP)
==================================

  AdPriority App
       |
       |  Google Sheets API
       v
  +---------------------------+
  | Google Sheet              |
  |                           |
  | id                        | custom_label_0 | custom_label_1 | ...
  | shopify_US_8779..._4605.. | priority-5     | winter         | ...
  | shopify_US_9128..._4726.. | priority-4     | winter         | ...
  | shopify_US_9057..._4700.. | priority-0     | winter         | ...
  |                           |
  | (one row per variant)     |
  | (~15,000-20,000 rows)     |
  +---------------------------+
       |
       |  GMC auto-fetches daily
       v
  Google Merchant Center
       |
       |  Labels applied to matching products
       v
  Google Ads PMAX Campaigns
       |
       |  Product groups segmented by custom labels
       v
  SMART BUDGET ALLOCATION

For the Pro and Enterprise tiers, AdPriority uses the Content API for Shopping directly, enabling near-real-time updates (within GMC’s 2x/day per-product update limit).

Target Market

Primary Audience

AdPriority is built for Shopify merchants who are already running Google Ads but not getting the most out of their budget. The ideal customer has enough products that manual management is painful but not so many that they need an enterprise feed management platform.

Segment	Description	Estimated Size	Priority
Shopify + Google Ads PMAX	Merchants actively running Performance Max campaigns	~200,000 stores	P0
Seasonal catalog retailers	Fashion, sporting goods, outdoor – products with seasonal demand curves	~50,000 stores	P0
100+ SKU stores	Large enough catalogs that manual management breaks down	~100,000 stores	P1
Agencies managing multiple stores	Digital marketing agencies running Google Ads for Shopify clients	~5,000 agencies	P2

Ideal Customer Profile

IDEAL CUSTOMER
==============

  Store Revenue:       $100K - $5M annually
  Product Count:       100 - 50,000 SKUs
  Google Ads Spend:    $1,000 - $50,000/month
  Team Size:           1-10 people
  Pain Point:          "We know we should segment our products in
                        Google Ads but we don't have time to manage it"
  Current Solution:    Manual CSV uploads (quarterly at best) or
                        no custom labels at all
  Decision Maker:      Store owner or marketing manager
  Platform:            Shopify (required)

Why These Customers

Reason	Explanation
Already spending on ads	They have budget allocated; AdPriority helps them spend it better
Seasonal products	The value proposition is most compelling when priorities change with seasons
Manual pain is real	At 100+ SKUs, updating custom labels manually becomes a significant time investment
PMAX adoption	Google is pushing all Shopping advertisers toward Performance Max, expanding the market
Measurable ROI	ROAS improvement is directly measurable, making the $29-199/mo price easy to justify

Revenue Model

AdPriority follows a SaaS subscription model with four tiers designed to capture merchants at every stage of growth.

Pricing Tiers

PRICING STRUCTURE
=================

  STARTER         GROWTH           PRO              ENTERPRISE
  $29/mo          $79/mo           $199/mo          Custom
  -----------     -----------      -----------      -----------
  500 products    Unlimited        Unlimited        Unlimited
  Manual scores   Seasonal auto    Google Ads API   Multi-store
  GMC sync        Rules engine     AI suggestions   White-label
  Basic labels    Tag modifiers    ROAS tracking    API access
                  New arrival      Performance      Dedicated
                  boost            dashboard        support
  -----------     -----------      -----------      -----------
  Entry point     Sweet spot       Power users      Agencies

Detailed Tier Comparison

Feature	Starter ($29/mo)	Growth ($79/mo)	Pro ($199/mo)	Enterprise (Custom)
Product limit	500	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Manual priority scoring	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
GMC sync (Google Sheets)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
GMC sync (Content API)	–	–	Yes	Yes
Category rules	Basic	Advanced	Advanced	Advanced
Seasonal automation	–	Yes	Yes	Yes
New arrival boost	–	Yes	Yes	Yes
Tag-based modifiers	–	Yes	Yes	Yes
Google Ads integration	–	–	Yes	Yes
AI recommendations	–	–	Yes	Yes
ROAS tracking	–	–	Yes	Yes
Performance dashboard	–	–	Yes	Yes
Multi-store management	–	–	–	Yes
White-label	–	–	–	Yes
API access	–	–	–	Yes
Dedicated support	Email	Email + Chat	Priority	Dedicated CSM
Free trial	14 days	14 days	14 days	Demo

