You could light a lot of menorahs and Christmas trees with the energy that shoppers will expend hunting for the perfect gifts this holiday season. It’s why the season accounts for as much as 40% of annual retail sales, according to the National Retail Federation. With so much at stake, now is the time for retailers to make preparations for a successful holiday sales season. Head on over to Google Think Insights to learn about three areas you should begin focusing on in September, based on recent shopper surveys and 2012 holiday sales trends.
A few weeks ago, we announced that we’ll soon be enforcing the new unique product identifier requirements to continue improving data quality on Google Shopping. These new specifications help us serve better results to users while creating more opportunities for merchants. We highly recommend making the necessary changes to comply with data quality requirements, as better data quality is a key lever to improve the performance of your Product Listing Ads campaigns.
Beginning on September 16th, all previously exempt accounts in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom as well as all accounts in Australia, Brazil, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Japan, and the Netherlands will begin to be subject to these new requirements. By November, all violating offers will be rejected and will not be served through Product Listing Ads. These new feed specifications are already being enforced for all accounts in the United States and non-exempt accounts in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom.
In September, we’ll also begin enforcing correct use of the ‘identifier exists’ attribute. To avoid disruption to your traffic, please ensure that you’re only submitting ‘identifier exists’ with a value of FALSE in categories where unique product identifiers are required but no such identifier exists for an item (for example, custom goods). Please review the latest product feed specification to learn more.
To help merchants with this transition, we’ll be broadcasting Google Shopping Office Hours via a Hangout on Air on Tuesday, August 27, 2013 at 9:30 am Pacific Time. We encourage you to join us to get advice about data feeds and unique product identifiers. If you already know what you’d like to ask, feel free to post it in the comments now. You’ll be able to submit questions during the Hangout on Air as well.
Posted by Angelika Rohrer, Program Manager, Google Shopping
Dust off your textbooks and boot up your laptops: it’s time to go back to school!
While “Back to School” might be a dreaded time for students, it also presents unique challenges (and opportunities) for retail search marketers. More than 60% of shoppers will begin their Back to School shopping online, and most shoppers report that online research will have a notable impact on their in-store purchase decisions. In a highly competitive online space, how can you as a search marketer work faster, act smarter, and make better decisions -- all before that final school bell rings?
Today, we want to help you beat the Back to School blues and take advantage of the second largest retail event of the year. So we’re opening our school supply box and sharing a few successes we’ve heard from search marketers who’ve done their homework. Below are just a few powerful tools from DoubleClick Search to make sure you’ll get voted “most likely to succeed” in retail this school year, and beyond.
Keep your promotions organized withinventory-aware campaigns
Shake off that lazy summer feeling and get your new Back to School promotions in tip-top shape with inventory-aware campaigns, which let you use your existing Google Merchant Center feeds to efficiently and automatically update your search campaigns.
Our star student: Piston. Jennifer Johnstone, Performance Marketing Strategist at Piston, mentions: “Inventory-aware campaigns allow us to save time from manually managing product inventory, enable us to spend money on more efficient product level keywords and help us drive more revenue than manual campaign builds.” The team cut out the busywork by setting up inventory rules to automatically pause keywords when products go out of stock, and change landing page URLs when links in their feed change. The team also increased profits by expanding their keyword lists, auto-generating highly relevant SKU-level keywords. In a matter of weeks, Piston saw a 51% uplift in ROAS, 26% higher CTR, and a 50% higher conversion rate for their retail client -- all while saving around 38 hours over the past quarter.
Get to the top of the class (and the search page) with smart bid calculations
Become a math whiz with powerful bid management tools from the DoubleClick Search Performance Bidding Suite, which considers dozens of factors to make intelligent bidding decisions in near-real time.
Our star student:iProspect. To better manage their search campaigns at scale, iProspect adopted the Performance Bidding Suite for automated bid optimization—with some impressive results. Casandra Jones, Account Supervisor at iProspect, notes: “The one feature from DoubleClick Search that our team can’t live without are the bid management tools. It’s saving us 8 hours a week, compared to manual bidding.” Within 6 weeks of adopting Floodlight tag bidding -- a bidding strategy that leverages Floodlight to set unique goals for varying conversion types -- iProspect saw significant improvements for their retail client: 10% increase in click volume, 20% increase in daily revenue, and 20% decrease in costs.
