Shopping Blog

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are no longer one-day events. Facing a shorter holiday season, retailers rolled out deals earlier than ever this year, and shoppers followed suit. In fact, people were searching for Cyber Monday deals as early as Thanksgiving Day when Cyber Monday was a top trending search on Google. What else does our data show? Not only did consumers start early, but they also hunted for deals all weekend long, often on mobile devices. Tech gifts dominated and vloggers shared their finds in “haul videos” on YouTube. Savvy advertisers are tracking these trends to inform and improve their efforts all season long.

Click here to read the full article on Google Think Insights.

Posted by The Google Retail Team

Can online search ads impact offline store sales? The connection seems counterintuitive, but the answer is a firm "yes." A milestone meta-analysis of experiments with 13 top U.S. retailers, conducted by Applied Predictive Technologies, proves that search ads drive incremental offline sales. Results vary by industry and advertiser, but the research offers guidance for multi-channel retailers: Create a seamless connection between your channels and use digital to efficiently drive sales across the board.

 To read the full article visit Google Think Insights.

 Posted by Nina Thatcher, The Google Technology Team

Holiday shopping is already in full swing, and people are increasingly turning to the internet to get advice on what’s hot, who they should buy from and where they should purchase their gifts. In our study conducted with Millward Brown Digital, we found that searchers are 1.5x more likely to buy than those who don’t use search, making them a particularly valuable audience for marketers.

Find out what you need to know about the search habits of 2013’s holiday shoppers on Google Think Insights.

Posted by Nina Thatcher, The Google Technology Team

This is the year the store window goes digital. According to our new research, conducted with Ipsos, more people are researching and purchasing holiday gifts online than ever before. They’re also shopping across screens and channels, looking for great deals, and starting earlier than before. So, with the holiday season already underway, we take a look at these and more trends marketers should know for 2013, including the hottest products on Google. Head on over to Google Think Insights to read a summary of the research and download the top stats.

Brands are engaging their audiences on YouTube by creating powerful stories that integrate with their digital advertising campaigns. This issue of YouTube Insights sets out to help brands build strong connections with their fans in the most effective way. We showcase learnings from such brand stories, along with data and stats on audiences, and reveal the results of advertising on YouTube and other Google properties.

Join us for the YouTube Insights Hangout on 11/7 at 1pm EST moderated by Tara Levy, Managing Director, Google Ads Marketing. She will facilitate a discussion around the YouTube audience and methods for leveraging YouTube to successfully engage active viewers, including highlights from the You Insights Report.

Panelists include experts:

• Mike Henry, CEO, Outrigger Media 
• Ann Greene, Millward Brown 
• Rob Davis, Executive Director, Ogilvy Content Practice 
• Gun Johnson, Advertising Research Director, Google 

To RSVP and find out more information, please click here.

Posted by Linda Tao, The Google Think Insights Team

How do shoppers use digital to research and buy luxury goods? Google teamed up with Ipsos to reveal how affluent consumers shop for high-end fashion, accessories and jewelry. We found luxury buyers are digital-savvy: They are multiscreen consumers, they use the internet more than any other medium for research, and most still make their purchases in a store.

To learn learn more about luxury shopping behaviors, access the Lap of Luxury Infographic or full study on Google Think Insights.  

Posted by Katrina Echt, The Google Fashion Brands Team

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.

Posted by Erin Dean, The Google Retail Team

Demand for mobile phones shows no signs of slowing down - in fact, according to one study smartphone subscriptions in the US increased by 50% year over year in 2012*. There are many ways to purchase a phone today, and even more choices and options that come with it. To better understand how people shop for mobile phones, Google teamed up with Compete to look at shopping patterns for mobile phones and how they have changed over the past year.

Here are some highlights from our findings:

Devices drive more purchases; less buy to upgrade
Year over year, 25% more consumers purchased a phone to get the latest and greatest device while 9% less purchased because they were eligible for an upgrade. In fact, 1 in 3 smartphone buyers select a phone first, then a carrier.

