Alcohol Policy Changes - Hard Alcohol Available Online Through AdWords

As these query volumes for liquor and wines show, the holiday season is the main time when people search for their tipple of choice.

Three weeks ago the AdWords policy on advertising hard liquor was changed in the UK. Previously, hard alcohol suppliers could only use search advertising to promote their brand. Now, provided that they abide by strict restrictions, advertisers can promote the sale of spirits and liquor on search. Advertising these products on the GDN remains prohibited.

Some interesting facts:

• Liquor and wine queries are up 39% and 33% YoY respectively

• Out of the top 100 drinks related queries within the Liquor category, 60% of the queries were whiskey related and 10% liquer related

• Queries for alcohol are predominantly done for specific brands rather than using generic keywords, indicating a high level of brand loyalty

Like alcohol itself though, these new ads are best enjoyed responsibly and a full list of the new restrictions on alcohol can be found here


Posted by Anuj Ghaghada, UK Retail Team

British Retailers Set Their Sights on International Markets

photoxpress

In an increasingly globalised world, consumers are ever more advanced in their knowledge of foreign goods. As international frontiers feel less distant and more accessible, consumers expectations of goods available to them also intensifies. The opportunity presented by the interest in new and emerging markets is proving irresistible to the heavyweights of the British high street such as Primark and Topshop who are now putting global expansion high on their agenda.

For British multichannel businesses such as M&S, whose Chairman last month revealed the retailer’s plans to open a number of physical stores in international locations, their online stores function as the ideal sounding board for such a global experiment. Via online channels, these retailers are uniquely positioned to test the penetration of their brand and offering before building new stores. While the British giant already has 320 stores worldwide, the forced closure of its Paris store in 2001 shows that there is still much to be achieved across Europe. Now able to harness the success of online, M&S looks upon Europe with renewed ambitions.

For the UK's Pure Play retailers, going global means new sites as well as increased shipping and delivery options. Given the volume and pace of international sales it comes as no surprise that online fashion retailer ASOS has launched three local sites in France, Germany and the US in the last three months. Until the launch of these sites all orders had been made through the main site which still delivers to 195 countries. Localized sites, however, mean creating localized experiences for customers, which in turn means improved quality scores and better ranking on search and paid listings on Google.


Top Tips for going Global:

• Use Analytics Geo Report: Track the traffic per location to the customer site. Simply put, any country that drives traffic to the website is a country with potential customers. Look for vistor volume and bounce rate.

• Traffic estimator & Google language tools: When used together these tools are great for estimating potential traffic and costs for a given product in a given location. Adding queries in the traffic estimator is easy but what do you do when you want to explore demand in a language that you are not familiar with and that your customer has not even translated his site too? Easy, just go to Google language tools where you can translate a query list or even the whole website.

• Export Tool: This tool allows you to easily explore search volumes and CPCs around the globe.

Posted by Farhana Bhula, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 12 Always On

The final part of the “Twelve Days of e-Christmas” concludes our series by looking at “Always On”. Limiting your daily budget reduces the number of times customers see your ads, effectively closing your shop to Christmas customers. Managing your spend through bids – rather than budgets – can give you many more clicks for your money. Find out more in the slides below!



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 11 Bids Strategy

Day 11 of the “Twelve Days of e-Christmas” focuses on bid strategy and how crucial it is to get it right over the festive period. Discover the tools that can help you boost market share, while remaining profitable and the best ways for you to test altered CPCs while encountering minimal expense.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 10 Seasonal Creatives

It’s part ten of the “The Twelve Days of e-Christmas” and this time we’re dealing with the benefits of seasonal creatives. Ensure that your ad text is as up-to-date and capitalises on the seasonal search terms users will include in their searches this Christmas. We also outline some of the techniques and best practices you can easily employ to produce the most effective ad text possible. View or download the presentation below to find out more!



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 9 Sitelinks on Desktop & Mobile

Read about the value of sitelinks and how they can increase your CTRs, conversion rates and opportunities for brand messaging in the ninth part of “The Twelve Days of e-Christmas”. We also examine how this ad format can be even more effective on mobile devices.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 8 Mobile Optimised Campaigns

The eighth installment of “The Twelve Days of e-Christmas” deals with the benefits of optimising your campaigns for mobile. Make sure you’re ahead of the curve this quarter by separating your mobile campaigns and reviewing bids, keywords, text and performance accordingly. Learn also about our new display opportunity with m.YouTube.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 7 Pre-roll on YouTube

Continuing with the theme of YouTube advertising, day seven of “The Twelve Days of e-Christmas” examines the impact Pre-roll advertising can have on your advertising campaigns this quarter. Read or download the slide show below to discover how online video advertising can complement your traditional media strategy and the features of running a successful Pre-roll campaign.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 6 Promote Your Video

Day six of the “Twelve Days of e-Christmas” focuses on Promoted Videos. This YouTube ad format is a highly cost effective way of engaging with your customers and surfacing your content at the top of the UKs second largest search engine.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 5 YouTube Homepage

Day five of the “Twelve Days of e-Christmas” looks at the YouTube homepage. Use YouTube homepage advertising to create powerful brand awareness or as part of your remarketing strategy this Christmas.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 4 Contextual Targeting by Keyword

The fourth part of our “Twelve Days of e-Christmas” series looks at the benefits of Contextual Targeting on the Google Display Network. With 140% more reach than retargeting or audience campaigns, contextual targeting should be an essential part of any marketer’s strategy when looking to fully realise the potential of Christmas this year.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 3 Target by Category on the GDN

Day three of the “Twelve Days of e-Christmas” covers the benefits of category targeting on the Google Display Network. Marketers can realise their direct response and branding goals this Christmas by serving ads to customers as they browse the web, based on our categorisation of thousands of sites.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 2 Remarketing

The second instalment of our “Twelve Days of e-Christmas” is out now. This time we’re focusing on Remarketing and how you can capitalise on its benefits as part of your seasonal marketing strategy.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

The Twelve Days of e-Christmas: Day 1 Brand Bidding

With Christmas just around the corner, the Google UK Retail Team has started its “Twelve Days of e-Christmas” activity. These daily industry insights and best practice suggestions are designed to help marketers get the most out of their advertising campaigns as we head into the holiday season.

