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Over the years, the Shopping Blog has sought to provide you with the latest retail trends and insights. We want to make it easier for everyone to find most recent data, so we’ve consolidated our efforts on Think with Google . So starting today, you can get all the retail and shopping insights on the Think with Google website. You can also find product specific updates on the Google Commerce Blog . After today, we won’t be posting any news on this blog, so sign up to get regular updates from Think with Google about the retail industry and consumer trends. Posted by Keri Overman, The Google Retail Team

From watching Spongebob clips with the little ones to learning how to survive their challenging teen years, the many stages of motherhood can feel like they whizz by in the blink of an eye. So in celebration of Mother’s Day this year, we decided to explore and pay tribute to some of those special moments in a mother’s journey from new mom to grandmom - and how YouTube hopes to support her along the way. In addition, to learn more about how modern moms use our platform to learn, share and discover, we partnered with TNS to survey 1,500 women, aged 18-54, all of whom have children under the age of 18 and watch videos online. The results show that whether it’s to research the next family vacation, get in a quick workout before the kids wake up, or learn how to set up the new printer for her small business, today’s mom is using online video to learn and grow. But it’s not just advice and how-tos that moms seek. They also turn to YouTube to wind down. In our survey, 74% of moms said they ...

When it comes to attracting customers, small businesses know that showcasing their products online can help them get in front of more people -- even when their physical store doors are closed. In fact, one-third of small business owners said new or existing clients engaged with them through their e-commerce websites at least once daily. 1 But getting started with a website is just the beginning. Google Shopping helps small businesses like you tap into the power of customer intent to reach the right people with relevant products ads, when it matters the most. Here’s how two local businesses, Paper Culture and PUBLIC Bikes, used Google Shopping to gain a competitive edge and spark shoppers’ interest across the country by leveraging their strengths: unique designs and inspired products. Paper Culture uses Shopping ads to connect with design lovers online Unique, modern design is a top priority for Paper Culture , an environmentally-conscious stationery company that sells 100% post-consum...

When it comes to brick and mortar stores, misinformation runs rampant. For instance, search results only send consumers to e-commerce sites, retailers lose the shopper who checks a phone in store, and buyers only visit stores to transact or showroom. Those are three common myths debunked in Digital’s Impact on In-Store Shopping 1 , new research conducted by Ipsos MediaCT and Sterling Brands for Google, based upon purchasing behaviors of more than 6,000 smartphone shoppers. Although 95% of all retail transactions still occur in-store 2 , smartphones have quickly become consumer’s favorite and most trusted “shopping assistant.” These handy devices reduce buyers’ remorse, raise consumer expectations for getting more accurate and faster information from store associates, and present new challenges for hungry retailers. For instance: 68% of shoppers surveyed said they were happier with store purchases when they did research online before buying, according to those surveyed  71% expect c...

There’s no doubt that technology continues to transform the pace of business. In the past, it wasn’t possible to track online conversions back to ads in real-time. You couldn’t always be sure you were advertising only in-stock items or immediately traffic out seasonal assortment changes. But now advanced digital marketers are able to take advantage of real-time conversion and product data in their advertising campaigns to great effect. Forrester recently completed a global study of 240 retailers’ search campaigns. What they found was… opportunity. Most retailers still don’t take advantage of existing real-time capabilities in digital marketing, and leave a significant opportunity for savvy marketers who do. Come hear Forrester and Google talk about:  Results from Forrester’s retail search study  Insights about the retail search market, and where you can take advantage  How to become more “real-time” in your own digital advertising  Speakers: Shar VanBoskirk, Princip...

December of 2014 may be remembered as the first truly omni-channel holiday season: the year retailers really stretched the sales funnel to include mobile, store visits and online buying under one big connected holiday umbrella. Let's take a break from the holiday dash to see what we can learn from companies that have been creating unified shopping experiences for consumers while ringing in bigger and better profits for themselves. We'll start with a salute to three great examples of omni-channel thinking: Macy's , Sephora and REI . Macy's  When over 15,000 people streamed into Macy's main New York City store at 6 pm this Thanksgiving Day, CEO Terry Lundgren wasn't too surprised. Omni-channel helped put those shoppers there. “So far, people are gravitating to the doorbusters," Lundgren said the next day. "There’s so much information online, so they’re doing that research and going right for those doorbusters." 1 Macy's has been working for yea...

With more and more retailers offering holiday deals earlier in the season, the excitement about Black Friday is no longer confined to a single day. Now it’s more like a month-long event. As a result, one in five shoppers plan to head to stores on Thanksgiving Day to capitalize on Black Friday deals. 1 To get a read on the trends heading into Black Friday, we took the temperature of holiday shopping online. We looked at search trends on Google, insights from Google Consumer Surveys and top trending purchases on our same-day delivery service, Google Express. Mobile shoppers are out in force As smartphone shoppers hunt for deals during snackable moments throughout their day, this holiday season will likely be the most mobile ever. Shopping searches on Google coming from smartphones have increased 3.5x year over year and continue to grow. 2 And we’re currently sending more mobile traffic to retailers per week from Google Shopping than we did during the peak of last holiday season. 3 The ...

