9 Fingers Digital

Hamish Pillay

Growth Strategist · Portfolio of selected work

Data-driven growth · Product & GTM strategy · Hands-on execution

R2.85M
Teddy Bed revenue scaled · AU + NZ
4.62
Blended ROAS in the reporting model
9
Executive dashboards built
5
Products shipped end-to-end
About

Growth strategy, wired to execution

I connect the marketing numbers to the product decisions — and I can build the thing.

I'm a growth strategist who works across the full funnel: paid media and analytics on one side, product and go-to-market strategy on the other. What sets my work apart is that I don't stop at the recommendation — I design the measurement frameworks, build the executive dashboards, and ship the products that prove the thesis.

Under my studio, 9 Fingers Digital, I've scaled a dual-market e-commerce brand across Australia and New Zealand, built reporting suites for retail brands, pressure-tested app ideas before a dollar is spent, and shipped live web and mobile products end-to-end. I'm equally comfortable in a strategy deck, a spreadsheet, and a codebase.

Analytical

Dashboards, attribution and KPI frameworks that survive scrutiny

Strategic

GTM, feasibility and product-market fit judgement calls

Technical

I ship — web apps, integrations and live products
Capabilities

What I do

Six ways I move growth — from insight to shipped product.

1

Growth Analytics & BI

Executive dashboards, GA4, ROAS/CAC and retention reporting that leaders actually use.

2

Paid Media Strategy

Channel mix, budget allocation and performance frameworks across search, social and Performance Max.

3

Product & GTM Strategy

Positioning, feasibility and phased roadmaps that de-risk the build before it starts.

4

Conversion & Funnel

From first touch to repeat purchase — finding and fixing where intent leaks away.

5

Measurement Design

KPI trees and attribution logic so every initiative has a number it's judged on.

6

Technical Execution

Responsive web apps, PWAs and backend integrations — I build the live product.

Selected Work

Five projects

A flagship e-commerce scale-up · analytics suites · a retail growth product · GTM advisory · a live app.

Case Study 01 · Flagship client

Teddy Bed — dual-market e-commerce growth

Scaling a Shopify homeware brand across Australia & New Zealand — with the reporting to run it. Revenue +28% on improving efficiency.

Revenue
R2.85M
▲ 28.0% vs prev.
Blended ROAS
4.62
▲ 18.7% vs prev.
Avg Order Value
R452.88
▲ 3.6% vs prev.
Repeat Purchase
24.7%
5,102 customers · LTV R2,904
Revenue over time — AU vs NZ
140800 May 14May 21May 28Jun 4Jun 11
Australia New Zealand
Top products by revenue
  • Teddy Mont41.3%
  • Teddy Den31.2%
  • Teddy Junior18.0%
  • Accessories6.0%
  • Bamboo Linen3.5%
Australia
R1.83M ROAS 4.75 ▲ 29.8%
New Zealand
R1.02M ROAS 4.32 ▲ 25.6%

Executive read: revenue +28% driven by Paid Search & Shopping; ROAS improved 18.7% while CPA improved 7.1%.

Case Study 02

The reporting suite behind the growth

Nine purpose-built dashboards — one design language, consistent KPIs — anchored by the Teddy Bed account.

Teddy Bed · Executive

CMO overview — revenue, ROAS, country split

Teddy Bed · E-commerce

AU/NZ funnel, AOV, repeat-purchase (Shopify)

Google Ads

Campaign, Performance Max & device breakdown

GA4 Website

Sessions, engagement, traffic sources

Health & Wellness

Member engagement & goals (insurer)

Social Media

Reach, engagement & content performance

Vital Fuel · Retail

Basket uplift & retail revenue generated

Retail Partner

Pick n Pay conversion & category uplift

Digital Scorecard

Blended exec summary across channels

Case Study 03

Vital Fuel — retail growth product

A recipe-to-basket concept that turns cooking content into one-tap shoppable baskets — plus the growth model and KPI framework to prove it out.

The strategic call

Reframed the product away from a fragile retailer plugin toward a save-first recipe box — lower friction, no retailer dependency, and an asset that compounds. Shopping becomes phase two: a one-tap basket routed to any retailer.

Also scoped the build: one responsive PWA covering web, mobile-web and installable app — with a phased roadmap from hand-built recipes to automated ingestion to the shoppable layer.

Modeled impact — measurement framework
Avg Basket Uplift
+R192
vs non-users
Retail Revenue
R3.58M
generated
Repeat Users
42.8%
▲ 7.6%
Recipes Generated
24.9K
▲ 34.1%
Retail partner view · Pick n Pay
45.4%
Purchase conv.
57.6%
Add-to-cart
R1.40M
Revenue

Metrics shown are from the growth model & dashboard design.

Case Study 04

Go-to-market & feasibility advisory

De-risking product bets before the build — clear recommendations, not vague options.

Full Trolley — grocery e-commerce → app

Assessed a WooCommerce grocery site for an app move and framed the decision as three costed tiers:

PWA
Installable, push-enabled — ~80% of the app feel for ~5% of the effort. Recommended starting point.
Wrapped / hybrid
Store-listed via MobiLoud-style wrappers. Moderate cost; Apple review is the real friction.
Fully native
React Native on the WooCommerce API. Best control, months of build — usually overkill.

App market-readiness reviews

Built & reviewed working mobile-app prototypes — porting a full fitness SPA into a branded build with live smartwatch integration.

  • Samsung Health / Galaxy Watch data — live heart-rate-driven recommendations
  • Menu scoring engine matched to workout type
  • Supabase logging feeding a live dashboard
  • Shareable 1080×1350 branded result cards
Case Study 05

Own brand, and a live product

Running a studio end-to-end — and shipping a real app with a real backend.

9F

9 Fingers Digital

My digital studio — brand, site & content, owned end-to-end.

  • Brand & logo systemMark, banner and identity assets
  • WebsiteHand-built, deployed on Cloudflare Pages
  • Content channelIntegrated blog + working contact capture
  • AnalyticsCookieless Cloudflare Web Analytics, POPIA-safe
EL

EventLens

A live event photo-sharing app — guests upload, hosts moderate, everyone sees the gallery in real time.

  • Full-stack buildShipped & deployed on Netlify
  • Supabase backendAuth, Postgres, storage & realtime
  • Row-level securityPer-event access & host moderation
  • Freemium modelFree / paid plans baked into the schema
Approach

How I work

A loop, not a line — every recommendation ends up with a number that judges it.

1

Diagnose

Read the data and the market. Find where growth actually leaks.

2

Strategize

Position, prioritise and de-risk. Pick the bet worth making.

3

Build

Ship the dashboard, the model or the product itself.

4

Measure

Wire up the KPIs so impact is provable, not asserted.

5

Iterate

Feed results back in. Kill what fails fast, scale what works.

At a glance

The work, in numbers

R2.85M
Teddy Bed revenue scaled (AU + NZ)
+28%
Revenue growth on improving ROAS
9
Executive dashboards designed
R3.58M
Retail revenue in the Vital Fuel model
5
Products taken end-to-end
2
Live apps shipped & deployed

Let's talk growth

I'd bring the same thing to your agency: strategy that's measured, and the ability to build what I recommend.

Email
pillay.h@gmail.com
Studio
9 Fingers Digital
Role
Growth Strategist