Day 1 covers brand bidding and how to best ensure that you are found at the right moment with the right message when customers are searching online.

Each daily update will be posted here so remember to check in regularly for new installments. Please email us or leave a comment if you have any questions.



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

Tracking Christmas Traffic

After you spend the time building Christmas specific campaigns, you want to know about the trends and spikes in Christmas traffic. If you are using Google Analytics, you can set up Intelligence Alerts to closely monitor important holiday shopping events. On November 27th, the Westend of London is being transformed into a traffic free zone for all of the Christmas shoppers to concentrate on shopping! This is a huge opportunity for potential customers to Research online purchase offline. Or they might see something in a store but it’s not available on that day so they return home to buy online.

It is really important to track these interesting traffic trends. Once you’ve set your code and tracking goals, you can set up proactive alerts to monitor spikes in traffic. With Google Analytics Intelligence Alerts you can not only track important shopping holiday events but Christmas specific keywords as well as an increase from new visitors or from a certain source.

If you receive an alert regarding a spike in Christmas keyword traffic, for example, you can really analyse this data even further to identify traffic trends.

Top Tips:

1. Make sure you are running ads for high traffic Christmas keyword terms.
2. Run an advanced segment report to obtain insight about the visitors. You can see if they are new or returning visitors.
3. If you have a number of new visitors it would be interesting to run a special promotion for new site visitors. 10% off your first purchase, for example. Always remember to use any special promotions in the ad text for a unique selling point.
4. To get your AdWords Campaigns ready for Christmas please visit our ‘Jingle All The Way’ Christmas site

Posted by Trish McGinty, Dublin Retail Team

Act Early For Christmas Traffic

The days are becoming progressively shorter and it’s time to vacuum pack your summer clothing to make way for the warm winter woolies. Consumers are beginning their Christmas shopping earlier than ever before. 48% of shoppers buy gifts in September to spread the cost of Christmas shopping.The interest in searches for ‘christmas gifts’ has risen in the UK within the last 90 days. The Christmas shop has opened at Selfridges, putting consumers in the Christmas spirit. Taking all of this into consideration, it is time to start planning your Christmas AdWords Campaigns.

With some great help from our Christmas Site, you will be ready to target your Christmas market effectively and make the most out of this wonderful season.

There are 4 simple steps to guide you through building a successful Christmas Campaign strategy:

1. What is happening in your market?
2. Why this is a huge opportunity for you.
3. How to create Christmas focused Campaigns.
4. When do you need to do it?

Don’t get caught up in the December rush to reach traffic. Act early to ensure the money is jingling and not just the bells this Christmas!

Posted by Trish McGinty, Dublin Retail Team

Plus-Size Fashion: Bigger is Better!

The UK market for plus-size clothing in the UK has been getting larger and larger. A report by Mintel published last week announced that, in the last five years the market for plus-size womenswear (sizes 18+) has increased by 45% to £3.8bn in 2010 [1] . Comparing this to the 15% growth in the overall womenswear market should demonstrate the relative importance of the plus size industry. The growth in sales has been largely driven by the number of women who are overweight - Mintel predicted that almost a quarter of women in the UK (around 6.2 million people) are plus size and wear clothes in sizes 18 and over [1]. Demographic factors in the UK have also contributed to the rise in the plus size market; the number of women aged 45 and over in the UK is increasing as a result of the baby boom and these women are more likely than younger consumers to be overweight.

Keynote predicts that the UK market for plus-size clothing will grow by 15.2% between 2009 and 2013 [2], however, many retailers are still failing to match demand. With a third of men and women in the UK wearing XL clothes or bigger, retailers cannot ignore the consumers cry for clothing more representative of the overall population. Retailers need to change their offering to include the plus size industry and they must realize the growth potential of this market.

It is evident that the internet has a major role to play in the plus size industry. With very little high street retailers stocking plus size clothing as they are reluctant to take up display space with less-requested sizes, they are able to serve that market online where display space is not at a premium.

Source: Google internal data

Mintel stated that the value of the UK market had increased by 45% in the last five years, however, the number of online queries for plus size clothes alone increased by around 90% in the past four years [1].

Source: Google internal data

This chart shows the number of queries, clicks and CPC over the past 4 years for plus size clothing. The low long run CPC (CPC for plus size queries only grew by 2 times its original value in Jan 06) presents a perfect opportunity for online retailers to advertise plus size clothing at low cost whilst gaining a high number of clicks through queries. E-retailers need to take advantage of this opportunity quickly as more and more retailers are beginning to change their collections to accommodation bigger women. Marc Jacobs is rumored to be producing a line in size 14 and up. The designer Mark Fast also used size 12 and 14 models in his catwalk show in London Fashion week. Saks fifth avenue has added bigger sizes to its designer range whilst Harrods in the UK offers size 26 in some brands, but Selfridges still offers only up to size 16.

It is evident that the UK plus size market is not going to tighten its belt any time soon. Retailers must acknowledge this growth opportunity and begin to target the plus size consumers where they are found in abundance- the online market.

Source: Insights for Search

[1] Mintel, August 2010
[2] Keynote, April 2009

Posted by Emma Lonsdale, UK Retail Team

Online Grocery Shopping: A Recipe for Success

While online grocery retailing may still be in its relative infancy, the rapid growth of this sales channel in the UK is undeniable. Improved broadband internet penetration, new, easier to use online platforms and better awareness among time pressured consumers of its convenience, seems certain to make the internet an important outlet for grocery retail.

Amazon.co.uk recently announced the launch of an online grocery store in a bid to appeal to all palates through its offer of 22,000 products, which will include ready meals and popular household brands as well as ethnic, kosher and international goods. Customers will also have the option of bulk-buying items such as diapers, pasta, rice and cooking oils [1].

Marks and Spencer is also expected to indicate as early as this autumn whether it is going to start selling food online [2], while Ocado, another pureplay grocery retailer, has also attracted interest during the past few weeks as it floated with an IPO price of 180 pence [3]. Although this fell below initial targets, it showed that selling food from the web is a lucrative market to be a part of.

Verdict estimates that that the UK online food and grocery market experienced growth of 409% between 2003 and 2009, with total spend reaching £5.3bn [4].

