Shopping Blog

(cross-posted on the Inside AdWords Blog and Mobile Ads Blog)


This holiday season, make it easy for your customers to find, visit, and call your business with AdWords location targeting and location extensions. Location targeting shows your ads to customers in specific geographic areas you want to reach, while location extensions dynamically attach your business address and phone number to your ads. Today, we are announcing a few improvements to these two features and making them available in more countries to help your business “get local” for the holidays.

What’s new:

1. Introducing airport targeting: A new way to reach travelers on the go
Whether people are checking a flight status or passing time before take-off, mobile and tablet devices have become indispensable for airport-goers. With the launch of airport targeting, businesses are now able to connect with potential customers on mobile, tablet or laptop devices in more than 350 airports around the world via AdWords.


With airport targeting, you can offer relevant, last-minute travel and entertainment opportunities, promote your mobile application to airport travelers, amplify interest in your in-airport campaigns, build your brands with mobile display ads, and much more. Plus, you can easily review the performance of these campaigns using geographic performance reports.

2. Location extensions and sitelinks show together
Location extensions can now be shown alongside one-line sitelinks in text ads (on desktop and laptop computers) and will continue to show with two-line and three-line sitelinks. If you have a multi-channel business, consider using location extensions in addition to sitelinks to help you highlight specific areas of your business.

3. Larger, more useful maps
Location extensions on desktop and laptop computers will now appear with a larger, more engaging map panel that will replace the current expandable map. When the location extension address is clicked, this new map panel appears to the right of the top search results.


Early testing suggests that users will click to see locations on a map more frequently than with our previous design.

4. Better location matching for customers
Features such as postal code targeting in the U.S., have enabled us to show closer and more relevant locations to your customers from within your location extensions. At the same time, if you have a specialty or destination business such as a niche boutique or a ski resort, your location extensions can be shown to people who are located nearby, but who aren’t within your business’s postal code -- so you also can attract customers who are willing to travel longer distances to visit your business.

5. Online conversion reporting for Location Extensions
If you use AdWords conversion tracking, you probably want to know how location extensions affect your online conversion rates. Earlier this year, we included online conversion data within ad extensions reports to help you analyze the overall impact of location extensions on online conversions and measure your online conversions per location more effectively.

6. Geo-targeting and location extensions available in more countries
In addition to previously announced updates to location extensions and geo-targeting options in more countries, we’re excited to make location extensions available in Argentina, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, UAE, and Vietnam.

We have also expanded geo-targeting options in the following countries: counties in the United Kingdom, departments in France, and cities in Argentina, Russia, and United Arab Emirates.

Here’s a full list of location targets available globally.

Get local

We hope these improvements will make it easier for you to highlight your local business information for customers, both during and after this busy holiday season. If you’re new to local ads, or would just like to learn more, check out our help center for step-by-step instructions on setting up location extensions and location targeting. And, you can always contact AdWords support.

Posted by Smita Hashim, Group Product Manager

[cross-posted on the Google Mobile Ads Blog]

71% of smartphone users search because of an ad they’ve seen either online or offline; 82% of smartphone users notice mobile ads, 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase as a result of using their smartphones to help with shopping, and 88% of those who look for local information on their smartphones take action within a day.

These are some of the key findings from “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users,” a study from Google and conducted by Ipsos OTX, an independent market research firm, among 5,013 US adult smartphone Internet users at the end of 2010. Join us in tomorrow’s webinar where we’ll present the full research findings. In the meantime, enjoy this research highlights video and read on for a summary of our main section findings:





General Smartphone Usage: Smartphones have become an integral part of users’ daily lives. Consumers use smartphones as an extension of their desktop computers and use it as they multi-task and consume other media.

• 81% browse the Internet, 77% search, 68% use an app, and 48% watch videos on their smartphone
• 72% use their smartphones while consuming other media, with a third while watching TV
• 93% of smartphone owners use their smartphones while at home

Action-Oriented Searchers: Mobile search is heavily used to find a wide variety of information and to navigate the mobile Internet.

• Search engine websites are the most visited websites with 77% of smartphone users citing this, followed by social networking, retail and video sharing websites
• Nine out of ten smartphone searches results in an action (purchasing, visiting a business, etc.)
• 24% recommended a brand or product to others as a result of a smartphone search

Local Information Seekers: Looking for local information is done by virtually all smartphone users and consumers are ready to act on the information they find.

