Global retail advertisers’ Q4 data
Marin Software have released some global product listing ads (PLA) data looking at retail advertisers’ Q4 data compared to last year and there are some great stats we’ve extracted from the US press release.
For more information about Marin’s products, please visit: http://www.marinsoftware.com/solutions/overview.
- From January through December 2013, retail advertisers increased spend on PLAs by nearly 300%. To put this in perspective, retailers only spent 67% more in December 2012 than they did in January 2013.
- Some advertisers allocated as much as 80% of their paid search budget toward PLAs during the holidays; this represents a sharp increase from the 30% share of spend observed during the 2012 holiday season.
- From January through June 2013, PLA CPC rose 35%. Over the same time period, text ad CPC increased only 14%. By the end of the year, PLA CPC increased a staggering 141%, while text ad CPC increased 21%.
- From October through December 2013, PLA CTR increased nearly 21% year over year. In contrast, CTR for text ads increased less than 5% year over year.
- From October through December 2013, desktop and tablet CPC for PLAs increased 84%.
London, Jan 2014 – Since switching to a purely sponsored model back in October 2012, Marin Software’s data finds advertiser adoption and user response to Google Product Listing Ads (PLAs) has skyrocketed. According to a report by Marin Software, provider of a leading Revenue Acquisition Management platform for advertisers and agencies, advertisers increased spend on PLAs nearly 300% in 2013 and one out of every five paid shopping clicks last year was on a PLA. Marin projects by the end of 2014 retailers will allocate 33% of their entire paid search budget toward PLAs.
Marin Software’s report, the first of its kind to examine PLA data spanning 15 months, consists of statistics and trends uncovered through an examination of the Marin Global Online Advertising Index. The index comprises advertising data from leading global brands that manage more than $5 Billion in annualized paid search spend through Marin’s platform.
News Facts:
- Marin Software’s data suggests consumers prefer the richer, more engaging PLAs. Marin found between January and December 2013 the average CTR of PLAs increased 6% while the CTR of standard text ads decreased 13%. In 2013, 20% of paid shopping clicks were on PLAs.
- Although, the cost per click (CPC) of PLAs increased a staggering 141% due to increased competition, the average PLA CPC remained lower than standard text ads in 2013.
- A high user response combined with low CPC creates favorable performance conditions for advertisers. Retailers responded by increasing their investment in the ad format nearly 300% between January and December 2013. Based on its data, Marin Software projects by December 2014 retailers will allocate a third of their entire paid search budget toward PLAs.
- Product Listing Ads made their debut on smartphones in October, 2013. According to Marin Software, PLAs on smartphones had a 33% higher CTR and 20% lower CPC than PLAs on desktop and tablets. Marin Software predicts by December 2014 that 40% of all PLA clicks will occur on smartphones.
- Marin Software’s 2014 Annual Research Brief, “The State of Google Shopping: Mobile Shoppers & Record PLA Spend Drive Success for Retailers,” outlines the key trends and projections for advertisers seeking to get the most from their search campaigns. The full report can be downloaded at: marinsoftware.com/resources/whitepapers/the-state-of-google-shopping-mobile-shoppers-record-pla-spend-drive-success-for-retailers.
About Marin Software:
Marin Software provides a leading Revenue Acquisition Management platform used by advertisers and agencies to manage more than $5 billion in annualized ad spend. Offering an integrated platform for search, display, social, and mobile marketing, Marin helps advertisers and brands improve financial performance, save time, and make better decisions.
Headquartered in San Francisco, with offices worldwide, Marin’s technology powers marketing campaigns in more than 160 countries. For more information about Marin’s products, please visit: http://www.marinsoftware.com/solutions/overview.