Evidence of this can be seen in recent grocer results - Sainsbury’s online food and grocery sales reportedly increased by over 20% during the 28 weeks to October 3 2009, with a more than 15% increase in sales during the 13 weeks to January 2 2010. Ocado’s sales have increased by 21% a year since 2007.

Growing interest in online food shopping is also evident in the number of people searching for Food and Drink online. Searches through Google.co.uk are up 122% so far this year when compared to the same time period in 2008, with the most popular category being Cooking and Recipes, up 158%. This growth outperforms other key sectors, such as Apparel, Home & Garden and Consumer Electricals.



An increasing number of people have also been searching for Food and Drink through their mobile devices – these searches were up a massive 274% in June when compared to the same time last year.



So what’s next?

Verdict forecasts that the UK online food and grocery market is set to grow by a further 24.9% to £6.7bn between 2009 and 2013 [4] .

Although the year-on-year growth % will slow, this reflects the consolidation of the market as competition intensifies and more subdued food inflation over the next few years. Full coverage of the UK is also now offered by the leading players, so geographic expansion will no longer generate significant growth.

Despite this, grocery has still been predicted to be the next category benefiting from today’s booming online environment, and the UK is the most developed online grocery market globally - when comparing overall market value and per capita spending, consumers in the UK were the biggest online spenders in 2009 [4].

Due to the fierce competition between grocers, which looks set to continue, the market has recently been boosted by heavy investment, which has made significant enhancements to the usability and functionality of websites and raised the bar in terms of the value and service propositions that retailers are now offering.

The price of getting groceries delivered has dropped notably, as major online players continue to compete fiercely on price and value. This makes the service a more cost-effective option to a wider customer base and with independent sites such as mysupermarket.com comparing prices, online grocery shopping is also becoming an increasingly attractive channel for cash-strapped customers [4].

Key focus for the future ...

Barriers to purchase
A key concern that remains is around tactility, so the customer’s inability to see/touch items before purchase, particularly with perishables and fresh foods. There is also the issue of trust in others picking items on a customer’s behalf and selecting product substitutes (though this has become less of a concern over time) [4]. Freshness and long sell by dates – the same as are available in-store – will remain a major concern for many and, until resolved, is likely to impede the pace of expansion of online grocery shopping.

However, positive strides are being made in this area: some retailers now provide use by dates and guarantee delivery freshness. Ocado has introduced a fresh meat and fish counter – exactly like delis in supermarkets – to 80% of its customer base, allowing the purchase of fresh meat and fish to a customer’s specification [6].

Ocado’s unique and efficient order picking operation is also something other retailers are looking to learn from [5]; this will allow for speedier and ‘fresher’ deliveries, bringing saving benefits to retailers and providing a much improved service to shoppers.


Mobile and Multichannel
As more people use their mobile devices to search and shop, there is the potential for supermarkets to enhance the functionality, usability and convenience of buying groceries online by providing consumers with the facility to do so anytime, anywhere.

The ‘Ocado on the Go’ iPhone app launched in July 2009 and it now contributes almost 3.0% of the retailer’s sales – approximately £12m – with 5% of Ocado customers using it at some point during the order process [6]. It provides a seamless service by letting customers organise their shopping and fill their basket offline, with the order processed automatically the next time an internet connection is made, thus making it accessible at any point in time. Ocado was also the first grocery retailer to have a mobile-optimised website.

Recently, Sainsbury’s also launched a new app for the iPad and iPhone, which gives customers access to exclusive and personalised offers, whilst also allowing them to collect Nectar points. Waitrose also now has a free iPhone app, which provides users with recipes and lets them search the store for the required ingredients.

More retailers will no doubt be focusing on their own m-commerce sites in the near future and ensuring they are all transactional. As more shoppers use multiple channels to buy their groceries, with many opting to buy larger, infrequently purchased core essentials online and fresh produce from their local convenience store, these demands will need to be catered for appropriately and seamlessly by removing the barriers between order channels.

Recent examples of this can be seen through the drive concepts recently developed by grocery retailers in France [7]. These provide additional convenience to shoppers visiting their larger stores, with shoppers able place their order online and pick it up at the back of the store at a specified time. For now the focus of this initiative is on heavy item categories for easy and fast shopping, but this could be extended to entire product ranges.

Tesco announced earlier yesterday their own similar initiative in the UK, trialing the first ‘drive-through supermarket’ [8]. This will allow time poor online customers to "click and collect" by choosing their groceries online and booking a two-hour collection slot for collection.

In the US, Target has launched its first scannable mobile coupon programme as of March. This opt-in programme provides Target shoppers with a customised webpage on their mobile phones, with all offers scannable at checkout using a single barcode.


Website usability
Further improving usability and functionality of websites will continue to enhance customer service credentials and the end to end online shopping experience of the future.

Developments such as the addition of virtual assistants on groceries websites, who can understand typed queries and help customers find their way around grocery sites are already being used by retailers such as Asda, who also allow online shoppers to create a shopping list simply by typing in key details from a previous store visit receipt (such as store or transaction number). The items can then be added to an online favourites list ready to be added easily to an online shopping basket in the future.

Personalising the customer experience is also a prevalent trend, where retailers will use previous purchase history to create a basket of similar goods for customers and make suggestions on products they might like to try. Initiatives such as this have to potential to add substantial value and cater for time poor shoppers, as well as instill loyalty in what has is set to become an even fiercer competitive market.

[1] Amazon: biting off more than it can chew? Verdict Research, Ovum Knowledge Centre
[2] Ocado: should I buy the shares?
[3] Ocado shares trade 10 percent below IPO price
[4] How Britain Shops 2010, Food & Grocery, Verdict Research
[5] Keep on trucking Economist
[6] Verdict e-Retail 2010: Retailers need to think more strategically to ensure long term growth
[7] IGD RetailAnalysis, Store Visit Reports
[8] Tesco trials UK's first drive-through supermarket


Posted by Lili Papadimitriou, UK Retail Team

Talking Retail: Views of Online Shopping in 2010

Our Google on the Street Team have been out and about again...This time, they have been talking to consumers about online shopping.

The team have tried to gain some insights into how consumers are using online as part of their research and purchase process.