• 95% of smartphone users have looked for local information
• 88% of these users take action within a day, indicating these are immediate information needs
• 77% have contacted a business, with 61% calling and 59% visiting the local business

Purchase-driven Shoppers: Smartphones have become an indispensable shopping tool and are used across channels and throughout the research and decision-making process.

• 79% of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, finding more product info to locating a retailer
• 74% of smartphone shoppers make a purchase, whether online, in-store, or on their phones
• 70% use their smartphones while in the store, reflecting varied purchase paths that often begin online or on their phones and brings consumers to the store

Reaching Mobile Consumers: Cross-media exposure influences smartphone user behavior and a majority notice mobile ads which leads to taking action on it.

• 71% search on their phones because of an ad exposure, whether from traditional media (68%) to online ads (18%) to mobile ads (27%)
• 82% notice mobile ads, especially mobile display ads and a third notice mobile search ads
• Half of those who see a mobile ad take action, with 35% visiting a website and 49% making a purchase

Implications
The findings of the study have strong implications for businesses and mobile advertisers. Make sure you can be found via mobile search as consumers regularly use their phones to find and act on information. Incorporate location based products and services and make it easy for mobile customers to reach you because local information seeking is common among smartphone users. Develop a comprehensive cross-channel strategy as mobile shoppers use their phones in-store, online and via mobile website and apps to research and make purchase decisions. Last, implement an integrated marketing strategy with mobile advertising that takes advantage of the knowledge that people are using their smartphones while consuming other media and are influenced by it.

Learn More
To learn more about the study, please join us in a webinar tomorrow where we will present and discuss the research findings in-depth. Register for “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Users” webinar on Wednesday, April 27th at 11am PST/ 2pm EST. To receive the research report, please visit the Google Mobile Ads blog after April 27th to download a complimentary copy of the study.


Posted by Dai Pham, Google Mobile Ads Marketing Team

[Cross-posted from the Google Merchant Blog]

If you've ever spent your Saturday calling different stores or driving around town in search of one specific product, then it probably occurred to you that there must be a better way. Today we're announcing Local Product Availability on Google Place Pages - a new feature that automatically brings your offline catalog to the web, letting customers view your products and search your local inventory on your Place Page before visiting your store.

When you provide Google with local product availability data, your Google Place Page will now automatically include a new section, ‘Popular products available at this store’, featuring five popular products along with price and local availability. For shoppers unfamiliar with your business, this section shows the types of products available in your store.

If shoppers are looking for a specific item, they can click ‘Search within this store’ to search your product inventory to see if a particular item is in stock nearby.





Getting started
To automatically display local product availability on your Google Place page, you’ll need to first share local availability data with Google through a Merchant Center account and claim your a Google Place page. For instructions on sharing local product availability with Google, read this Help Center article. Learn how to claim your Google Place page here.


Posted by Paul Lee, Senior Product Manager, Google Product Search

The past ten years have brought surging growth in countless areas of technology and communication for US consumers: The number of personal computers, the number of mobile phones, accessibility to high speed Internet. However, there is one growing number whose rise has not generally been welcomed: the price of gas.

Since the early years of the past decade, gas prices have been rising in the US. Yet, as we move out of winter and into spring, another round of gas price increases again besets the US--at historically sharp rates. The week of February 28, 2011 marked the second greatest week-over-week leap in US gas prices since 1990.

At the start of this month, the national average price-at-the pump was currently around $3.39/gallon--a year-over-year increase of 27%, or $0.72. Looking ahead for the rest of the year, the US Department of Energy predicts an overall 2011 average price of $3.15/gallon. This represents a $0.37 year-over-year increase.

This latest uptick does not seem to show signs of slowing any time soon. The same DOE report forecasts prices climbing to a $3.30/gallon average in 2012, with a steady $0.05 average rise per gallon each year for the foreseeable future. There is a 10% probability that prices could “exceed $4.00 per gallon” in the summer of 2011. West Coast states should brace for even higher gallon averages during peak season, by as much as $0.25.

Rising gas prices have complex, difficult to predict outcomes. However, one nearly certain impact will be a shift in driving habits of many Americans--which will in turn impact their shopping habits and, thus, retailers. What should retailers look for, and how should they respond?

Romy Ribitzky, a writer at Portfolio.com, believes that there might be a silver lining to rising gas prices--at least for pure player retailers: “Gas prices put pressure on traditional bricks-and-mortars retailers that online ones don’t have to worry as much about.” The implication is clear: It could reinforce long-term cross-channel shifting of shopping and buying from the real world to the online world. Rising gas prices could also compound and accelerate growing trends of consumer savvy, with even more of the upper purchase funnel--research and browsing--occurring at home, rather than in stores. Conversely, when consumers do make the trip, they may be even more primed to buy once in the store.

