retail: christmas insights 2016

Retail: Christmas Insights 2016AU Bing Network 2016

Overview

1. What to expect from Christmas 2016

2. Audience search behaviour

3. Retail category performance

4. Tips to stand out from the crowd

5. Checklist

80%of Australian

internet users

buy online1

$20.7 BRetail ecommerce

sales1

12.4 MDigital buyers1

Source: 1. eMarketer 2016 Forecaster for 2016 Report.

$1,665online spending

per person1

AU retail snapshot

50%

27%

13%

4%

4%

2%

How customers reach your website during the holidays

Source: eMarketer chart: Method Used Most Often to Navigate to Websites According to Internet Users in Select Countries, Nov 2014 (% of respondents).

Use an app

Social media/social network

Referral

Use a bookmark

Direct website visit

Search engine

Retail sales during the festive season

20.4%of total digital retail sales in Australia are from this season

Source: eMarketer chart: Method Used Most Often to Navigate to Websites According to Internet Users in Select Countries, Nov 2014 (% of respondents).

Christmas search behaviour, 2015-2016

+8% +7%

+13% +14%

+10% +9%+11%

+12%+14%

+7%

-6%

-14%

+4%+6%

1%

Source: Microsoft Internal data, retails searches AU Sept 2015 – Jan 16

Peak purchase searches occur

the first week of November and

two weeks before Christmas.

October

Gift inspiration

Grab attention when

Christmas searches start

November

Peak shopping

Capture sales and entice

purchases

December

Final stage

Seize last minute

shoppers

January

Prepare for

post-Christmas

sales

Black Friday Week

Christmas Week

Click Frenzy Week

New Year’s Week

Christmas searches start from mid to late October

10% 10% 11%12%

17%15%

10% 10% 11% 11%13%

18%15%

11% 11% 11% 12%14%

18%16%

13% 13%14%

17%

19%

19%

18%

17%15% 15%

18%

Searchers use mobile and tablet near Christmas

Source: Microsoft internal data; Device share of retail search volume in AU market, Sept 2015 - Jan 2016

Mobile and tablet search share on Bing in Dec 2015

TIP: Boost bids on mobile to

take advantage of the audience

shift during this period.

Christmas Day

Boxing Day

27 December

Top three days for mobile usage

across the entire festive period

Mobile/tablet searches

peak on weekends

1 December

31 December

0%

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22

23/12/2016 Christmas Eve Christmas Day Boxing Day

1.7x

Time of searches around Christmas

Source: Microsoft internal data; Device share of Retail search volume in AU market Dec 15

Before Christmas, PC searches lead in daytime, while tablet

and mobile lead after dinner and peak at 8 p.m.

On Boxing Day, activity ramps

up across devices from 6 a.m.,

then tablets take the lead and

stay busy until 10 p.m.TIP: Utilise Bid Modifiers to tailor your

bidding strategy on time and device.

2.3x 2.1xRetail searches by hour near Christmas

PC, tablet, mobile

Weekend Weekend Weekend

CTR and CPC towards Christmas in Dec 2015

The most cost-effective advertising days in December

Source: Microsoft internal data, CTR & CPC in retail vertical; Dec 2015

High click-through rates and low cost-per-click on Christmas and Boxing Day

indicates that the marketplace is still active but competition is relatively low.

1 December 31 December

27 December

Christmas Day

TIP: Increase bids on Boxing Day to take full

advantage of the most cost-effective day.

Boxing Day

$-

$0.05

$0.10

$0.15

$0.20

$0.25

$0.30

$0.35

$0.40

$0.45

0.0%

1.0%

2.0%

3.0%

4.0%

5.0%

6.0%

Click Frenzy Week

Black Friday Week

79% 79% 79%79%

80%

78% 78%78%

78%78%

79%

78%

78%

overall searches were non-branded

Gift ideas start from generic searches

Source: Microsoft internal data; AU retail search queries, Sept 2015 - Jan 2016

Christmas Week

People are inspired by generic searches in the

months leading up to Christmas. Make sure your

ads generate brand awareness and stand out

from competitors during this time period.

