Remember it is September! Global Tips and UK Trends to Timely Optimize Retail PPC Campaigns

In July my colleague from Seattle came to meet us in our office in London and came back from a shopping trip to Harrods with baubles. Yes for in the Christmas tree and bought in July - I kid you not! This reminded me it was high time to give you some Christmas optimization tips for PPC and an overview of trends and opportunities for 2011 to help you make the best of this very profitable time of the year for retail.

No there was no heat wave in November. Baubles were being bought in July

Support for UK stores impacted by the riots

Now if you have been watching the news in Britain, I would forgive you for thinking that there aren’t any undamaged shops left to do Christmas shopping. If you are a small business affected by the riots these couldn’t have come at a worse time: the High Street Fund provides emergency financial help to small businesses in England that suffered material disruption, damage or destruction in the urban riots. All claims must be submitted by the end of September, according to the site. Insurance firms are also offering a helping hand.

Economists think the impact of the riots on the economy overall should be much smaller than the 0.5 percentage points trimmed from GDP by December's blizzards. Analysts say they would expect most of the lost output from the riots to be made up in later months according to an article in the Guardian.

Christmas 2011 Outlook by the British Retail Consortium

For all the unrest at home and in the global financial markets you would think that Retail Christmas, surely, must be dead soon. Not according to Richard Dodd, Head of Media of the British Retail Consortium here in an interview on the ‘The Wright Stuff Extra’ (August 22, 2011) who says that there has only been one year in the last fifteen years that the total spend was down, which was in 2008 during the deepest of the recession. He says you would expect a YOY growth usually. He admits however that growth is slower as people feel they are short of money. He points out that this is one of the reasons shoppers look for presents earlier – they may want to spread their spending over a longer period of time.

How to make the best of your Pay Per Click campaign for Christmas?

So how can we help you to make this Christmas successful? Well if you are a retailer there are quite a few retail products that are set to benefit from the Christmas period and the dark & cold days in the run up to it besides the obvious such as gifts and Christmas trees. Being aware of these and when the search peaks usually occur could make a real difference to the return on investment you get on your PPC efforts.

PPC Home and Garden Christmas Trends

To start with let’s look at ‘Home and Garden’ or rather ‘Home’ unless you live somewhere lucky enough to have a thriving garden in December. People are comfort creatures: when the days are getting shorter and colder they look at making their homes nice, cozy and ready for the guests that the holiday season brings.

Cold, dark weather and impending Christmas guest urges people to focus their interior

If you look at the first marked areas on the graph below you’ll see that traffic on some popular home and garden terms started to pick up in September to really increase in October and peak in November. December is a little late to start shopping and often is hampered by delivery cut-off dates but in January the users are back for the sale. Whereas the small May peak shows bank holiday shoppers out for a bargain.

Source: Microsoft Advertising Intelligence

Early Bird Savings

What use are these trends to you? Well optimizing your account ahead of the rise in searches is a very clever thing to do: CPCs tend to rise after the peak in searches so showing your presence timely ensures you benefit from the interest in your products against lower prices.  

PPC Gift & Present Trends

A steep rise in searches is visible from September onwards on all ‘gift’ and ‘present’ terms.

There isn’t a very logical reason as far as I can see why ‘Christmas gifts’ tailed off in November whilst ‘Christmas presents’ kept going strong until the very last moment. Jewellery searches are carried out by people intending them to be presents but also by women who want to complement their Christmas party outfit (with office parties often taking place from November onwards). Christmas decorations tend to peak late as well.

Source: Microsoft Advertising Intelligence

Now who is actually looking for your products? Knowing who searches for your products is valuable information for any marketer. You can download the Microsoft Intelligence Tool for free here and find out how to easily use it in this back-to-basics blog post and insights such as the one below will be at your fingertips:

Now why doesn’t it surprise me that most women get to do the Christmas shopping!

Source: Microsoft Advertising Intelligence

Now you have the tool it’s worth having a look at the areas that matter most to you and find out when they peak. If you find any interesting trends worth sharing with other businesses why not leave a comment below?

Other areas worth researching are consumer electronics, clothing and footwear and health and beauty and moving away from retail – travel about which we’ll write in October.

The Top Toys List by the Toy Retailers Association will announce the top toys for 2011 on the 26^th of October – if you sell any of the toys on the list it is well worth ensuring you cover all keywords for it in your campaigns. Famous London toy store Hamleys is making its own predictions and reckons a £200 inflatable Dalek will top the charts.

Quick Tips for Christmas Success

1. Make sure your campaigns are in good order before the peak in clicks; CPCs increase after the peak, so if you’re early you benefit from the traffic with reasonable CPCs.
2. Ensure your top performing keywords are live at all times (and not switched off when there is a seasonal dip) as this history will make it possibly cheaper for you when Christmas comes.
3. Remember to ensure your keyword lists are up-to-date and include the latest hot fashion items, consumer products and their specific names, top toys etc. etc. this blog post may help you with your keyword research.
4. Remember there are two peaks to be benefitted from when selling furniture & home accessories (pre-Christmas and January sale) you can target these with ad copy to suit.
5. Now we’re on the ad copy. Make it sound relevant and seductive. Mention the keyword or brand in the ad title and if you have a great USP, make sure you mention it.
6. Who is your top shopper? Use our free tools to get an insight in who is mainly searching – perhaps there is an opportunity to tailor your ads to this shopper.
7. Got some Christmas PPC tips yourself you want to share with other entrepreneurs - Why not comment below?

If you have any questions or would like to start a PPC discussion have a look at our forum too or ask us on Twitter! 

Good luck,

Simone – EMEA Community Site Manager