Tag Archives: Search

2010 Online Retail Holiday Planning Preview

Posted on September 22, 2010 by PM Digital Research

A look back at last year’s PM Digital Rewind report on paid search performance for retailers offers insights for planning Holiday 2010.

As the new holiday season approaches, we wanted to redirect readers to PM Digital Research’s post spotlighting the Holiday 2009 Rewind study that looked at paid search campaigns for the past holiday season, including peak periods for clicks, sales and conversion.

There are insights we can glean from 2009 performance to inform the outlook for the 2010 Holiday, but there are also other performance indicators from 2010 that shed encouraging light for this year’s holiday.  Most recently, we experienced a very strong Labor Day, and the rest of September so far, continues to show positive signs for online shopping, with paid search revenue, clicks, conversion and average order value all up.

Click here to continue reading on the PM Digital Blog.

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Who Uses Google, Yahoo! and Bing?

Posted on August 17, 2010 by PM Digital Research

The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance has begun to pick up steam for real, and naturally, search marketers have many questions.  They’re concerned about changes to the practical day-to-day aspects of bid management, and they’re curious about how (and how significantly) performance will be impacted once Bing’s results are fully integrated into Yahoo! over the next two months.

Before any impact can be assessed, however, it’s good to know where we’re starting from, so let’s take a moment to assess the status quo.  Just who are marketers already reaching via the three big search engines?  Is the Bing searcher the same as the Yahoo! searcher, and the same as the Google searcher too?  Not exactly.  comScore data for July reveals some notable demographic differences in age, income and household size.

Click here to continue reading on the PM Digital Blog.

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Close-Up: Boden’s Multichannel Marketing in the U.S.

Posted on July 1, 2010 by Susan Davis

For this month’s Close-Up, we took a look at British casual apparel brand Boden, which has established a significant online and offline presence over its 19 year history, expanding both its product scope and global reach. Most notably for U.S. marketers, Boden has leveraged nearly every direct response channel available to strengthen the brand in the U.S., using print catalogs, mini-catalog newspaper inserts, paid search, site media, comparison shopping engines and more.

About Boden

After quitting his job as a stockbroker in 1991, designer Johnnie Boden started his namesake company with a small collection of men’s apparel.  The U.K.-based company now also operates in the U.S., Austria and Germany. According to Hoovers, the private company J.P. Boden & Co. had 2009 annual sales of $243 million. While not the first direct response British fashion import to the U.S., Boden is among the most popular based on U.S. buyer counts.

Apparel for Adults, Children, Babies – and now Teens

Boden sells stylish clothing for women and men (through the main Boden brand), children and babies (through Mini Boden) and now teens. Launched at the beginning of 2010, the most recent spinoff, Johnnie b, is for children 10+ who have grown out of Mini Boden. Broadly speaking, Boden’s apparel offerings are comparable style-wise to J. Crew or Banana Republic, with items ranging from basic t-shirts to dresswear. Many styles feature trendy prints. Prices run from $20 (child’s t-shirt) up to $274 (men’s suit jacket).

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Multichannel Snapshot: The Gardening Sector

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Paradysz Research

Now that warmer weather is here, we decided to take a look at retailers that offer seeds, bulbs, plants and trees, along with gardening tools and gift items for those with a green thumb.  A quick review of both online and offline data shows that the sector has done well across channels — particularly in these more frugal, back-to-basics times.

Interest in vegetable gardens, for example, has increased in recent years, as many seek more control over their food sources and look for ways to save money in a lean economy.  Per a National Gardening Association survey, the reasons consumers give for growing their own food include better quality, better taste, food safety and money saved on food bills. The NGA survey reports a 19% increase in the number of U.S. households growing their own fruits, vegetables, berries, and herbs in 2009. Even First Lady Michelle Obama put in a vegetable garden at the White House in 2009, the first in over 50 years.

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Rewind Spring Apparel Study Released

Posted on June 7, 2010 by Glenn Lalich

PM Digital’s lastest Rewind report on paid search performance underscores dramatic improvements for apparel retailers in Spring 2010. 

The lastest Rewind report from our PM Digital Research division has been released with a look at paid search performance for apparel retailers during the 2010 Spring fashion season.  And the news was very good.  Consumers shopping online for apparel increased their total paid search demand by an impressive 33 percent over the same months in 2009.  Even better, apparel marketers achieved this swell in demand from February through April with a modest increase of 2 percent in year-over-year spend, revealing that search ad dollars went further this year than they did at the same time last year, with CPCs falling by -1 percent.   

Click here for a full copy of the PM Digital 2010 Spring Apparel Rewind Study.

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Retail Trends: The Unstoppable Search for Free Shipping

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Glenn Lalich

From years of tracking promotions, we know that free shipping incentives have risen steadily across all consumer retail sectors.  On the offline side, our MarketTrends studies show that 24% of apparel catalog campaigns included a free shipping incentive in 2009, up from 21% in 2008.  Similar growth was seen in non-apparel catalogs.  

For online, the story has been much the same, but the data is more telling. In addition to retail competitive activity, search data also helps us gauge consumer interest and intent with regard to free shipping.  And today’s shoppers are very interested in free delivery, and more so every year.  

Click here to continue reading on the PM Digital Blog.

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Black Friday Search Trends, Past and Present

Posted on November 13, 2009 by Glenn Lalich

“Black Friday” search data from Hitwise underscores how consumers are increasingly plugged-in to online retail research and deal hunting.

I sat in on a good session from Hitwise Research Director Heather Doughtery this week that looked back at Black Friday 2008 and offered some preliminary stats for Black Friday 2009. The findings are fairly predictable and mirror what we know from our own data:  consumers are researching earlier and looking for deals.  The bigger question for this season is to what degree the economy and unemployment will accelerate the thrifty, marketing-savvy behaviors already in play.  Below are a few takeaways:

Black Friday searches start earlier each year. Per Hitwise, early “Black Friday” searches in 2006 started the week ending 9/30; for 2009 those same searches started the week ending 8/8.  At this rate, “Christmas in July” may lose its oxymoron status by next year.  Of course we’re talking searches, not purchases.  But unless a retailer is sitting on headline-grabbing price reductions for late in the season, capturing mindshare early is crucial.  Consumers need to know where the good deals are coming from, and a retailer may have to expend more effort now if they haven’t laid the groundwork already.

Click here to continue reading on the PM Digital Blog.

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