Now that one in four UK mobile users owns a smartphone[1], we were also interested in looking into how consumers are using their mobiles to make purchases, if at all.

Watch our short video to find out the responses to questions around the following topics:

• How do consumers research products that they are interested in buying?
• What are the most important factors when shopping online?
• Are they using their mobile phones to make online purchases?
• What types of products are they purchasing online?
• What are the main frustrations that they encounter when trying to complete an online purchase?

[1]ComScore MobiLens, March 2010


Posted by Selina Rennie, Agency Team

think with Google: Inspiring Talks by Remarkable People

YouTube has long been a place to come to look for information and to connect with other people with similar interests. In the spirit of this, think with Google has been launched - Google UKs new platform for sharing business insights and viewpoints delivered in bite-sized, inspiring and actionable videos.

The channel has some of UKs leading retailers offering their insights on creativity, strategy, trends, consumer insights and more. Contributors already include Amazon’s Marketing Director Brian McBride, Confused.com’s CEO Carlton Hood, Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh and highlights from the think eCommerce events.



As always, viewers will be able to rate videos, leave comments, subscribe and offer up video responses. The hope is that this will become a thriving business community in the spirit of YouTube – so head to the channel, listen to the thinkers and feel free to make your voice heard.

Posted by Christoffer Klemming, UK Marketing Team

Building Your Retail Brand Through Social Media

Photo Courtesy of DreamsTime

In order to promote your brand and boost sales, aggressive marketing campaigns are a necessity. When you take a look at some of the biggest and most successful companies in the world, their branding strategies are clearly defined. Take L’Oreal, one of the main leaders in the cosmetics and beauty industry. Their slogan "because you’re worth it" generates excellent brand awareness and is highly reputable internationally. Subsequently, this leads to increased sales and in turn, increased profits.

However, these huge companies also have large advertising budgets. What if you are a smaller company? Maybe even a start up and you want to implement the best brand building strategy. What can you do? The life saving strategy is called "social media", which is not only cost effective but is extremely worthwhile. Social media networks are free and easy to use. Social media coupled with your other advertising, online and offline, can really make a difference to help boost your brand. It has become an integral part of retail businesses marketing plans. Twittering has overtaken blogging as it’s faster, shorter and more concise. Emails are slightly more personal whereas Twitter lets you connect through one simple line and removes the difficulty of reaching out to people who you may not even know their email address. 1/3 of Twitter users talk brands. A recent research study by ROI Research found 33% of Twitter users share opinions about companies or products while 32% make recommendations and 30% ask for opinions[1].

Social media not only encourages customer interaction but allows you, the business owner, to stay in touch with current customer’s and helps maintain and retain relationships. You can also receive feedback instantaneously and answer customers questions immediately. All the while, building brand awareness and customer loyalty.

Twitter usage grew from a few million user’s in 2009 to over 20 million in 2010. In 2011, Twitter adoption is expected to grow to 32 million and 36 million in 2012[1]. Social media has enabled companies to actively engage with their everyday customers. The new age WOM “word-of-mouth” has provided customers with instant gratification, as they are now receiving answers and recommendations in a very short space of time.

Four important points for building your social media strategy:

• Know your audience - one social media Network will work for some, but not for others. You need to find what works best for you and your target market.

• Define a clear strategy about what you want to achieve as well as effectively allocating time and resources.

• Try different forms of social media to find out what works best for your specific audience. Trial and error is the solution to success.

• Measure. Measure. Measure. It is extremely important to measure the impact of your strategy.

[1] www.emarketer.com




Posted by Trish McGinty, Dublin Retail Team

Sunshine, Searches and the World Cup

What happens to searches when there is great weather and or great content on TV? Is search activity permenantly lost or deferred to a later time when there is less competition for your audiences attention?

Over the past month we have had a good chance to observe both occurances.

The relative search volume seen on a given day compared to the previous four corresponding days (that is Monday compared to the previous four Mondays and so on) is plotted for the period of the World Cup (England's anyway).

Days of extreme weather and England match days are highlighted.

Warm and cool weather have an inverse impact on search volumes as intuition would suggest. Match days also seem to put a dampener on search activity. There also seems to be an overall effect on searches for the period when at least a game a day was played.

Is this reduction in activity permanently lost? Days immediately after England matches as well as the last week on the chart provide evidence that not all is. A component is deferred rather than lost for ever.

This is no-doubt good news for e-Commerce managers looking to forecast trading through future events.


Posted by Jonathan Marsh, UK Retail Team

Retail: Weathering the Storm

“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco" ~Mark Twain

Although the nuances of the British weather system have the ability to befuddle even the smartest meteorologist, one can usually expect a colder climate from October to March and hotter weather from May to September.

In the same way, as a retailer, it’s pretty safe to assume that during the winter months more heaters, raincoats and winter boots will be bought, whilst in summer it would be sensible to stock up on air coolers, barbecues and beachwear. In the past month alone, as the mercury rises, Waitrose has reported a 6.1% rise in sales with traditional picnic fare like salads up nearly 30%: great results, but hardly unprecedented. These assumptions are part of staple planning for all retailers, and shape the buying patterns for such seasonal products.

However, as the weather seems to be becoming increasingly unreliable, retailers often have to act fast to climate changes. For example, in 2007 freak stormy weather in June – usually a quiet month for online retailers - saw shoppers buy from the comfort of their homes, rather than brave the appalling weather. Play saw a 33% increase in sales compared the the year before. Stuart Rowe, spokesperson for Play.com said "every year we see a decrease in sales during the summer months as consumers spend their time in their garden, the parks or high street but this year has been a monumental exception"[1].

Likewise, severe snow in January 2010 resulted in pubs and restaurants reporting a like-for-like sales drop of 5% as people stayed at home rather than braving the snow[2]. "With so many city centres feeling more like ghost towns it is perhaps surprising that the figures weren't worse,” said Peter Martin of Peach Factory, which produced the research[3]. At the same time, Pets at Home reported a 70% rise in dog coats, at a time when the product would usually have been on its way out until next Winter. In the same period, John Lewis saw a 1.4% sales drop as snow kept shoppers off the high street. Importantly, online sales rocketed by 56% with comfort food such as frozen chops and tinned beans performing well[4].