Christmas retail search queries — Generic search rate

Best time to bid on <brand> and <brand + product> terms is this stage.

October November December

People tend to perform generic searches for gift ideas on mobile devices

Source: Microsoft internal data; AU retail search queries, Sept 2015 - Jan 2016

Generic search rate by gender

81% 77%

TIP: Use mobile-tailored keywords to capture

customers during their research stage, and make

sure your generic campaigns are mobile-friendly.

77% 83% 84%

Generic search rate by device

4%

5%

4%

13%

11%

16%

20%

15%

27%

31%

32%

34%

24%

32%

15%

8%

6%

3%

13-17 18-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65+

Retail Christmas searches are driven by adults aged 35+

Source: Microsoft internal data; AU demographics by device split, AU retail search volume on Bing, Sept 2015 – Jan 2016

More than 55% of AU retail searches on the Bing Network

are coming from 35–64 year olds.

Females make 63% of their searches on tablets,

while males’ preference slightly skew to mobile.

Retail clicks by gender Retail clicks by age

54%

63%

46%

46%

37%

54%

TIP: Utilise demographic bidding modifier to maximise your reach and convert potential.

Retail category details

91% 89% 91%95% 96%

92% 90% 89% 86%

4% 5%5%

3% 2%4%

3% 4%5%

5% 6% 4%

2% 2%

5% 7% 7% 9%

Source: Internal data, retail vertical insights AU Sept 2015 – Jan 16

PC is still the #1 search device for many seasonal shoppers

Source: Microsoft Internal data, AU retail vertical insights, Sept 2015 – Jan 16

More than 10% of searches in apparel, electronics,

books and beauty come from mobile and tablet.

More than 95% of searches in mass merchants

and toys & hobbies come from PC.

Retail

Clothing and accessories

-4%

8%

3%

7%

9%

12% 12%

4%

-11%

Peak period

Christmas retail — clothing and accessories searches by week

Source: Microsoft Internal data, retail vertical insights on search queries, AU Sept 2015 – Jan 16

Click Frenzy Week Christmas Week

Black Friday Week

Clothing and accessories searches

increase in late October


2% 2%1%

Females lead searches in clothing and accessories


Who’s looking for clothing and accessories?

54% of AU clothing and accessories

searches on the Bing Network are made

by adults ages 35-64.

26%

74%

4% 14% 21% 31% 23% 7%

13-17 18-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65+

Cost-per-click and click-through rate

Clothing and accessories searches towards Christmas


Plan your Christmas campaigns along with the

customer search journey. Gift searches starts in mid

October, but people tend to make decisions from the

second week of November.


Click Frenzy Week

Christmas WeekBlack Friday Week

15%

16%

17%

18%

$-

$0.05

$0.10

$0.15

$0.20

$0.25

$0.30

$0.35

$0.40

$0.45

cocktail dresses

boots

jewellery

dresses

watch

formal dresses

lingerie

wedding dresses

suits

famous footwear

Non-brand behaviour in clothing and accessories

Source: Microsoft Internal data, retail vertical insights, search terms, AU Apr 2016 – Jun 16

TIP: Convert browsers into buyers by using Product Ads.

90% 81%

Non-branded

searches

Non-branded

clicks

Branded vs. non-brandedTop non-brand searches

Retail - Tech

Consumer electronics

Christmas retail — consumer electronics searches by week


Electronics searches peak period

Christmas Week


-3%

3%

7%

4%5%

4%4%

6%

-12%

2% 2%

-2%

Click Frenzy Week

Black Friday Week

Consumer electronics audience is split across genders


Who’s looking for consumer electronics?

52%48%

52% of AU consumer electronics

searches on the Bing Network are made

by adults ages 35–64.

4% 14% 21% 31% 21% 8%

13-17 18-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65+

Consumer electronics searches towards Christmas




customer search journey. Gift searches starts in late

October, but people tend to make decisions on/after

Click Frenzy day.


