May 6, 2022
2020 and 2021 were sometimes a wild ride for PPC’ers and other marketeers when trying to predict what was going to happen next for their clients. Were people going to embrace online shopping or crave the highstreet? Would they even want to get dressed and go shopping again in store? What was important to consumers these days and how could brands stand out? Well Google shared their ‘State of Retail’ Insights with the team at Ortus and we’ve summarised the key points you need to know about!
Whilst in 2021 we saw a convergence of ‘Online’ and ‘Near Me’ search trends, in 2022 Google expects eCommerce to continue with over 10% growth for the UK and up to 35% in European countries.
However, the increase in ecommerce comes with an uncomfortable truth… Hypercompetition. This is something we’re talking about regularly at Ortus and with our clients when we see CPC’s fluctuations year on year. The key drivers of Hypercompetition are…
- Big Spenders
- New kids on the block
The pandemic has driven offline retailers online in order to survive. Many traditionally offline brands and newcomers have entered the online space, driving up competition.
- More places to purchase
Not only are there more retailers online but there are more places to sell from with platforms evolving to create and develop new transactional marketplaces.
- Attention seeking
As competition increases, the share of a consumer's wallet goes beyond the competitive pricing. It becomes how you can relate and engage with a user that makes a brand stand out.
So how can we compete in the new marketplace…
1. WoW your customers
- 65% of 16-34 years olds' main reason for using social media is to find content and trending topics.
- 55-64 years olds now spend 18% of their time on social media.
- 50% of consumers are unforgiving to a slow, confusing or hard to navigate site.
- 43% of Europeans used their mobile for a purchase as well as for research.
This shift in social media and mobile research and purchasing means it’s more important than ever for brands to review and optimise their mobile and app experiences to keep up with competition.
2. Understand your customers
- Users are more environmentally and mental health aware than pre-pandemic. 60% are more aware how serious climate change is, 22% plan to eat more healthily and 46% are more aware of their own mental health. Consumers have also become more uncertain of the price of retail items (31%) and their own finances (29%).
- 84% of consumers now say sustainability is important to their purchase decisions, while 61% want more information to inform their sustainable choices.
We’ve seen first hand the importance many of our clients and their consumers put on sustainability and eco-friendly purchasing and delivery. It’s key for brands to listen to their demographics and respond quickly, is there more content that can be added to the site? Are there additional delivery options to offset the carbon footprint?
3. Win your customers
- Consumers are open to new brands so be present. 55% of users trialled a new Beauty brand in H1 2021, 34% branched out to new Fashion brands and 40% checked out a new Homeware retailer.
- However, with new customers comes the challenge of retaining current ones. Brand loyalty is at an all time low and are easily poached by competitors.
Make sure you’re not only appealing to new customers, but keeping hold of them too. Are you nurturing your customers from the first purchase through their whole buyer journey? Do you have a loyalty scheme in place or are there exclusive discount codes for lapsed customers? Ensure that you’re always visible and feeding the top of the buying funnel, Performance Max campaigns are the latest campaign format from Google and a great all rounder for setting your target and letting Google find those ready to purchase as well as capturing new users across top level channels such as YouTube and Display.
We’ll never shy away from a chat about the latest in PPC, so if you’re looking for advice for your own ad accounts, you can get in touch with our team at any time here!