Optimisation & SEO Ideas:

• Change your ad text. Signal your customers to the urgency of buying at this time of increased demand with messages like, “While Stocks Last” or “Stock Just in” if you have a plentiful supply.

• Make sure you can fill any holes in your offline product offering online. If you can’t get paddling pools in your store in time, but think you could ship online orders to coincide with a bout of hot weather, make sure you have ads showing. Give realistic delivery times too, or you could be facing returns.

• Prepare your paid search campaigns far in advance wherever possible, to make sure you have established some history and a good quality score on your seasonal product keywords by the time they come into fashion.

• Your ability to restock according to freak weather conditions is crucial, and depends a lot on the quality of your supply chain. Either way, prepare your online campaigns to reflect the situation: if you have something or can get something in stock, prepare the necessary ad text and keywords. In the same way, make sure you’re keeping an eye on products that may have gone out of stock. For example, you don’t want to be paying for clicks on “desk fan” during a heat wave if you have none in stock!

• It sounds ridiculous, but watch the weather forecast! A 10-day one if you can. If sun is predicted, make sure your bbqs, garden furniture and toys, summer apparel is all in stock and well presented on your site and in your advertising campaigns. If it’s set to rain or be very cold (which, let’s face it, is much more common in the UK!), remember that people will be less likely to leave the house, so products like DVDs, Books, CDs and Homeware may be more in demand, especially if long periods of bad weather are predicted.

• Remember, freak weather conditions trigger unusual buying patterns, which may skew your ordinary sales figures. People buying paddling pools in a sudden April heat wave, for example, are simply moving their usual “June purchase” a few months forward. Don’t be alarmed then, if your usual peak seasons for particular products are not as great. As the Greenlight white paper on weather and retail says, “All these purchases would have still been made, but were brought forward or postponed due to weather abnormalities”[5].

[1]Fashion United, 4th July 2007
[2]“Like-for-like sales sink 5% under January snow”, Peach Report, 14 Feb 2010
[3]“Coffer Peach Business Tracker January 2010 figures - Pub and restaurant groups count cost of January blizzards”, KPMG, Jan 2010
[4]“Pets at Home enjoys winter sales boost with dog coats”, Guardian 15th January 2010
[5]Greenlight White Paper:”The effects of weather on Internet retail sales”

Posted by Emily Whitchurch, UK Retail Team

The World Cup: Latest Retail Match Report ...

Images courtesy of PhotoXpress.com

As the Group stages of the World Cup prove to be nothing if not unpredictable, with many of Europe’s most highly acclaimed national teams suffering underwhelming results against previously underestimated opposition, the tournament’s impact on retailers has also delivered its fair share of surprises.

The expectancy for surging pre-tournament search interest in electricals and LCD TVs to turn into strong sales was largely realised by retailers DSGi, Comet and John Lewis; reporting increases of 140%, 73% [1] and 42% [2] respectively. For the Home Retail Group, however, Britain’s biggest retailer of TVs by volume, sales were down 10% YoY with Terry Duddy CEO of HRG lamenting the lack of the same “perfect storm” they had witnessed in sales of televisions and barbecues during the 2006 competition [3].

Industry analysts have posited that Argos may have suffered from reduced demand for entry-level priced models in favour of higher price and larger screen size variants. Certainly Insights for Search would give some credence to the idea, with breakout rising searches for “50 inch TVs”, “Sony Bravia40” and “3D tvs”

As the tournament enters the knock-out stages, the categories anticipated to experience the highest continued growth in search interest include sportswear and groceries. Certainly supermarket retailers have already acted fast to capitalise on these developing trends. ASDA undercut traditional sports retailers with their heavily discounted, “grey market” sourced England Shirts [4], currently the breakout rising search for the category in Insights for Search.

World cup beer promotions within the grocery sector also remain extremely popular. Hitwise recently reported that four out of five of their top performing brands in the Experian Hitwise World Cup Brands Index for w/e June 12th were beers [5] (and World Cup sponsors no less).

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the tournament period to date, and not an item that readily fits into any of the categories mentioned above, has been the unprecedented demand for vuvuzela horns. In their coverage of Sainsbury’s first quarter trading statement - which saw a staggering rise in online sales just shy of 20% - Internet Retailing cited some of their drivers for growth including clothing, dvds and the ubiquitous vuvuzela horns [6]. The Daily Mail also reported that in the 12 hours prior to the first England match 22,000 red vuvuzelas were sold by Sainsbury's - one every two seconds [7].

Insights for Search would seemingly confirm that the vuvuzela is not just an instrument of aural punishment. Interest is higher than other perennial World Cup stalwarts “England Shirts” and “Beer”. With related top searches and rising searches like “buy vuvuzela” and “buy vuvuzela uk” it would seem that search interest continues to be driven mainly by consumer demand, rather than those desperately looking for respite in their TV coverage.





Overall it’s been a positive story so far for online retail during the 2010 World Cup. If further confirmation were needed IMRG Capgemini figures reveal that total online sales were up 22 per cent in May compared to the same time last year – the highest growth since June 2008 [8]. Now all that remains to be seen is what happens when England inevitably crash out on penalties ... again ... or loose to Slovenia later today. Come on England!

[1] "Home Retail fails to Score TV sales growth from World Cup", Retail Week, June 18 2010
[2] John Lewis Partnership 18 June 2010
[3] "Argos falls flat as World Cup fever fails to lift TV sales", The Guardian, 10 June 2010
[4] "ASDA offers half-price England Shirts", This is Money, 20 May 2010
[5] "South African Airways and beer companies biggest beneficiaries of World Cup sponsorship so far" , Hitwise, June 15 2010
[6] "Sainsbury's hits record online orders" , Internet retailing, 18 June 2010
[7] "Peace at last? Quite possibly on the BBC, but not on your iPhone (thanks to the vuvuzela apps)", Daily Mail, 15 June 2010
[8] "World Cup provides boost to growth in online shopping", The Independent, 21 June 2010

Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

Getting Ready for Father’s Day 2010

Photo courtesy of PhotoXpress.com

As Father's Day approaches on June 20th, you might have already thought about buying the card, purchasing the new golf clubs and maybe even some of his favourite chocolates. All for your special Dad. Your unique one-of-a-kind Dad. That’s right, just like your Dad is so unique, like all of the hundreds and thousands of fathers out there who people are trying to find special gifts for.

