Kenshoo aggregated search marketing data from the holiday shopping season across its U.S. Retail Index, analyzing over 3 billion ad impressions, 60 million clicks and 3 million online sales. Perhaps most notable in the report is that the economy is starting to get back on track - search ad budgets increased 54 percent in 2010, lifting online sales revenue 69 percent year over year.
The report identified several additional trends including:
- The online holiday shopping season is starting earlier and lasting longer
- Online shoppers are increasingly responsive to paid search advertising
- Consumers are buying more often with smaller basket sizes
- Retail search advertising competition peaks on Cyber Monday and the second shopping week in December
"When we released our first report after Cyber Monday, the state of the economy and search industry at large had already proven to be healthier in 2010 compared to 2009," said Aaron Goldman, Chief Marketing Officer at Kenshoo. "But the upward trending of budgets, sales and revenue increased further in the weeks before Christmas, helping the Kenshoo U.S. Retail Index earn an average of USD 10.60 for every dollar spent on search ads. We're excited to share these findings and the corresponding implications with the industry and hope retailers are able to leverage the insights to improve search marketing programs in the coming year."