Over the past couple of weeks, our paid media team have noticed consumer behaviour changing. For this article, we have collated data across our clients to re-forecast the top trends for paid media in 2020.
Pay Per Click
One of the first changes our team recognised was the increase in demand for outdoor and office furniture. With lockdown still in place, this is expected. Many people are fortunate to be able to work from home and want to create a personal office space in their house, as well as make the most out of their garden – especially with the recent sunny weather.
For one of our paid media clients, we compared 16th – 26th March (as this was when people started working from home) to the previous two weeks 2nd – 12th March; we identified a significant increase of 500% in unique purchases for desks. What this tells us is that desks have been involved in 500% more transactions compared to the previous two weeks. Also, office chairs experienced a 100% uplift in unique purchases.
Another client who sells outdoor furniture, had a significant revenue increase, when comparing the same dates in March. The retailer saw a 757% improvement in revenue and 500% increase in unique purchases, and it seems this will continue to grow.
A similar theme has also been experienced for another client, a specialist graphic and art retailer. Due to people wanting to keep themselves busy while in isolation, they are starting to explore hobbies such as painting or drawing. For example, comparing the same dates again, the client’s graphic design campaign witnessed a 41% improvement in unique purchases. Moreover, their art campaign for unique purchases is up by 137%, resulting in 288% uplift in revenue.
As expected, more people are shopping online, which reflects the increase in traffic across our paid media clients. For example, one of our furniture clients saw a 21% increase in clicks (using same comparison dates above), and conversion rate is up 106%, which tells us that more consumers are searching for a product and purchasing straight away. Another example is a client who sells baby products and accessories; they too experienced a 104% uplift in clicks along with a 338% improvement in impressions.
Paid Social
In terms of paid social, another one of our furniture clients received 101% more link clicks from their outdoor furniture campaign (using the same dates as above) and 87% more website purchases. This supports the idea of the significant change in consumer behaviour not only across Google but also across social media platforms. It appears that online users are engaging with ads more, along with their friends and family.
From the data currently collected, our paid media team predict the next online shopping and search trends will include homeware, creative hobby products, as well as other products to help keep children entertained while the schools are closed. Online clothes shopping has always been a trend. However, with more people searching online during the isolation, we predict that revenue will jump up dramatically for online clothing retailers, especially those who can offer free next day delivery.
But, how will the surge in online shopping affect deliveries?