Looking back, consumers have historically spent around ₤63.67[1] on Father’s Day. Father’s day isn’t just for Dads however. Many gifts each year are given to husbands, sons and grandfathers on the day. For this reason it is important to segment and target each specific audience. Up to 20% of consumers are purchasing online for Father’s Day[1] so it is important to segment each category the consumer might be making their purchase for.

Try segmenting each category by ad group, ensuring the keywords and ad text are specific to Grandads, Dads, Sons and Husbands. Keep in mind gifts for the whole Father’s Day range from cards, music, chocolate and televisions to holidays.

According to an NRF report 2009 [1], Father’s day saw an increase in sales on greetings cards, clothing, book and cds, electronics, personal care, sporting goods and home improvement products. From looking at those search terms in Insights for Search, there have been rising searches over the last 30 days, in particular within electronics.

Other popular terms according to Insights for Search are "fathers day gifts", "fathers day cards", "fathers day presents" and "fathers day ideas".

Quick Tip: Graduations happen all year round from Universities all over the country. This time of year, many medical grads are graduating and what a perfect time for a special gift. So why not incorporate your display image ads with both ‘Dads & Grads’ referencing.

[1]Statistics and Figures from Emarketer

Posted by Trish McGinty, Dublin Retail Team

Darwin's Guide to Shopping

More from our Survival of the Fastest channel. Peter Fitzgerald, Industry Leader at Google UK presents "Darwin's Guide to Shopping". Key insights into how business are growing online despite the global economic recession.




Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

How Does Luxury Translate Online?

Photo courtesy of PhotoXpress.com

If every woman could buy a Chanel dress online in a few simple clicks, would that Chanel dress still be as desirable? Some might say that the limited number of women able to afford the dress secures its exclusivity; others that the sudden ease of access to the product negates its uniqueness. If you can walk into Burberry on New Bond Street and purchase a bag, is barring that same action online a necessary protective measure against the dilution of that brand’s exclusivity, or just plain inconvenient for the regular Burberry shopper who would like to be able to purchase through any and all available channels?

Luxury retailers remain undecided. At one end of the scale, Burberry now sells a wide range of its products directly online throughout Europe and the US.

More cautiously, Louis Vuitton, Gucci and Christian Dior have opened limited online boutiques in France and Germany, and brands like D&G, Calvin Klein and Donna Karan sell a variety of goods - mainly accessories and nightwear - through catalogue and high street retailers like John Lewis, Littlewoods Shop Direct Group and ASOS.com.

In contrast, Chanel sells nothing at all on its site and is one of a cartel of luxury retailers who argue that customer service online cannot compare to that found in a boutique, and shopping over the Web negatively affects brand perception.

What is clear to see is a growing market for luxury apparel online. A 2008 report from Google and US research firm Unity Marketing which surveyed 1,000 people with a net worth of $1 million or more-and a yearly income of $175,000 or more- noted that designer clothing was respondents' favorite online purchase, followed by jewelry and accessories. In terms of their total expenditure on luxury, the Internet ultra-affluents spend three times more overall on luxury goods than the retail shopping ultra-affluents ($61,325 as compared with $20,411)[1].

The US leads the field in this respect and has done so for the last two or three years. However, in the UK too, shoppers seem to be happy spending more. The current online luxury market is estimated to be worth at 3.6 billion-euro ($4.9 billion), which Bain & Co. estimates grew by 20 percent in 2009 [2].A recent Online Trends 2010 Research Report sponsored by Kelkoo, found that the average price per item was also growing, with the proportion of shoppers prepared to spend £1,000 or more for a single product online increased in the UK from 12% in 2008 to 25% in 2009 [3]. One theory is that the very wealthy, who were not hugely affected by the recession were cautious all the same from 2008-09 in line with market fears, are now starting to spend again with more confidence.

Net-a-Porter is a luxury apparel online success story. Unique in its class in the UK, it has gained the confidence of both its customers and the brands that feed into its ever growing range. More than 2.5 million women view its pages each month, and the company has taken more than 1 million orders with sales of 120 million pounds in the year ending January 31 [4]. The recent acquisition of a 67 percent stake in the company by Cie. Financier Richemant SA, the world’s largest jeweler, valued the 10-year-old company at £350 million ($533 million). Aside from its attractive business proposition (great range, easy site navigation, extensive shipping parameters and free returns), Net-a-Porter also nurtures its customer base through creative interactions via newsletters, Facebook, Twitter and You Tube.

Whether all the big fashion houses are ready to start selling all their products to an online market or not, there is a concerted move towards interacting with online customers. With more and more shoppers subscribing to the ROPO (Research Online Purchase Offline) phenomenon, no retailer can afford to ignore the opportunity to engage with their customers on the Web. Key results from a recent study with Auchan in France showed that ROPO is responsible for 13% of offline sales and each euro invested in paid search delivers more than €20 offline in-store [5].

The 2008 Google and Unity Marketing webinar noted that nearly 80% of “affluent luxury consumers” belong to a social network [6] (a number that is likely to have risen by 2010), so it is no surprise that the likes of Burberry has its own Facebook page with over 900,000 followers and Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Chloe and more have newsletter sign up pages to inform fans of the brand of their latest news and trends. Chanel even broadcasts a podcast and has a downloadable iPhone app, to keep in touch with its customers about breaking trends and direct them to store.

For those already serving their customers directly online, or considering doing so, various steps can be taken to ensure their advertising on Google targets the right users:

• Concentrate on your brand name and combine it with all the products you sell. Remember that some of your customers will be browsing while some will already have a good idea of what they are looking, so include keywords from the very vague (e.g. “Burberry mac”) to the highly specific (“Burberry raglan swing trench”).

• Experiment with generic terms: a bit of a hot potato, with some high-end retailers refusing to accept the value of mainstream traffic terms, and others insisting on their importance in a wider picture which sees them assisting sales. Test them for yourself.

• Include Designer Generic terms. If the value of straight generics (“dress shopping”, “leather handbag”, etc.) isn’t convincing, don’t forget to include the queries which are generic yet luxury-minded: “designer bag”, “designer brand dresses”, “shop designer clothes”, etc.

