Prepare to lift search ad spending, Google tells retailers

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 24 November 2011 00:01

Business IT - Technology

Google says searches for terms related to Christmas shopping are up this year, and is advising retailers to review their advertising focus and budget to reflect consumer behaviour.

Google has alerted Australian retailers to three key dates in the Christmas shopping season, and has made three specific recommendations for taking full advantage of consumer behaviour.

The key dates are December 4, 11 and 16.

Once December 4 rolls around it is usually too late to order gifts from overseas with confidence they will arrive in time for Christmas, so the focus shifts to Australian online retailers.

On December 11, searches for information about physical store locations and trading hours start to rise dramatically. Google officials note that over one-third of such searches come from mobile devices.

Such searches spike on December 16, just ahead of the last shopping weekend before Christmas. It is also the last day for guaranteed delivery before Christmas Day from local online retailers.

Searches are up in all major retail categories compared with last year. Terms relating to mass merchants are up a whopping 47%, with food and drink up 31% and toys up 28%.

So what advice is Google giving to Australian retailers? Please read on