More choices, more online research
The proliferation of non-exclusive devices at carriers has resulted in more switching, brand uncertainty and cross shopping. One in 3 shoppers switched carriers (up 39% YOY) and nearly half (47%) considered two or more carriers when shopping for a phone (up 193% YOY). In addition, most shoppers are undecided on a phone model with 66% considering 2 or more models.

With all the choices available to shoppers today, it’s no surprise that 80% of all mobile phone shoppers research online - in fact they use twice as many digital sources this year compared to last. Most shoppers take 2+ weeks to research, visit more than 3 brand websites while shopping, and conduct 7 searches on average while researching a phone.

Potential switchers research differently: They are far more likely to have a broader research process (eg. searching on non-brand terms like “best smartphone”).

More shopping for phones on phones
More shoppers are now researching across all screens - the number of people using mobile phones and tablets to research mobile phones has more than tripled over last year. A third of these shoppers said they use mobile devices to research online while they’re in a store - 47% of people using devices in a store viewed a product description, 39% checked the price at other locations, and 38% looked for discounts or offers. However, while the majority of shoppers research online, most people will still complete their purchase of a mobile phone in-store.

Test driving with video
Online video has grown to become an important source of information for people shopping for mobile phones. People in the market to purchase a mobile phone were 4X more likely to watch online videos about mobile phones than last year. And they’re spending a considerable amount of time watching videos. Thirty-four percent of those that watch videos about mobile phones spent 30+ minutes watching videos during the research process.

We also found that watching videos online drives action:

• 4 out of 10 people who watched an online video about mobile phones visited a store to look at the product
• 20% of people who watched a video shared that video with friends or family
• 79% of shoppers who saw an online video ad about mobile phones looked up the advertiser for more information

Younger shoppers buy more expensive phones
Younger adults spend more money on mobile phones than any other age group - 62% of 18-34 year olds spend $100+ on phone purchases - making them a valuable consumer segment.

What does this mean for your brand?
Based on what we learned about the path to purchase for mobile phone shoppers, here are a few insights for wireless advertisers:

1) New devices seem to drive more purchases year over year so a strong product launch campaign is important to win and retain customers. Make the most of key launch periods by amplifying campaigns across the web - and on all screens.

2) The proliferation of non-exclusive devices seems to have resulted in more switching and cross-shopping, so engage shoppers when they research. Each time a consumer searches on a wireless term (eg. best smartphone) or views wireless content online (eg. cell phone review) is an opportunity to either retain or acquire a customer.

3) Focus on 18-34 year olds since they tend to spend more on phones. Younger consumers tend to be more likely to use digital for both entertainment and research so it’s important to reach them where they spend the most time.

4) Drive consideration and action with digital ads. As consumers spend more time with online video, it can be beneficial to generate demand for your brand with video ads. Consider capturing consumer interest with search ads. In our study, we found that exposure to search ads on category and OEM terms could triple brand consideration compared to those wireless searchers not exposed to ads.

5) Reach prospective customers with search ads on category terms. Potential new customers search differently than existing customers. Shoppers that search on category/non-brand terms are more likely to be prospects than those that search on brand terms.

To download the full research report, visit Think Insights.

Posted by Eva Barbier, The Google Technology Team

*Mary Meeker Internet Trends, Dec 2012

(cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

Today marks the debut of the new Think Insights, Google’s hub for marketing insights and inspiration for advertisers and agencies. On google.com/think, you can learn about the latest research in digital marketing, be inspired by creative brand campaigns, and find useful products and tools. You’ll also find industry-leading case studies and Google’s latest research, strategic perspectives, interviews with innovators and experts and more—all to help you make the most of the web.

Every week, we’ll feature content that spans industries and interests. Here’s a snapshot of our top stories:

• In Understanding the Full Value of Mobile, learn how sporting goods industry leader adidas worked with digital performance agency iProspect to understand how mobile drives value beyond mobile commerce, particularly in-store sales. The campaign proved that mobile brought a 680% incremental increase in ROI

• The Hyundai Elantra: Driveway Decision Maker campaign lets you watch your favorite Hyundai model drive right to your driveway, using a combination of Google Maps Street View, projection mapping and real-time 3D animation

• YouTube Ads Leaderboard shows which YouTube ads most moved audiences this month, through a winning combination of savvy promotion and smart creative strategy; a new list is featured each month

In our Perspectives section, we tap our own experts—as well as heads of industry, digital visionaries and Wharton professors—to lend their insights and analyses on the topics that matter most to marketers. The Product & Tools section contains information about our products and advertising platforms, as well as Planning Tools like the Brand Impressions tool and the popular Real-Time Insights finder.