Click Frenzy Week


0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

$-

$0.10

$0.20

$0.30

$0.40

$0.50

$0.60

Non-brand behaviour in electronics


80% 72%

Non-branded

searches

Non-branded

clicks

Branded vs. non-brandedTop non-brand searches

Retail

Flowers and gifts

Christmas retail — flowers and gifts searches by week


Flowers and gifts searches peak period

Click Frenzy Week


TIP: Make sure your ad copy catches the eye of last-minute

shoppers: “express delivery”, “gift wrapping included” etc.

-2%-6%

October November

December

-25%

-18%-15%

7%

-13%

13%

28%32% 33%

25%

Females lead searches in flowers and gifts


Who’s looking for flowers and gifts?

32%

68%

55% of AU flower and gift searches on

the Bing Network are made by adults

ages 35-64.

3% 12% 22% 31% 24% 8%

13-17 18-24 25-34 35-49 50-64 65+

Flowers and gifts searches towards Christmas




customer search journey. Gift searches starts in

late November with easy and quick conversions.


Click Frenzy Week


0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

$-

$0.10

$0.20

$0.30

$0.40

$0.50

$0.60

$0.70

$0.80

$0.90

gift hampers

toys

gift cards

gifts

flowers online

florist

hampers

gift card

flowers

gift ideas

Non-brand behaviour in flowers and gifts


Branded vs. non-branded

Non-branded

searches

Non-branded

clicks

Top non-brand searches

95% 93%

Grab attention on the search page

1. Product Ads

2. Brand term bidding

Effectively compel actions

1. Ad extensions

2. Ad copy

3. Remarketing in Paid Search campaigns

Hints and tips to stand out

Product ads

Ad extensions

• Shoes

• Beauty products

• Furniture and homewares

• Flowers

• Airline tickets

• Hotels and car rental

• Deals and coupons

• Toys and games

• Laptops and tablets

• Clothing

• Home appliances

• Accessories

• Mobile phones

Bing aims for more engaging retail experiences

In the last months of the year, more Australian consumers

are driven to Bing during key retail periods, including

Click Frenzy, Black Friday and Christmas gift shopping.

Increased retail clicks

Retail carousels on Bing aim to increase clicks and

engagements with key retail categories*:

Bing is a destination for shoppers leading up to Christmas

*Screenshot and categories for illustration purposes only

Stand out

Attract attention with images of your products.

More real estate

Show more than one Product Ad on the same

search results page.

Product Ads grab attention on the search page

TIP: Already have a Google AdWords shopping

campaign? Import it directly into your Bing Ads account.

During an internal study of 25 million retail clicks, Bing found that brand term bidding yielded a 64% lift in incremental paid and organic clicks.Bidding on your own brand terms means

potentially fewer clicks to competitors.

Brand term bidding grabs attention on the search page

Source: Microsoft Internal data, Bing Ads Brand Term Bidding Study US, March 2016

52% 85%

48%

15%

Organic only Brand ad + organic

Brand term bidding

Your

competitor

You

Empower your ads with ad extensions

Callout Extensions

Extended Sitelinks,

Review Extensions

Location Extensions,

seller ratings, Call Extensions

Action Link Extensions,

App Extensions

Why to buy

Drive action from searchers with ad extensions

Reach shoppers at each stage of their decision journey.

What to buy

Where to buy

Most convenient

way to buy

Text Ad Only + Sitelink Extensions

+ Callout Extensions

+ Sitelink Extensions

+ Location Extensions

+ Sitelink Extensions

+ Review Extensions

+ Enhanced Sitelinks + Enhanced Sitelinks


+3% +5%

+15%+17%

7%

+2%

Ad Extension click-through rate performance – PC

Equip your campaigns with Enhanced Sitelinks and Location Extensions to boost CTR.