Secure cross-channel opportunities with display remarketing from search ads
Our star student:VivaKi. In the search for the best deals, online shoppers can quickly get distracted. VivaKi implemented DoubleClick's display remarketing from search ads to make sure they didn’t lose their audience. With a turn-key setup on one integrated platform, the VivaKi team set up their remarketing lists in just a few clicks, and were ready to begin reaching customers with display ads via DoubleClick Bid Manager. As a result, VivaKi increased conversions by 32% for a leading insurance company, and reduced CPA by 66% for an automotive client.
Take notes on the important details, using labels across your entire campaign
Don’t get lost in all the “noise”. Highlight the need-to-know details using labels from DoubleClick Search to categorize, manage, and report on your most important campaigns, ads, groups, or keywords at a glance.
Our star student: The Search Agency. The Search Agency used labels from DoubleClick Search to break out of their existing campaign structure and easily track and manage attributes most important to them. Matt Grebow, Director of Paid Search at The Search Agency, notes: “Labels help us quickly identify account segments that are important to our clients, and provide the flexibility to adjust these segments along with any shift in business focus.” Beyond simply tagging different campaign attributes, we’ve seen our customers use labels in unique ways with other DoubleClick Search features, including combining labels with automated rules to manage their promotion schedules.
Ace your “report” card with better measurement from DoubleClick
Find out how your campaigns are stacking up with insights from our real-time, holistic reporting solutions. With a single view of your customer across display, rich media, mobile, video, and more, discover what’s working, hone in on new opportunities, and find your spot on the digital marketing honor roll.
Our star student:Digitas. In a dynamic search space, waiting 24 hours for reports to be updated, then mashing up and matching data from those separate reports, can feel like nails on a chalkboard. “I think the biggest factor that goes into our decision-making process for a platform is its ability to handle data, “Sean McDonald, Vice President and Group Director at Digitas, remarked. “DoubleClick really allows us to view the data all in one place, and make decisions based off of what’s best for our clients, rather than what's best for our individual teams.” With reporting by device type, quickly compare how campaigns are performing on desktop computers, mobile devices, and tablets, down to the individual keywords. For cross-channel insights, useDFA Attribution tools to better analyze conversion paths.
Ready for the next lesson? Play teacher’s pet and tune in to the DoubleClick for Advertisers blog later this week to learn how DoubleClick Bid Manager can help advertisers engage with in-market consumers during the Back to School season, and get set up for success for the upcoming holidays.
Posted by Kim Doan, The DoubleClick Search Team
1. Google data, 2013: http://googleshopping.blogspot.com/
There’s something familiar about this summer. You might say it looks... phatter than it has in a while. It feels a little fresher than it has in a few years. Look out home-skillets: the trends of the ‘90s are making a comeback.
THEN AND NOW: Promoting overalls ‘90s style ... and 2013 style (Image courtesy: Buzzfeed)
Think I’m buggin’? Whatever—scope the numbers. Since the beginning of the year, in the U.S., we’ve noticed significant increases in searches for many of the hallmark styles of this dope decade:
We’ve seen similar upticks in the Google Shopping search queries that produce Product Listing Ads. From July ‘12 to July ‘13 in the U.S.:
[Overalls] queries increased by more than 180%
[Round Sunglasses] queries increased by more than 100%
[Jelly Sandals] queries increased by more than 180%
[Zubaz Pants] queries increased by more than 150%
Online Opportunities? No Diggity
It may seem like the ‘90s weren’t that long ago, but they were a relative Stone Age for marketers compared to today. Marketers still had to plan campaigns long in advance and build them around familiar, static channels: 30-second TV commercials, print ads, and radio spots.
Today, ‘90s-era styles are making a comeback with the help of online marketing tools that enable marketers to be much more nimble and conversational in their execution via display ads, social media, search ads, online videos and more. When a particular item or style gets hot, marketers are pivoting quickly to meet that demand. When shoppers are saying they want it that way, those fast-moving companies can be there with a relevant message and offering.