(cross-posted on the Google Analytics Blog ) "Enhanced Ecommerce in Google Analytics made it extremely easy to analyze the metrics that are important to an ecommerce site and garner the insights to make smart changes to our website, driving significant improvements in performance!" -- Danny Gavin, VP and Director of Marketing at Brian Gavin Diamonds Our Enhanced Ecommerce features in Google Analytics are officially out of beta today, complete with brand new tools like Product Attribution . Combined with our new Shopping Campaigns report , Google Analytics provides our retail clients with an integrated view of their customers. As part of today’s announcements, we’re also excited to highlight partnerships with Shopify , PrestaShop , Blue Acorn for Magento, and mShopper . Using Enhanced Ecommerce in conjunction with our partners’ products simplifies the implementation process and gives you a full set of tools to create and optimize your ecommerce site. Please see the end of th...

Conventional wisdom suggests that the rise of digital is making local retailers obsolete. But the reality is much different—technology actually presents new opportunities to help savvy retailers connect with consumers, drive them to the store and increase sales. To better understand the impact of smartphones and online information on in-store shopping, Google partnered with Ipsos Media CT and Sterling Brands to conduct an online survey. With this new research, we were able to uncover the real relationship between digital and local retail, as well as debunk three common retail myths. Myth: Search results only send consumers to e-commerce sites. The Reality: Search results are a powerful way to drive consumers to stores. Many retailers believe that when shoppers look for products online, they limit their research strictly to e-commerce websites. In reality, three out of four shoppers who find local information in search results helpful are more likely to visit stores. When information ab...

(Cross-posted from the Google Analytics Blog ) Plan ahead. Over the past few years, we’ve seen the holiday rush begin earlier and earlier . And we’ve also noticed that the shopping frenzy is extending beyond the traditional season, with transaction rates in 2013 boasting lifts even after Christmas. These trends make for a lot of opportunity for online retailers, but you need to play your cards right. The most important thing you can do to ensure seasonal success is to plan your digital strategy now.  We’ve analyzed transaction behavior from a portion of our Google Analytics accounts over the 2013 holiday season to develop a guide for seasonal success.  Which days drive the most transactions? In order to develop a successful holiday retail strategy, it’s important to first understand the days that drive the most sales for your business. Once you understand this, you can craft a strategy that optimizes your media and promotion not only for these days, but for the entire holiday...

Are you an Elsa, Olaf or Anna? Judging by the top trending searches for Halloween costumes on Google, you’re going to see a lot of each on the streets this October 31. The characters from Disney’s animated blockbuster make up three of the top five trending costumes this year. While last year’s list featured popular choices from TV ( Breaking Bad ) and the viral video “What Does The Fox Say,” movie-themed costumes are dominating this year. Maleficent and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes round out the top five. Costumes from Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America and The Avengers take places 6 through 8, while video-game Assassin's Creed and pet costume were the only non-movie themed costumes trend to make the Top 10. With more than half of their traffic coming from Google, online retailer BuyCostumes.com anticipated the surge in interest around these top costumes and tailored their Google Search advertising to ensure that they’re connecting with consumers as they’re looking f...

(Cross-posted from the Google Commerce Blog ) This holiday shopping season will be our most connected ever, with devices at our fingertips helping us hunt for deals in short moments—whether it’s on a laptop at work or on a smartphone right before bed. In fact, one third of all shopping searches on Google happen between the hours of 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. 1 That’s because shopping doesn’t stop once the mall closes. Today’s shopper spends more time than ever researching purchases online at all hours of the day; we’ve gone from midnight snacking to midnight shopping. To understand how digital trends will impact this year’s shopping season, we conducted our annual Holiday Shopper Intentions research with Ipsos MediaCT, surveying consumers on their shopping behavior. We found that people are shopping earlier, using online video to help with research, and turning to smartphones as personal shopping assistants. Black Friday is becoming a month-long event People are starting their research early...

(Cross-posted from the Google Inside AdWords Blog ) With October kicking off this week, the holiday shopping season is just around the corner. According to our recent research , 29% of shoppers plan to start their holiday shopping before Halloween. With this in mind, we’ve put together a Holiday Shopping Checklist filled with the season’s best practices for retailers to maximize performance across both Search and Shopping campaigns. In addition to our checklist, here are the top holiday trends from last year and tips from the Google Shopping team on how to make this Q4 a good one. Address increased shopping demand today . Last holiday season, traffic sent to merchants from Google Shopping doubled year-on-year. 1 This momentum has continued and in July we saw traffic sent to merchants surpass last year’s peak holiday traffic from Google Shopping. 2 Not only has consumer interest increased, but it is also beginning earlier. Our research shows last year consumer interest in Black Frid...

The 2014 holiday shopping season is nearly upon us, and some shoppers are likely already looking for gifts to purchase. This year, brands and marketers have the chance to connect with shoppers as they search for the perfect products throughout the season. Data shows that shoppers are increasingly turning to mobile—last year, 40% of Black Friday's online shopping was on mobile. Marketers can use mobile to capture interest at the exact moment a customer needs information, and hopefully make a lasting connection between consumer and brand. Visit Think with Google to read about all 5 trends marketers should know for the upcoming holiday season.