• Consider targeting catwalk, fashion week or ad commercial searches with text or display ads or both. Keywords like “London fashion week”, “new Gucci tv ad”, “Chanel runway”, “Gucci s/s show 2010” are rising searches on both the Search Network and on You Tube.

• Include negatives to prevent your ad showing when people search for your brand in a less desirable way (e.g. “wholesale”, “free”, “second hand”, “used”, “eBay”, etc.

• Don’t forget, you can also drive traffic to your site by including campaigns for non-brand searches that still relate to your brand, e.g. “Rolex downloads”, “Chloe news”, “Louboutin email sign up”. Direct these users to the correct part of the website with your landing page.

• Be clear in your ads that you are the official site and/or include the ™ sign by your brand name, to let your customers know they are visiting the authentic site. Although others may bid on your brand, only you may use this symbol.

• Use the Google Keyword Tool to identify additional or new ideas for keywords based upon internal Google data. The tool indicates how competitive terms are as well as search volumes for those keywords, giving a good idea of the likely keyword opportunities and costs involved. It can also identify new ways to target your customers. For example, if there are increasing searches for “Valentino a/w 09 catwalk” maybe you should think about uploading videos of this show onto YouTube, your website or both and using Google’s search and content networks to direct your customers to them.

• Combine your search campaign with GCN and YouTube targeting. Compelling banners and videos are a great way to engage with your luxury audience and can be used to reinforce core brand values. Upload catwalk shows complete with soundtracks, and use Google’s Promoted Video ads to direct your customers to these.

[1] "The Luxury Report 2008: Who Buys Luxury, What They Buy and Why They Buy", Unity Marketing
[2] http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-01/richemont-buys-net-a-porter-online-fashion-retailer-correct-.htm
[3] Kelkoo Press Release Center: http://www.kelkoo.co.uk/co_17268-kelkoo-press-release-european- eretail-to-buck-trend-in-2010.html
[4] “Net-a-Porter founder poised to bag £50m” by Elizabeth Riby and Hannah Kuchler, FT.com
[5] Google /Auchan Study 2009
[6] Google Ultra-Luxury Consumer Study 2008

Posted by Emily Whitchurch, UK Retail Team

British Retail "Egg-specting" a Strong Easter Online

This year Easter arrives in the first week of April and even if you don’t sell chocolate eggs or confectionary there are still significant opportunities for retailers. Research by the British Retail Consortium revealed that last year’s April retail sales grew 6.3% from the same period in 2008, with Easter driving a large proportion of growth in the non-food and apparel industries [1]. YoY non-food sales grew 12.5% from April 2008 for all non store related sales [1].

As expected the Gifts & Greetings industry sees a sharp seasonal rise in searches for Easter related cards and gifts following Valentine’s Day and Mothers Day.


Source: Google Insights for Search, ‘Easter’ in Gifts & Greetings UK web search in Mar - Apr 2009.

Easter is also a key period for the Home & Garden category. Last year consumers seemed to make the most of their four day weekend by investing in home comforts rather than travelling abroad. In the four week run up to the holiday period total sales for DIY stores and garden centres rose by 18% while spending on airlines and hotels declined [2].

Typically, last year’s Easter bank holiday weekend represented the peak of search interest for the Home and Garden category and was its busiest period for 2009.


Source: Google Insights for Search, Home & Garden category web search in Mar - Apr 2009.

The apparel industry also sees a substantial rise in traffic over the Easter weekend as users look for the first bargains of the Easter sales as well as the new season’s fashions. Last year overall clothing sales saw their highest growth for the month of April since 2006 [3].


Source: Google Insights for Search, Clothing Retailers category web search in Mar - Apr 2009.

So how can you make sure you capitalize on the Easter opportunity and generate maximum sales? We recommend the following:

• Be sure to plan and budget effectively for the seasonal spike in traffic in order to maximise my coverage and sales.
• Where appropriate add Easter themed keywords to your campaigns and ensure your entire product range is covered.
• Be sure to update your ad texts to reflect the Easter season and highlight special offers that you might be running. To make your ads even more relevant use the Keyword Insertion formula.
• Keep your negative keywords up to date in order to ensure receive the most relevant traffic.
• Be sure to have landing pages that bring users directly to the page related to their search query.

[1] Internet Retailing, May 2009
[2] Albemarle Interim Management Group
[3] BBC News, 12 May 2009

Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

I Will Be Getting a Better TV for the World Cup… When I Can Afford It!

Many retailers have been asking us about the anticipated impact of the 2010 World Cup and what they should do online to capture the sales inertia created by the tournament.

Well in short, we believe that the typical sectors like Audio Visual, Groceries and Home Appliances (including BBQs, mini fridges etc) will be leading the charge (especially if the weather holds up!). However, thinking about what businesses should do to capitalise on this opportunity presents further questions. Namely, will there be a shift in search behaviour in the lead up to this year’s tournament?

Looking at the below extract from Insights for Search we can see that the top rising search terms during Oct’09 (what could be considered as a reasonable reflection of a consumer’s research period) are all fairly generic. They reflect how the British public like researching consumer electricals online while looking for a bargain with modifiers such as “sale” and “deals” being thrown into the mix.


(Google Insights for Search, October 2009)

In contrast, when we look at the top rising searches within the same category in the run-up to the 2006 tournament there is a marked difference in what people were searching for. The top six rising searches were all TV product codes:


(Google Insights for Search, May '06 - June '06)

This implies that just before the last World Cup consumers were clearer on what they wanted and a few front runners became the most searched TVs among Google users in the UK! For TV manufacturers, wouldn’t this be great news if it was your products? If you are a retailer how much would you want these purchases to come through your store?

Below we can see the top terms from March’06 – Apr’06. While there are a few “break out” searches for champion products such as the Panasonic Viera th42px60 (“The best Viera so far, and a superb use of plasma technology”[1), there are also many generic/research type keywords like “HDTVs”, and leading brands such as “Bravia” and “Samsung”. What is interesting to note is the lack of “cheap” or “deal” related search terms at this point.


