UK retail fortunes boosted by record search spend
UK search had its best ever quarter in the Q4 2011, according to digital marketing technology and solutions company IgnitionOne, giving a much needed boost to high street fortunes.
The company’s quarterly global report shows that European search spend was up 14%, while clicks were up 22% and click-throughs 19%. (The UK accounts for 75% of all European data).
By comparison, in the US, search advertising spend for retail specifically went up 26% year-on-year across Q4 2011.This uplift in spending also resulted in large year-on-year increases in impressions (42%), clicks (42%) and transactions (67%).
The report also shows a significant rise in the use of mobile devices to purchase and compare prices, particularly in the run up to Christmas.
In the US, year-on-year, mobile search ad impressions increased by an impressive 317%, with a spend uplift of 267%. 24% of paid search ad spend on Black Friday was on mobile, compared with just 2.4% in 2010. Online retail mobile search ad spend was consistently high across Q4. Mobile search accounted for 14.2% of total retail budgets in Q4 2011, compared to 5.2% in Q4 2010.
Increased display spend across the board shows that retailers are acknowledging a consumer shift towards online, rather than in-store shopping, according to IgnitionOne.
Chris Evans, IgnitionOne’s UK MD, said: “This analysis shows two valuable things for UK brands. Firstly, despite increasing spend levels, search spending is getting more efficient with increasing transactions per pound spent; essentially brands are getting more bang for their buck. Secondly mobile is here and now; consumers are increasingly combining digital and traditional shopping to get the best deals. So both online and multichannel retailers need to be investing in mobile.”
*The research is based on the analysis of media spend and results through IgnitionOne’s technology during Q4. IgnitionOne UK supports more than 65 brands across a range of industries including major online and multichannel retailers, travel brands, telecoms and automotive.