Online retailers saw a big boost on Thanksgiving 2014 in paid search and paid social performance compared with 2013, according to a recent report from Kenshoo.
The report was based on 2014 and 2013 holiday season (November and December) data for global retailers in all major categories, including more than 60 billion paid impressions and clicks in search and social channels.
Thanksgiving was the top gainer among the key shopping dates examined, generating a 31% year-over-year (YOY) increase in paid search click volume in 2014 and a 50% YOY increase in paid search revenue.
Retailers also drove 142% and 115% YOY increases in Product Listing Ads (PLA) spend on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, respectively, increasing PLA revenue more than 80% YOY on both days.
Consumers started to engage with retailers much earlier than in the past this holiday season, with click-through rates on paid search ads beginning to rise almost 10 days before Thanksgiving, according to the analysis.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday have had the highest engagement of the holiday shopping season for online retailers in past years; however, in 2014, Thanksgiving generated the highest CTR, the analysis found.
Below, additional key findings from the report.
Paid Search
For online retailers, paid search spend, revenue, impressions, CTRs, and CPCs increased significantly during the 2014 holiday shopping season.
Platforms
Mobile phone paid search spend increased 77% YOY during the 2014 holiday season, driving a 120% YOY increase in revenue.
Paid Social
CTRs on paid social ads jumped 701% in 2014 from 2013 levels, thanks largely to Facebook's migration of ads to the News Feed.
About the research: The report was based on 2014 and 2013 holiday season (November and December) data for global retailers in all major categories, including more than 60 billion paid impressions and clicks in search and social channels.