Source: Microsoft Internal data, Retail vertical Ad Extension insights AU Sept 2015 – Jan 16

Text Ad Only + App Extensions + Sitelink Extensions

+ Call Extensions

+ Location Extensions + Sitelink Extensions


+ Enhanced Sitelinks + Enhanced Sitelinks


4%

+2% +3% +4%

+15%+18%

+3%

Utilising ad extensions increases CTR from mobile and tablet users.

Ad Extension click-through rate performance – mobile and tablet

Source: Microsoft Internal data, Retail vertical Ad Extension insights AU Sept 2015 – Jan 16

Drive conversions with ad copy and Remarketing in Paid Search

71%

40% 40% 38% 36%

Free delivery Loyalty points Quick and easy

checkout

Easy return Coupons and

discounts

What motivates online shoppers?

Primary factors that trigger digital purchases in Australia1

Source: Global Web Index data, % of Australia’s online audience aged 16+ who had purchased a product online in the past month via any device, Q2 2016

Sense of urgency

• Elicit action by making your CTA time sensitive.

TIP: “only”, “ending soon”, “now”

Emotion

• Know what your customers need and build

a connection with them.

TIP: “avoid xxx”, “no xxx fees”

Framing effect

• Test and find out the best framing effect in

your ad title, description, CTA and URL.

TIP: “save big” or “big savings”

Lively verbs

• Different words will influence and shape

people’s perception.

TIP: “give presents” “surprise gifting”

Four ways to get more conversions with smarter ad copy

Source: Microsoft internal study, The Art & Science of Ad Copy Testing 2016

Pricing and value perception drivers

Be specific with your

product offerings

Create urgency

TIP: “buy one, get one

free”, “don’t miss out”,

“further discount”

Descriptive adjectives

Tailor adjectives to

products

Use superlatives

TIP: “freshest”, “newest”,

“indulgent”

Call to action (CTA)

Be time sensitive

with your CTA

TIP: “order now”, “join

today”

Delivery incentives

Express shipping is

always favoured

Order/Click and

collect is a new

popular method

TIP: “order and collect”,

“48-hour delivery”

Increase conversion potential with smarter ad copy

Source: Microsoft Internal data, Retail vertical Ad copy insights AU Sept 2015 – Jan 16,

Your Ads

User returns to your assigned site/page

Remarketing in Paid Search campaigns: another opportunity for conversions

It helps to reconnect, entice first-time visitors to come back and complete a transaction.

Visitor Your website User added in remarketing list

Visitor leaves Former visitor searches on

Bing Network

Your ad is served

5%

7%

9%

11%

13%

15%

17%

Sep-15 Oct-15 Nov-15 Dec-15 Jan-16

1.3X

74%

Remarketing in Paid Search campaigns: another opportunity for conversions

1.5X

higher CTR, and

90% higher CTR for mobile and

tablet in the festive season

more clicks in November

of Remarketing clicks

occurred on weekdays

CTR – Retail Remarketing in Paid Search campaignsDate range: last Christmas season (from Sep-15 to Jan-16)

Retail Remarketing in Paid Search campaigns have seen increased CTR near Christmas.

Source: Microsoft internal data, retail remarketing insights, AU Sept 2015 – Jan 16

Be there ahead of time

Optimise keywords, ads and bids

Manage your Product Ads with Bing Shopping Campaigns

Leverage this checklist to maximise campaign success

Make the most out of this Christmas season

TIP: Make sure your campaigns aren’t going dark while you are out enjoying the

Christmas season. Download the Bing Ads App to monitor your account on the go.

January• Use value

perception drivers

to stimulate

further sales

• Cater for New

Year planners with

“new/refresh..” in

your ads

December• Create solutions

in ad copy (e.g.

“express delivery”)

• Prepare for

Boxing Day

Late Nov.• Prepare budgets

along with search

peaks, like Click

Frenzy and Black

Friday

• Create urgency in

ad copy

Early Nov.• Focus on branded

and hot holiday

items

• Test different

ad copy

combinations to

find the best

performing ads

for your brand

and products

October• Focus on generic

keywords to grab

attention and

generate

awareness

• Consider “best…”

searches

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