(Insights for Search Mar '06 - Apr '06)

It is also interesting to look at when the major Home Video spike in interest occurred:


(Google insights for search May ’06 – June’06)

Category interest was highest on the last weekend of the month, presumably after everyone had been paid. While we are missing conversion data, we would be confident that sales would have followed a similar pattern (online and off). Against type there is a spike in interest on a Saturday and in our experience only key shopping events like Christmas - and of course England being in the World Cup! - influence the UK’s weekly search patterns like this.

While it is not that surprising to think that most people are likely to purchase a product once they have been paid, what is interesting is that it seems many will have already considered what products they want to buy.

… So what are the implications of these trends ahead of this year’s World Cup? If you are a manufacturer then make sure people know about your TVs asap. Display advertising could be one solution. If you are a retailer, advertising on all relevant keywords at the various stages of the purchasing funnel will help ensure that you influence consumers, so when they are ready to make that all important purchase they think of your goods!

[1] cnet UK, 7th April 2006

Posted by Alastair Stirling, UK Retail Team

Going Mobile with Online Retail

The increasing rate at which consumers are adopting internet-enabled mobile devices and the proliferation of smart phones has caused content providers to increase not only the breadth of mobile media offerings but also the level of interactivity and utility. In March 2008, Forrester Research predicted that 125 million Western Europeans will have access to internet-enabled mobile devices by 2013 [1], and according to eMarketer 34% of smartphone users have used web search, as opposed to 12% of total mobile phone users [2]. Out of total Retail Google quires 7% are now coming through mobile devices and are growing 100% YoY[3]. These figures are impressive. As this growth trend continues, media providers, e-commerce players and other publishers must adjust to the changing reality and optimise user experience accordingly. There are a few things that online retailers could do today to accommodate changes in mobile landscape.

1. Optimise your landing page for mobile in order to improve consumer experience and facilitate browsing on your site. Use webmaster tools to optimise your website to the m. format. . Whenever a user requests Google.com on a smart phone, we serve an optimised m.google.com webpage. Google has topped a list of top 10 UK mobile website ranked by unique users [3], and driving traffic from the engine to an optimised site, may result in improved conversion rate.

2. Take advantage of Geo targeting on mobile in order to drive relevant, localised customers to your site. This option can be particularly successful for Retailers offering Click and Collect services. In addition, eMarketer [4] predicts roaming charges to come down, which will allow consumers to more easily navigate to retail stores while abroad.

3. One effective way to understand whether mobile is a beneficial acquisition channel and the behaviour of mobile consumers for a given brand, product or service, is to separate desktop and mobile AdWords campaigns. This set-up will allow you to optimise your keyword base for mobile searches as users search differently on mobile. Mobile queries are much shorter and more generic due to limitation posed by the size of the device. According to Nielsen Ratings as cited by eMarketer [5], click through rates in mobile retail can be very high therefore more customised, personal ads may provide a further boost to CTR and conversions.

4. If relevant, use Click-to-call in your mobile ads or carrier target your ads, should you prefer to target users that use a specific mobile phone network.

With Amazon recently launching service to allow purchases from other websites using their Amazon credentials, the proliferation of m-commerce might happen sooner than expected [6]. M-commerce popularity has been studied by Motorola in 11 countries, where 51% of consumers using mobile phones during the Christmas holiday for comparison shopping, reviews, product information as well as coupons. This percentage was 64% amongst younger shoppers [7]. December saw a spike in Google queries, as people were likely to be comparing prices between Online and High Street [8].

Not unlike other channels, mobile campaigns require testing. We recommend starting your mobile campaign early so that you are equipped with robust performance data to facilitate a more informed response to user browsing habits as usage of smart phone continues to grow. Understanding mobile browsing behaviour and propensity to convert should help you optimise mobile campaigns for peak times such as Mother’s Day, Easter or any other relevant seasonal peak as well as to your target demographic.

We hope that you found these tips useful. Please email us if you have any questions or feedback.

[1] eMarketer March 2009 and April 2009
[2] eMarketer – UK Mobile Internet. February 2009
[3] Google Internal
[4] eMarketer – UK Mobile Internet. February 2009
[5] eMarketer – UK Mobile Internet. February 2009
[6] Online Media Daily. Amazon Extends Payment Service to Mobile Devices
[7] M-retailing. from Internet Retailing Multichannel - 2010/1/18
[8] Google Internal



Posted by Anna Prolejko, UK Retail Team

Feel the Love this Valentine's with Your PPC Campaigns

Valentine’s Day is a multi-billion pound holiday in the UK, and as it fast approaches this weekend there's still time to capitalise on the huge increase in traffic.

“Valentine’s Day” searches begin rising earlier each year, indicating that consumers are shopping earlier online for the occasion. However, shopping continues right up to the 14th with search interest peaking on the day itself.

Valentine's Day presents the annual peak for flowers, gifts and greetings cards with search popularity in these core categories growing year on year.



In February 2009 online interest was also some 30% higher than 2008 in the beers, wines and spirits category as people ordered wine and champagne for their Valentine.



The upward trend was also reflected in lingerie with a 10% rise during the month of February driven by Valentine's gift shopping.



Below are some top tips to check that your Valentine's campaigns deliver something special this February:

Ad Text

1) Make sure that you've target shoppers hoping to purchase gifts for their partners with keywords such as “women's Valentine’s Day gifts” and “gifts for him”.
2) Highlight special Valentine’s Day offers or sales.
3) Create Valentine’s Day specific ad texts.
4) Highlight the relevance of your site to each user.
5) Highlight fast delivery times in your ad text with terms such as: “Free Delivery”, “Next Day Delivery”, and “Delivered for Valentine’s Day” or “Guaranteed Delivery Time”.
6) Link to the correct landing page – in order to target seasonal spenders, consider linking to a page containing special Valentine’s discounts or offers mentioned in your ad texts.

Keywords

1) Use negative keywords to filter out irrelevant searches for higher CTR.
2) Use max CPC to yield high positions and traffic.


Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team

Greek TV Interview with Peter Fitzgerald, Google UK Retail Industry Leader

Following the Retail Management Conference in Greece in November 2009, Industry Leader Peter Fitzgerald was interviewed for Greek television. The full interview can be viewed here (Peter’s comments - in English - start 50 seconds in):



Posted by Brendan Patterson, UK Retail Team