Andrii SemenenkoSenior Product Manager Email me
Case study · Pepper.com · 2017–2020

Pepper Business

A B2B self-service platform where advertising partners submit offers to Pepper’s editorial team and are billed automatically.

Company
Pepper Media Holding
Years
2017–2020
Role
Product Manager
Users
Advertising partners, sales, editorial and accounting teams
Advertising partners submitting ads through the platform 100% Before: handled manually via email

Impact

Partners moved from manual processes to one self-service platform: they submit ads, see their costs and get invoiced automatically. The work also opened a new revenue stream in premium native ads.

BillingManual → automatedExcel invoicing replaced, synced with DATEV
New revenue streamNative adsPremium CPM campaigns via Google Ad Manager
Direct ad campaignsShare increasedRelative to affiliate income

Overview

Pepper.com runs the world’s largest shopping community, including mydealz in Germany. Brands and retailers pay to promote their offers there, but ad submissions were handled manually via email and partner billing ran on Excel.

I built Pepper Business, a B2B self-service product that connects partners directly with the sales and editorial teams, from offer submission to the final invoice.

Partner self-service

Partners submit their commercial offers directly to the editorial team. Each offer goes through review and, once approved, is published on the public site.

The editorial and commercial teams see every partner offer in one place. They assign offers to each other, and use labels and status workflows to keep reviews moving.

Deal submission. Partners send offers straight to the editorial team.
Deal moderation. Editors review each offer before it goes live.
Collaboration and feedback. Partners and editors discuss changes on the offer itself.
Offers board. Editorial and commercial teams assign, label and track every offer.

Billing and contracts

Billing used to be done by hand in Excel. Now partners are billed automatically: they can preview their upcoming invoice, download invoices as PDFs, and get reminders when a payment is late.

The sales team manages partner contracts in the same tool. They create and deactivate contracts, follow up on ones about to expire, and keep billing details up to date.

Partner billing overview. Estimated clickouts and commission for the month, plus paid invoices.
Contracts. Sales sees expiring contracts first, above the full list.
Contract details. Terms, prices, billing account and a full change history.
Invoice. Generated automatically, with a PDF and payment status.
Billing account. Each account is linked to its record in DATEV.

Accounting integration

Pepper Business is integrated with DATEV, the accounting software used by the finance team. Invoices are exported to DATEV, and their payment statuses are imported back, so sales and partners always see whether an invoice is paid.

Native ads

Pepper Business also unlocked a new revenue stream: premium campaigns sold as native ads on a CPM basis through Google Ad Manager. Sponsored deals appear in the feed alongside community deals.

I rolled it out in two phases:

  1. Prove the model. I built the Google Ad Manager integration and onboarded the commercial team on how to sell CPM campaigns to partners.
  2. Scale with self-service. Once the business model proved viable, I built self-service so partners could set up CPM campaigns themselves.
Sponsored MediaMarkt deal at the top of the mydealz.de feed, marked Gesponsert
A sponsored deal on mydealz.de, labelled “Gesponsert”.

How I worked

  • Worked directly with the commercial, editorial, accounting and BI teams and external stakeholders to identify problems and define solutions.
  • Used SQL and product data to find insights and set priorities.

Impact

All advertising partners moved from manual ad submission to the platform.

  • Billing automated: Excel invoicing replaced by self-service billing, synced with DATEV.
  • New revenue stream: premium native ads sold on CPM through Google Ad Manager.
  • More direct revenue: direct ad campaigns grew their share of the revenue mix, relative to affiliate income.

Building a B2B self-service product? Let’s talk.

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