For pure player retailers, this builds on a decade-long trend of increasing e-commerce activity. For retailers maintaining both a physical and virtual world presence, this calls for keeping an eye on upticks in traffic to their sites or other signs pointing to a gas-price-driven migration of consumers online--and to plan growth strategies and budgets accordingly.

Yet, many pure player retailers also have a major connection to gas prices: shipping costs. Ribitzky warns in the same article that “when oil prices rise, they take a profit-margin percentage out of the retailer’s equation” as shipping costs increases. This makes free shipping enticements a more expensive offer for the retailer. But, shipping is only the most obvious area of impact for gas prices.





With high gas prices here to stay--and, in all likelihood, rising for the foreseeable future--now is the time to reflect upon all the possible ways your business intersects with the real economy. Hyperlocal merchants may have an edge in locations within walking and biking distance. Acquiring retail locations near major public transit routes may matter more than ever. Travel could become more expensive for cars and planes, impacting retailers that depend on tourist seasonalities. At a big picture level, any marketing strategies should follow suit--engaging all the mobile and local advertising products possible.

Yet, there might be a flipside here as well. Local merchants may have to contend with other countervailing trends. Phil Wahba, a journalist with Reuters, reports that “the International Council of Shopping Centers expects February chain store sales to be up 2.5 percent to 3 percent.” Such a shift may hint at an increasing consumer trend toward packing as many purchases into as few trips as possible.

Regardless of size, retailers might consider ad creatives that appeal to the consumer’s desire to minimize fuel costs, with mentions of free shipping, or crafting ad campaigns around the cross-selling potentials of your store. If you sell bikes and helmets, inspire (or entice with special deals) buyers to save a trip and buy both your store. Increased fuel costs may key new segments of consumers into ecological awareness. With the rise of green marketing trends, this could mean new or greater traction for eco-friendly products.

As long as gas prices remain in flux and predictions are difficult even for the short term, many recommendations to retailers can seem contradictory. Every recommendation should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt--and, of course, due consideration of your business’ subvertical, region of the country, history, target audiences, and business model. However, this latest spike in gas prices reminds all retailers to comprehensively consider the impact of rising energy prices.


Posted by Paul Nauert, The Google Retail Team

The shipping deadline for guaranteed Christmas delivery is fast approaching for most retailers. But what’s a retailer to do after the deadline passes?

We have always encouraged retailers to "keep the lights on" throughout the entire holiday season -- as in, keep working hard to reach people at the moment of interest.

Don’t ignore the hordes of last minute shoppers just because it's not possible to ship to them by Christmas; instead, shift the focus from driving online conversions (online gift cards aside!) to helping interested shoppers locate and buy products from your stores.

This strategy is more relevant than many might think; despite yet another year of strong growth in web sales, many holiday purchase procrastinators will head to the malls for last-minute purchases. In December 2009, queries for “best buy store” and “target store” showed strong demand leading right up to Christmas and peaked on December 24.
















Drilling down on the types of information last minute shoppers might be looking for, Google Insights for Search further shows that queries for “best buy store hours” and “target store hours” were substantial during the week around Christmas.
















So what can you do?

Last minute shoppers are looking for store information...why not make it easier for these consumers to find what they're looking for? A few ideas to consider:

• Invite shoppers to visit their local store – Tweak creative messages to tell consumers to shop in-store and don’t forget to mention extended store hours if you have them.
• Turn on keywords you might not normally utilize – Turning on terms which include your company name and words like "store", "store hours" and "locations" may help to reach last-minute shoppers looking for information in short order. Google Insights for Search offers top searches and information on which regions/areas see the most demand for these types of queries.
• Add shortcuts on Sitelinks – For retailers employing Sitelinks, consider adding a link such as “Extended Store Hours & Directions” and send consumers to the store locator pages. This saves time for the consumer -- a valuable commodity for those with a long shopping list!
• Supplement with Mobile Search – Coremetrics reported that on Black Friday, 5.6% of shoppers logged on to a retailer’s website from a mobile device (a 26.7% jump from 2009). Set up a mobile campaign using the above mentioned keywords. People will be looking for this information whether they are at home or away, searching on a desktop or on a mobile device.

Posted by Charles Chin and Joe Cannella, Google Retail Team