An insight from Senior Biddable Executive, Sanjeet Kahlon
Christmas shopping is now underway with Black Friday kicking off the online festive season. This holiday was unheard of in the UK a few years ago, until Amazon decided to capitalise on the American sales day and put it on the global map. Before Black Friday, the focus of festive advertising was the Boxing Day sales, but now, shops and advertisers have a bonus month to kickstart sales.
Black Friday is the fastest-growing retail search day in the calendar, and therefore an increasingly competitive space to advertise in. Due to the growing costs of advertising over Black Friday, ads are tailored to outline the discounts on offer and competition drives up the cost per clicks of ads on search engines. Although Black Friday only lasts a day, many retailers start their sales a week in advance and carry them on until the following Monday, Cyber Monday.
Considering these rising costs and an oversaturated market, to make an impact you need to switch focus to the big day itself, Christmas. Often referred to as the busiest online shopping day of the year, customers turn their attention to their smartphones in between the turkey and presents. Like Black Friday, retailers must ensure they have a tailored plan for Christmas, Boxing day and the January sales. Bids and budgets must be set to cater to the immense online footfall expected, and strategies must be accounted for, whether the aim is web traffic and awareness or sales.
Christmas day online shopping is now synonymous with the Boxing day sales, and these two days merge into one in the world of e-commerce. Where traditional retailers are closed on Christmas Day, online shops can capitalise on bargain hunters keen to avoid the crowds.
The move of online search to mobile, where marketers have Google’s device modifiers at their will to upweight keyword bids on non-desktop devices, capitalising on the surge of web traffic as people unwrap their new phones and tablets from under the tree. It is also worth noting, Google takes longer to approve the mass of new ads being submitted over Christmas, so adding them to your account to receive approval in enough time will ensure campaigns are live in time for Christmas.
Plan in advance, present a great online Christmas campaign and enjoy a successful festival period.
If you would like to hear more about how we can help you optimise for the time of year get in touch.
