As we return to the office after the festive break with full bellies, ambitious resolutions and excitement for what 2018 has in store, here is a look at 10 key trends in search that dominated Black Friday and the Christmas period in the UK in 2017:
1. Amazon dominated in the retail sector, averaging 26% share of all category traffic in November and December, and peaking at 28% in the run up to Christmas.
2. Shopping searches with location based intent peaked in the week before Christmas Day, up some 5% on 2016 and 28% on the 2017 average.
3. In the week of Black Friday, store visits driven by search for iProspect’s retail clients peaked, metric for brands to watch when recognising the power of digital in driving bricks and mortar sales, with well over 3% of website visitors ending up in store.
4. Gifting searches began to increase in the final week of October, as they have in previous years, peaking in the week commencing 4th December.
5. In stark contrast to the trend we see for Valentine’s Day, searches for ‘gifts for him’ started to trend later than searches for ‘gifts for her’, and peaked at only 60% of the respective volume. A clear sign that those looking for the perfect gift for their wife or girlfriend need a little more help to find it.
6. Argos was the strongest performing of the traditional retailers, averaging over 3% share of category traffic with traffic peaking for Black Friday and in the final days to Christmas.
7. John Lewis, Debenhams & Currys all won out over Black Friday, with Currys more than doubling their share of category traffic during the week of Black Friday.
8. The department stores, accompanied Next, Currys and Argos all experienced significant surges in traffic from Boxing Day, meeting or exceeding that from Black Friday, a signal the UK shopper is still motivated by a Boxing Day bargain.
9. Black Friday’ searches were front weighted in comparison to in 2016, and failed to reach the same peak in the week of Black Friday as they did in 2016. 6% of all Black Friday searches were made after Black Friday by those that must have missed it.
10. ‘Cyber Monday’ searches paled in comparison to Black Friday, still not having gained traction in the UK and peaking at only 5% of the volume for those for ‘Black Friday’.
Sources:
Hitwise UK Shopping Category Visit Data 2017
Google Trends UK Data 2017
iProspect UK Paid Search 2017
