Through our Google Ads Premier Partner status, we had the pleasure of attending the Retail: Prepare for Peak 2024 event at Google’s office in London. The session provided valuable insights into consumer behaviour trends and recommendations as we gear up for Black Friday.
Market insights: to maximise ROAS during Black Friday, Christmas and beyond
The session opened with some really interesting Black Friday insights, noting the importance of connecting with consumers throughout October to January. By mid-October, almost 25% of peak shopping is already completed, with 40% of peak shopping taking place after Cyber weekend. Interestingly, sales volume in January are comparable to October – they referred to this as the ‘devoted’ mindset of consumers, which continues to grow each year.
Less time to shop!
With Black Friday falling on the 29th this year, it marks 2024 as the shortest shopping season since 2019, with just 26 shopping days between Black Friday and Christmas. With 5 fewer days after Cyber week compared to last year, this means that every day in December will be worth more in driving sales.
Search trends around Cyber week
A highlight of the event was hearing about how shoppers search differently before Cyber week, and how this impacts our acquisition strategies. Shoppers are more open to new retailers in October and November, where we see more generic searches. This is a critical time for retailers to earn their consideration, as shoppers begin to determine their brand preferences ahead of Cyber week.
Utilise the Power Pair + Demand Gen
Demand Gen is the perfect tool to layer on top of your Power Pair (Search with broad match keywords paired with Pmax) before, during and after the peak season, to earn shopper consideration. Demand Gen was noted as being the go-to campaign type for generating demand and growing your conversions. There are many cutting edge features unique to Demand Gen, including lookalike segments, creative preferences and creative A/B experiments. The Power Pair will allow you connect your brand experience through the funnel, and influence shoppers at the start of their journeys by being present on the search terms that are important to your business.
If you are running any Video Action campaigns, now is the time to launch Demand Gen before they are automatically switched over in Q2 2025. You can turn your video ads into a virtual storefront by utilising your product feed, and create visually compelling content. This is key in helping you capitalise on consumer openness to new brands prior to Cyber week.
The event concluded with 3 priorities to win the peak season:
Retailers should expect shoppers to show up strong and start spending before Black Friday, so they should do the same! Building brand demand before Cyber week is essential to a successful acquisition strategy and capturing as many sales as possible. Utilise the Power Pair + Demand Gen structure to reach users before they set brand preferences, and to scale with ease for Cyber week and beyond.