From overalls to high waisted jeans to Furbys, here are a few examples of the marketers and agencies that used the web to reach people looking to turn back the clock to the ‘90s:
Jumping on an uptick in interest since the beginning of the year, Minneapolis-based Comet Clothing Company, maker of Zubaz, adjusted its search advertising campaigns across screens to reach customers looking to, as the company says, "embrace the awesomeness of Zubaz". So far in 2013, paid search campaigns have helped drive 20% of the company’s total revenue.
As the company’s President, Dan Stock, explains, Zubaz’s signature styles have remained constant, but the company’s advertising has changed with the times: "When we first launched Zubaz, we used the marketing tools available to us to get the word out. Today, search ads, and the web more broadly, have enabled us to jump on trends quickly and adjust our advertising to connect with people that want to relive some classic 90s styles, or experience them for the first time."
THEN AND NOW: Zubaz print campaign, c. 1991, Zubaz mobile search ads, c. 2013
American Apparel has seen spikes in interest for a variety of '90s-era styles, particularly high-waisted jeans and shorts, since the beginning of the year. As a result, they've launched display advertising campaigns for these items and other retro looks, like color-block clothing, jelly sandals and more. Since they began using it, Remarketing on the Google Display Network has produced double-digit returns on American Apparel's ad spend.
THEN AND NOW: American Apparel print ad c. 1999, American Apparel GDN Display and mobile search ads, c. 2013
THEN AND NOW: Marc Jacobs print ad, feat. photo of Kim Gordon by Juergen Teller, c.1998 (left)
Google+ Hangout viewing party during Marc Jacobs’ NYC Fashion week show, c. 2013 (right)
Noticing an uptick in interest for 90s era styles this past spring, Piston used inventory-aware campaigns from DoubleClick Search to ensure that their search ads showcasing their client's most popular products from the ‘90s never went out of style. Piston was able to automatically create ad groups, ads, and keywords based on their existing product feeds. And the results were pretty rad, too: in just a few weeks, their retail client saw 51% higher ROAS, 26% higher CTR, and a 50% higher conversion rate.
U.K.-based retailer ASOS is helping its customers relive old-school styles with new-school online strategies as well. Jumping on the recent spike in ‘90s-style interest, ASOS has used Product Listing Ads to reach customers searching for overalls, acid wash and other items. Now, more than 40% of ASOS’ paid search traffic is from PLAs.
Hasbro’s relaunch of Furby last holiday season focused on digital, with YouTube playing a key role. They developed an interactive Furby gameshow on their YouTube channel and Furby ended up as one of the top 10 searched toys of the most recent holiday season. Look out for an even bigger FurbyBOOM campaign coming later this year.
THEN AND NOW: Hasbro newspaper ad for original Furby launch, c. 1998, YouTube video still from Furby re-launch, c. 2012
Shoppers and Retailers: keep an eye out for these styles, especially as we inch closer to the holiday season.
L8er!
Posted by April Anderson, Retail Industry Director
The importance of mobile devices has never been clearer: each week, tens of millions of people use Google Shopping and Google search on their mobile phones, generating hundreds of millions of searches. And many of these people are looking for product information; 76% of shoppers use the web to research purchases and 57% of people use mobile devices to help them shop smarter.
We want to give you the best answers quickly, regardless of the device you use. We’ve worked hard to make it easier for you to find the product information you need, whether you’re at home or on the go, using Google Shopping and Google Search. And we’re happy that you’re finding it easier to discover and research products, and to find where to buy those products online or in-store at the best price. For example, we’ve introduced 360-degree product imagery, Shortlists and more relevant reviews.
We want to focus our efforts on Google Shopping and Google Search, to create a better, more consistent shopping experience across all devices. To help us focus on that goal, we’ll be shutting down the standalone Google Shopper app on August 30.
Going forward, you can search directly on Google (or use the Google Search app on mobile devices) or visit google.com/shopping in any browser. Our best features are there: you can compare prices, shop on the go, find a product in stock locally, check out product photos, read reviews or find product details. You’ll find more than a billion products, from over one hundred thousand sellers -- including 10,000 new merchants and marketplaces in the past three months.
Thank you for using the standalone Google Shopper app. We hope that you’ll keep searching with Google to get exactly the answers you need to shop smarter across the web, and we look forward to sharing some great things we have coming on mobile for the holidays!