We built google.com/think to help you do it all—stay up-to-date on the latest in digital marketing, arm yourself with data to support your business cases and create inspiring campaigns. Explore the site now, and if you like what you discover, don't forget to subscribe to our Think Letter for a monthly round-up of our most popular content.
For retail marketers, come visit the Retail industry page, which has all of the latest insights coming out of the retail industry, all in one place. Check out the headlining story, Moving Apparel Shoppers from Undecided to Decided in the Path to Purchase. This research study takes a closer look at online shopper behavior and search habits uncovering a huge opportunity for conversion with keywords.

Posted by Lisa Gevelber, Head of Global Ads Marketing

(cross-posted on the Google Mobile Ads Blog)

Retailers are largely focused on how consumers are shopping across channels and devices. We know consumers love their mobile and tablet devices, but we are just beginning to develop a strong understanding of how they engage with these devices as they make their purchase decisions. To gain greater insight into this key behavior, we partnered with Ipsos during the 2011 holiday shopping season to study online shoppers. We uncovered a number of interesting consumer behaviors across desktop computers, smartphones and tablets. The powerful data we uncovered can drive best practices for advertisers at every holiday and year round.

The first key mobile insight every advertiser should know is that consumers use their smartphones at many different points in their purchase path. 41% of those who used their mobile phones to help with shopping said they made a purchase directly on their smartphone. 46% said they researched an item on their smartphone then went to a store to make their purchase. 37% said they researched an item on their smartphone then made their purchase online.


Another key mobile insight that emerged is that consumers used all three devices throughout the research process, but some activities were more popular on specific devices. Consumers who owned tablets read product reviews and looked for product information more from their tablet devices than from their desktop computer or smartphone. This is likely due to the combination of the large screen and portability of the device that enables consumers to use it more often and in more places. Consumers are carrying tablets with them to the couch, while in the kitchen, and even to bed.

Not surprisingly, more consumers used their smartphones to contact a retailer. With the natural calling ability of phones and many click-to-call phone numbers on websites and in ads, smartphones make it easy to contact retailers, whether to see if the store has the product in stock, get directions or find store hours.


While the 2011 holiday season is now firmly behind us, it’s clear that smartphones and tablets are only going to become a bigger part of the consumer shopping experience. Among consumers that used their devices to shop last year, 80% of smartphone shoppers and 70% of tablet users said they used their device more frequently this year.

To stay ahead of this shift in consumer behavior, advertisers need to make sure they have a mobile optimized site, make it easy for customers to reach them with click-to-call and deliver a seamless experience between online and offline in-store. It’s the advertisers who engage with their customers across all three devices that will have a distinct advantage in 2012.

To learn more about consumer shopping behavior across the desktop computer, smartphone and tablet and view a full report on Post Holiday Learnings for 2012.

Posted by: Dai Pham, Google Mobile Ads Marketing

(cross-posted on the Inside AdWords Blog) 

More and more people are falling in love with Valentine’s Day. According to a recent survey by ORC International, Valentine’s Day is now the number two gift giving holiday, right behind Christmas, with 88% of Americans saying they plan on giving a present to their loved ones. This should be great news for businesses, but marketers still have trouble making a love connection with consumers based on charts that look more like dated EKG readings than real-time insights into the heart of the consumer.

Since getting the affections of one person is hard enough, below are some timely insights from Google’s “database of intentions” to keep you ahead of the game as you create your Valentine’s Day campaigns.

Search is where the heart is
Already we’re seeing Google searches related to Valentine’s Day increase 35% compared to last year. Not only are more people searching, they’re searching earlier - last year people began looking for Valentine’s Day ideas on January 9th. This year the upward trend began two days earlier, on January 7th.


