MasterZoo is a pet store chain — present with over 200 offline stores and an online shop that draws a million visitors a month. Over three years of working with Yespo CDP, the company has built a personalization system that operates across the website, email campaigns, and even offline stores.

Growth became especially visible after the introduction of a new transformer-based recommendation algorithm.

This article brings together the key insights — from selling through short-shelf-life products to growing revenue from content-driven pages — based on our recent joint presentation at Digital Retail Forum. 

The material will be useful for business owners and anyone responsible for marketing, sales, or content. You'll see how recommendations help address specific business objectives and deliver measurable results.

Case Study 1. "Limited Time": How to Sell Through Selected Products in 15 Days

The challenge

Like any ecommerce business, MasterZoo carries product categories with a limited sell-by window. If those items don't move in time, the company takes a loss. Promotions and discounts are the typical go-to for clearance, but the MasterZoo team wanted to optimize the process — and turned to Yespo's personalized recommendations instead.

The solution

In the Yespo platform, product prioritization isn't limited to popularity or purchase history — it can be configured around specific business goals. The recommendation algorithm was set up so that selected short-shelf-life items would automatically surface higher in recommendation blocks — on the homepage, in category pages, and in the cart.

In practice, the system "spotlighted" the products that needed to move faster — and did so in a personalized way for each user.

The result

The inventory flagged for promotion in the recommendation blocks sold out in just 15 days. MasterZoo avoided write-offs, and customers received relevant suggestions — without aggressive banners or discount campaigns.

Case Study 2. How Recommendations Supported a Charity Campaign

The challenge

"Lapka Turboty" ("Paw of Care") is a joint initiative by MasterZoo and UAnimals, through which customers can add a charity sticker to their order. All proceeds go toward helping animals in frontline regions. In physical stores, the mechanic works naturally — the stickers are placed at the checkout and cashiers offer them at the point of payment. Online, the initiative was getting lost: banners drew attention, but by the time customers reached checkout, they'd often forgotten about it.

The goal was to make the charity product visible at the exact moment a user was ready to pay — without intrusive pop-ups or aggressive CTAs.

The solution

The MasterZoo team, together with Yespo, integrated the stickers organically into the recommendation block in the cart. The charity item was given high priority so it would appear alongside relevant products at the moment users were moving toward checkout and payment — making the initiative visible in digital channels without disrupting the experience.

The result

• 16.4% of all charity stickers sold came directly through the recommendation block
• 10% of the total amount raised was generated via Yespo recommendations in the cart

This case study shows that personalized recommendations can work just as effectively for social initiatives as for commercial goals — as long as they're integrated into the user journey at the right moment.

Case Study 3. Blog Automation: 120 Hours Saved Per Month and 9x Sales. How Expert Content Became a Consistent Source of Conversions 

The challenge

MasterZoo positions itself as a network of experts on all things pet-related, and invests heavily in educational content — the online store's blog publishes care guides, training tips, and feeding advice developed in collaboration with veterinarians and animal behaviorists. The team decided to turn the blog into an effective business tool and revenue channel by adding relevant product recommendations to each article.

At first, doing this manually seemed feasible — but reality proved otherwise.

Adding recommendations by hand took up to 8 hours per article. In total, the team was spending around 120 hours a month on layout. At that pace, scaling the blog was difficult, and monetizing the content systematically was even harder.

The solution

The team approached Yespo for a custom automation solution. The result was a unique script (shortcode) connected to MasterZoo's product feed.

The process became dramatically simpler: inserting the code into an article (as an HTML block) automatically generated a ready-made recommendation block complete with prices, images, and "Buy" buttons. UTM tags were added automatically as well.

The Yespo automation eliminated all manual work and made it possible to scale content without increasing the load on the team.

The result

• Time per article dropped from 8 hours to 5 minutes
• Manual recommendation layout replaced entirely by automation
• Blog sales grew 9x
• Recommendations can now be added to every new article, regardless of content volume

The blog personalization case study is covered in detail in a this article.

Conclusion

The MasterZoo case studies show how flexible personalization algorithms can do far more than surface "products similar to what you viewed." Yespo's custom solutions adapt to real business objectives — addressing logistical, content, and even charitable challenges without adding extra load on the team, while delivering measurable impact on both revenue and operational efficiency.

Wondering what results these recommendations could drive for your business? Book a free consultation — we'll walk you through a quick platform demo, review your challenges, and recommend the best workflows to get started. 

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