July - the month of barbeques, swimming pools, and the height of summer fun - also signals the second largest retail event of the year, Back to School shopping. To understand how people are shopping this year, we surveyed back to school shoppers and took a look at search trends on Google and YouTube.
Our research shows two trends: first, this is the earliest back to school shopping season on record, as the ability to research online at any time, anywhere, on any device, has sped up shopping noticeably. And second, based on Google Shopping data the odds are you’ll see a lot of One Direction lunchboxes at your local school this year.
Research in July, purchase in August
Our study found that not only are people already shopping, by the end of July most of their back to school research will already be complete. On Google, searches for “Back to School Sales” started trending two weeks earlier this year than in 2012. While just a small group of consumers have started to make purchases already, the momentum will pick up quickly toward the end of the month.
Just over a third of online shoppers will use their smartphones as an on-the-go tool to help make shopping easier. Of these, the 66% will use their smartphone to locate a retailer nearby, 64% will compare prices, and 43% will search for store item availability.
What are people shopping for Google?
More than 60% of shoppers will begin their shopping online, and most shoppers report that online research will have a notable impact on their in-store purchase decisions. Some of the top trending back to school searches on Google Shopping this month include:
College students drive biggest spending
Our study found that while shoppers for high school students expect to spend $347 on average, people shopping for college expect to spend nearly double that amount at $614 on average. Some of the top trending searches for dorm decorations on Google Shopping this month include:
Shoppers looking for a bargain
Back to school shoppers are price conscious and are looking for deals, with 94% of shoppers saying that a promotion or sale would persuade them to purchase a product. We found that people are more sale conscious when buying consumer electronics than other school supplies. Consumer electronics shoppers were more likely to make a purchase if there was a back to school promotion, free shipping offer, or one day sale. Brands like Dell are promoting deals of the day and in-store pickup in Google search ads to help shoppers with their back to school shopping.
Going online for inspiration
Increasingly, consumers are searching online not just for price comparison but for inspiration. Back to school shoppers are using sites like YouTube to find authentic recommendations - 73% of shoppers who watch online videos for back to school shopping are looking for product reviews from “people like me.” These videos can be highly influential on sales - our apparel study found that 4 in 10 shoppers visited a store online or in-person as a direct result of watching an apparel video.
In the last week alone, more than 205,000 haul videos have been posted to YouTube from people sharing their latest purchases of clothing, supplies and dorm room decorations.
Brands are also connecting with back to school shoppers on YouTube - Office Depot, Verizon Wireless and Kmart have already uploaded back to school videos on their YouTube channels to promote sales and school supplies.
Posted by Jacalyn Stolt, Sales Development Manager, Google
At Google, one of our goals is to help make the web work for you. Today we’re announcing our summer series of Learn with Google webinars, which will teach you how to use digital to build brand awareness and give you the tools you need to drive sales. Each of our sessions gives you deep-dive educational content, across a breadth of products and marketing objectives, in a format that’s convenient for you. Every webinar is led by Google product experts and includes time for audience Q&A. Sign up to start becoming a smarter digital marketer now.
Upcoming live webinars: July [Shopping] Google Shopping 101: Overview of Shopping & Product Listing Ads [Search] Improving Your Search Campaigns with Remarketing Lists for Search Ads [YouTube] Driving Direct Response with Video
August [Shopping] Google Shopping 201: Product Listing Ad Optimization Essentials [Shopping] Google Shopping 301: Advanced Optimization Tactics
[Search] Taking Advantage of New AdWords Features [YouTube] Building your Business with YouTube Video Ads
[Social] Kick-Starting Social with Google+
September [Display] Planning Display Campaigns with the New Display Planner in AdWords
Webinars are held Tuesdays through Thursdays at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern.
Visit our webinar site to register for any of the live sessions and to access our large library of recorded content. You can also stay up-to-date on the schedule by adding our Learn with Google calendar to your own Google calendar to automatically see upcoming webinars.
Learn with Google is a program to help businesses succeed through winning moments that matter, enabling better decisions and constantly innovating. We hope that you’ll use these best practices and how-to’s to maximize the impact of digital and grow your business. We’re looking forward to seeing you at an upcoming session!
Posted by Erin Molnar, Marketing Coordinator, Learn with Google