Across categories, jewelry is seeing a 42% increase in mobile and desktop queries compared to January of last year; gifts jumped 27%, and flowers saw an 18% spike.

Girls are made of sugar and spice and everything nice
The results from this graph show women look for gift ideas earlier and more often than their male significant others. Maybe men are more last minute about buying gifts than women, but it doesn’t mean they’re cheap about it! In 2011 the average man spent $158 for Valentine’s Day, about $80 more than women.

Looking for a change of heart?
Valentine’s Day is less than three weeks away, which means that this is this is the great opportunity for marketers to influence people with their products since consumers are still searching for ideas. If you look at the word cloud below (spoiler alert!), a good chunk of people are searching for “diy valentines gifts” and “valentines day baskets,” which means there will be quite a few people unwrapping homemade gifts or pre-made gift baskets this year. The biggest cluster of phrases, “valentines day border,” “valentines day drinks,” and “valentines day meals,” signal that people are also planning on celebrating in style. Now would be a good time to promote recipes and decoration ideas in your campaigns.


For more useful trends and tips for your campaign, download and review the 2012 Valentine’s Day Consumer Intentions Deck on Think Insights. Hopefully it helps you steal away some hearts!

Posted by Christina Park, Product Marketing Manager, Think with Google

Approximately 19% of footwear purchases occurred online in October and online footwear purchases are up 14% year over year, the 23rd month of consecutive double digit growth! (Mastercard) The online channel is increasingly influencing footwear shopper decisions leaving many footwear brands and retailers asking, "How do I best reach these shoppers online?".

We’re excited to announce that Google and Compete recently completed a custom study on the footwear industry, investigating how digital and mobile influences footwear purchase decisions. Here are 6 key insights and recommendations on how marketers can better reach these shoppers:

Digital is core to the footwear purchase process: 37% of people who have researched footwear online solely rely on online resources when shopping for footwear. This means that they did not use other sources like TV, Magazines or even advice from family & friends while researching/shopping for shoes.

Recommendation: Ensure digital is core to your media mix and that your digital campaigns align with your offline campaigns or you'll miss reaching a large portion of footwear shoppers.

Footwear buyers cross-shop online before purchasing: Prior to purchasing online, footwear buyers visit an average of 2-4 competitive sites and 45% wait to purchase 2 weeks or more after starting their research.

Recommendation: Re-market to customers who don’t immediately convert on your site and adjust your attribution windows to capture those that are starting their research 2 weeks prior to conversion.

Shoe shoppers use search throughout the shopping process: 43% of shoe shoppers use search throughout the purchase process and 39% of online footwear sales from searchers came from clicks on search ads.

Recommendation: Implement paid search coverage throughout buying process, optimizing ad text to drive immediate sales.

Footwear shoppers search in thousands of different ways: Footwear shoppers conducted 25K+ unique query paths using category, manufacturer and retailer queries. However, we found that 18% of all query paths only contained category terms (ie shoes, boots), meaning these shoppers never searched on manufacturer or retailer terms. If footwear retailers and brands aren’t appearing in search results on category queries, they are missing nearly 1 in 5 footwear shoppers! Footwear Category terms also drive online purchases. In the study, they represented almost 20% of online purchase assists and 15% of last click purchases.

Recommendation: Invest in footwear category terms to acquire undecided customers. Manufacturers and retailers should partner and dedicate co-op funds to assist in achieving a high position in paid search results. These ads should push manufacturer brand sales at retail via ad text messaging and landing page. It's a great strategy because both manufacturer and brand will increase awareness among undecided customers while splitting the cost of the CPC!

Searchers are more likely to purchase offline than non-searchers: 43% of searchers said they ended up making a purchase in-store while only 36% of non-searchers purchased in store.

Recommendation: Measure search influenced in-store sales and incorporate into your ROI metrics

Mobile allows pureplays & manufacturer online stores to compete in-store: 24% of respondents who used their mobile device to shop for footwear, used it in the store. While shopping in-store on mobile devices, price comparison and coupon searching were the two primary uses for mobile devices.