Revenue Projections

Milestone	Timeline	Customers	MRR	ARR
Beta launch	Month 1-2	5 (free)	$0	$0
Paid launch	Month 3	10	$500	$6,000
Traction	Month 6	50	$3,000	$36,000
Growth	Month 12	150	$10,000	$120,000
Scale	Month 18	500	$30,000	$360,000

Assumptions: Average revenue per customer of $60/mo (mix of Starter and Growth tiers), 5% monthly churn, 15% month-over-month growth after launch.

Project Goals

AdPriority development follows a phased approach, starting with a real-world validation using Nexus Clothing (the developer’s own store) before building the SaaS platform.

Goal 1: Validate with Nexus Clothing (Phase 0)

Objective: Prove the concept works with a real store, real products, and real Google Ads campaigns.

Use Nexus Clothing as the test case (5,582 products, 90 product types, 175 vendors)
Build the supplemental feed pipeline (Google Sheets to GMC)
Restructure PMAX campaigns around priority-based product groups
Measure ROAS improvement over 30 days
Document the process for replication

Why this matters: Building a SaaS product without first validating the approach on a real store risks building something that sounds good in theory but fails in practice. Nexus Clothing provides a complex, representative test case.

Goal 2: Build the SaaS Platform (Phase 1)

Objective: Transform the validated approach into an installable Shopify app.

Shopify app with OAuth authentication
Database storing priority rules and product mappings per merchant
Automated Google Sheets generation via Sheets API
Basic Polaris UI for managing priorities
Onboard 5 beta testers

Goal 3: Launch on Shopify App Store (Phase 2-3)

Objective: Make AdPriority available to the 200,000+ Shopify merchants running Google Ads.

Complete the seasonal automation engine
Build the configurable rules engine UI
Pass Shopify App Store review
Achieve 100+ installs in the first 90 days
Maintain less than 5% monthly churn
Accumulate positive reviews

Goal 4: Scale to 100+ Merchants (Phase 3+)

Objective: Reach product-market fit and sustainable growth.

100+ paying customers
$10,000+ MRR
Proven ROAS improvement metrics from customer data
Google Ads API integration (Pro tier)
AI-powered recommendations based on aggregate performance data

Phase Timeline

DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
====================

  Phase 0: Nexus MVP                Phase 1: SaaS Foundation
  Week 1-2                          Week 3-4
  +-----------------------------+   +-----------------------------+
  | - Supplemental feed setup   |   | - Shopify app scaffold      |
  | - Category mapping applied  |   | - OAuth authentication      |
  | - PMAX restructured         |   | - Database schema           |
  | - Monitoring & measurement  |   | - Core API endpoints        |
  | - Process documented        |   | - Basic priority UI         |
  +-----------------------------+   +-----------------------------+
          |                                    |
          v                                    v
  Phase 2: Full Product             Phase 3: App Store Launch
  Week 5-8                          Week 9-12
  +-----------------------------+   +-----------------------------+
  | - Seasonal automation       |   | - App Store submission      |
  | - Rules engine UI           |   | - Marketing materials       |
  | - Tag modifiers             |   | - Onboarding flow           |
  | - New arrival boost         |   | - Billing integration       |
  | - Beta testing (5 stores)   |   | - Scale to 100+ merchants   |
  +-----------------------------+   +-----------------------------+

Summary

AdPriority solves a specific, measurable problem: retailers waste ad spend because they cannot efficiently manage which products deserve the most advertising budget. The solution is a purpose-built priority scoring system that automates the assignment of 0-5 scores based on category, season, product status, and brand, then syncs those scores to Google Merchant Center custom labels where Google Ads campaigns can use them for intelligent budget allocation.

The approach is validated first with a real store (Nexus Clothing, 5,582 products), then productized as a Shopify app, and finally scaled through the Shopify App Store. The revenue model targets $29-199/month per merchant, positioning AdPriority below enterprise feed management tools but above basic feed generators, in a market gap where no competitor offers dedicated priority scoring with seasonal automation.

The AdPriority Blueprint