Ready for Christmas?

Wondering when you will need to increase your search activity for the Christmas rush? Well then you’re in luck, because Google’s chief economist, Hal Varian, has just conducted some in-depth research into this very subject looking at trends from Google’s vast hub of search data.
The findings of this research can be found at the Google Retail blog – http://googleretail.blogspot.com/2008/10/making-sense-of-cpcs-and-holiday-trends.html

It has some very interesting insights into consumer behaviour and online spending in the run up to Christmas. It’s all very much from an American perspective (it includes Thanksgiving as a landmark date) but there are still interesting points made here. It is suggesting that there is a large upsurge in search demand and online spending directly after Halloween. It may seem very well organised to be thinking Christmas gifts at such an early stage, but anyone who has had to brave the shops on Christmas Eve will probably appreciate why it’s a good plan to get thinking early…

In this period of increased demand, competition levels will inevitably rise and in turn average Cost Per Clicks will also go up. This is not necessarily a cause for concern, as Hal Varian argues consumers are increasingly likely to make purchases in this period, so your average Cost Per Action may potentially decrease as the Conversion Rate of your website goes up. Obviously, some websites will enjoy more success in this period than others…

Both research and shopping will start early this year – Shopping has already begun… is your marketing strategy ensuring that your brand is generating front of mind awareness throughout the entire research-purchase process and making it into consideration early on?

Consumers will spend more time looking for deals – not least because of current conditions in the economy, consumers are taking the time to research the right purchase… Brands will need to focus on having a strong presence for search and clearly express their value proposition to guarantee consideration for purchase decision making.

Is your website good enough at selling? – Are your prices right? Can users buy quickly and easily? Are you displaying your calls-to-action clearly enough? The brands and websites which best meet these conversion requirements should enjoy considerable success in this period.