Recommendation: Ensure your site is optimized for mobile phones and use mobile ads to influence customers across channels.

For more information on our footwear shopper study, download the full presentations here:

• Footwear Path to Purchase and How Shoppers Search
• Online Cross Shopping Behavior for Footwear
• How Search Drives In-Store Sales for Footwear
• Category Insights on the Footwear Shopper

Posted by Eva Barbier, The Google Retail Team

(cross-posted from the Official Google Blog)

Quick pop quiz:

1. Based on search history, consumer demand for pretzels peaks in what month of the year?
2. How much (in $) does search add to the world’s GDP?
3. In 2011, what percent of people dreamed and brainstormed about their next vacation?
4. What percent of the daily queries on Google.com have never been seen before?

These are just a few questions that can be answered* on the new Think Insights with Google, our information and resource hub for marketers. The site is fresh out of beta and sporting a playful new look, helpful tools, more studies, the latest trends and exciting videos. We invite you to visit the site, take a look around and see what’s new.



If you only have a few minutes to spare, try playing with our new Real Time Insights Finder tool. With just a few clicks you can spot emerging trends and gain valuable consumer insights, all in real time. For example, the most popular video in common among males 25-34 in Italy and the U.S. is the Official Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 game trailer.




Although we’ve made a lot of enhancements to Think Insights based on initial user feedback, we’re always trying to iterate and improve. So please don’t be shy! Join the conversation by adding the Think with Google page on Google+ to one of your circles, or stay tuned for updates by subscribing to our newsletter.

Think Insights is forward-thinking and rooted in data. We hope you’ll use it as a one-stop shop for consumer trends, marketing insights and industry research.

*Answers to pop quiz (they can all be found on Think Insights in less than 60 seconds):

1. December, Real Time Insights Finder Tool
2. $540 billion directly to global GDP, The Impact of Internet Technologies: Search Study, Jul 2011
3. 50%, 5 Stages of Travel Interactive Infographic
4. 16%, Search Fact & Stat

Posted by Laura McClung, Ads Marketing

There are more than 2.4 billion conversations about brands every day, according to our latest ‘Word of Mouth’ study with Keller Fay. More than half of consumers involved in these conversation say they’re likely to make a purchase based on what they talk about. We wanted to know more about how media and the Internet play into all this conversation so we took a look at what effect the Internet and search has on a word of mouth. The study shows how media and marketing channels provided content before, during and after consumer conversations by surveying 3,000 adults across 12 categories.

It turns out that while most people still talk about brands face to face, their conversations are informed by the Internet more than any other media source. And, when they’re online, users go to search sites more than any other. This is even more true after conversations, especially those sparked by TV. People follow up by searching for more information and prices more than any other online activity including social media.

Check out this video or Think Insights for more information and results!

As we shared last month, Google’s Online to Store research shows that online marketing campaigns are effective in significantly increasing in-store sales. In other words, digital ads influence shopping decisions made in physical store aisles as well as those made in front of computer screens.

This week, we’ll take a closer look at the individual Online to Store study results of technology company Hewlett-Packard (HP). HP collaborated with Google and Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) to quantify the impact of online search ads on in-store purchases. They conducted a four-week long study in which users were exposed to HP search ads co-branded with a leading national electronics retailer. Would a significant number of users who clicked on a co-branded HP/retailer ad after searching on keywords such as “hp laptop” and “laptop computer” then purchase a product at the physical retail location, generating incremental in-store sales?

The answer, the study showed, was yes. The online campaign resulted in a 530% overall return on advertising spend (ROAS) for computers, with a 1,090% ROAS in the top 25% of markets based on specific store attributes for the computing category. Furthermore, HP found that ads for higher-end models and ads in more prominent positions on the searchresults page were correlated with an even higher increase in physical store sales. This suggests that some users who conduct research online may be more comfortable purchasing higher-end items at a local store, and also highlights the importance of ad rank in influencing users.

To learn more about this and other studies, visit Google’s new Think Insights site.

Posted by Emily Parker, The Google Tech Team

www.google.com/think/insights