(Cross-posted from the Google Inside AdWords Blog ) Earlier this month, we introduced an upgrade tool for advertisers to upgrade to Shopping campaigns quickly and easily. If you’ve already upgraded, then you’re all set. If you haven’t upgraded yet and don’t do it by the end of this month, the following is what will happen to your regular Product Listing Ads (PLA) campaigns come September. Phase 1: Limited functionality of all regular PLA campaigns -  Starting September 2nd, you will not be able to edit your product targeting, max. CPC bids, promotional text and destination URLs anymore. Campaign statuses and budgets will remain editable so you can manage your spend until your regular PLA campaigns are auto-upgraded to Shopping campaigns. Phase 2: Auto-upgrade to Shopping campaigns -  Throughout September, regular PLA campaigns that received impressions in the preceding few weeks will be auto-upgraded to a new Shopping campaign with a similar campaign structure. Some regular ...

(Cross-posted from the Inside AdWords Blog ) This is the final stretch. At the end of August, regular Product Listing Ad (PLA) campaigns will retire and be replaced by Shopping campaigns. A majority of you have started upgrading to Shopping campaigns, but if you’re one of the few who haven’t yet, we’re introducing a new upgrade tool that’ll help you upgrade in a matter of clicks. This tool creates a Shopping campaign from your regular PLA campaign, with a campaign structure and bids based on your regular PLA campaign and historical performance data. If you haven’t started your upgrade, we encourage you to use this tool as a jumping off point for your Shopping campaigns. Be sure to check your campaign budgets, settings and bids so they’re customized to your business needs. Note that not all campaigns are compatible with this upgrade tool. If, for example, you use AdWords labels or groupings in your product targeting or inventory filters, you must update your data feed with custom labe...

(Cross-posted from the DoubleClick Search Blog ) When consumers act, they act fast. Retailers can get a leg up in the marketplace by responding to consumers’ needs as they surface. While some events, such as holidays and championship games, can be anticipated, others, such as weather-related issues, cannot. Using real-time technologies in search, brands can dynamically adjust their reach, competitiveness and relevancy with their target audiences at the most critical times. In a new Think Insights article, Casandra Jones, Account Director at iProspect, tells us the benefits of adopting SEM tools that act in real time to achieve search success as these important events and conversations occur. Check out Casandra’s article on the Think Insights page here , and let us know what you think on Twitter or our Google+ page .

(Cross-posted from the Inside AdWords Blog ) With less than eight weeks left until regular Product Listing Ad (PLA) campaigns retire , we're excited that the majority of PLA advertisers have already started taking advantage of Shopping campaigns, and 85% of these have already fully upgraded. Advertisers who’ve upgraded like Farfetch , US Mattress , LiBoutique and ValuePetSupplies are seeing great success thanks to the retail-centric interface, item-level reporting and competitive benchmark data. For those of you who’ve upgraded, we’re excited to introduce two new tools to make campaign management, specifically bid optimization, easier. Bulk Uploads: You now have the ability to download a product group report, edit your bids and destination URLs, and import your changes using bulk uploads .  AdWords Editor: We’ve heard your feedback, and with the latest version of AdWords Editor , you can edit your bids and destination URLs for individual product groups at scale. At this time, A...

Marketers are increasingly turning to search advertising as a way to learn more about their brands and how they can better connect with consumers. L'Oréal Paris, for example, used search to reach a wide audience looking for information about the popular “ombre” hairstyle in 2012. At the time, this hair treatment was only done in salons, but L'Oréal Paris saw the potential in a home market product and it developed one in just a few months. The brand then created YouTube content devoted to the topic, got widespread press coverage, and owned the search for the term—all of which established brand awareness. In the end, the people who had alerted L'Oréal Paris to the trend saw search ads that linked to helpful information, at the moment when they needed it. While search ads haven’t typically been part of the brand marketer’s toolkit, some like L’Oreal Paris are catching on to their value in building brand awareness. A recent Google/Ipsos MediaCT meta-study showed that search ads...

We introduced Shopping campaigns in February to make it easier for you to manage your Product Listing Ads (PLAs). In late August, Shopping campaigns will be the default campaign type for all PLA advertisers. To help retailers make the most of their Shopping campaigns, we’re excited to introduce a new best practices guide, “Shape Up Your Shopping Campaigns.” It addresses important questions like: How should you structure your campaigns: by product line, performance, or both?  Which feed attributes have the best chance of improving CTR? Are you adjusting bids quickly enough during peak seasons? Download the “ Shape Up Your Shopping Campaigns ” guide now to ensure you’re making the most of your PLAs and data feeds.  For additional help, here are a few resources: Tutorial Videos to help you get started AdWords Help Center for more detailed information on Shopping campaigns Learn With Google Webinar (April 15) for upgrade tips Learn With Google Webinar (May 22) for more advanc...