We all have that friend - the one who somehow knows the latest brands, the season’s must-have products, and where to find the best deals at the snap of a finger. In years past, this friend was an enigma, making us wonder how does he (she?) do it?Read More

We all have that friend - the one who somehow knows the latest brands, the season’s must-have products, and where to find the best deals at the snap of a finger. In years past, this friend was an enigma, making us wonder how does he (she?) do it?

Today, we can all be that friend. With the ability to instantly discover, research, and purchase, shoppers around the world are more informed and more efficient than ever before - they’ve transformed into supershoppers seemingly overnight.

But what defines supershoppers? And what does this mean for retailers trying to win them over this holiday season? Let’s find out.

They Keep Their Options Open

Last year, more than 50% of holiday shoppers said they were open to purchasing from new retailers¹. This is especially true online. More than three-quarters of smartphone shoppers who usually go to the same physical stores when they shop for products are very open to new retailers and brands online². Why? Mobile makes it easy to explore all of your options no matter when or where you’re shopping. In fact, after searching on Google, 76% of mobile shoppers have changed their mind about which retailer or brand to purchase³.

Mobile is Their Muse

It used to be that shoppers would thumb through catalogues or stare longingly at the holiday window displays, but mobile is now the super shopper’s go-to source for inspiration. Sixty-four percent of smartphone shoppers turn to mobile search for ideas about what to buy before heading into store⁴. And 1 in 4 mobile video viewers in the U.S. have visited YouTube for help with a purchase decision while they were at a store or visiting a store's website⁵.

But shoppers aren’t only making purchase decisions, they’re discovering new brands and products along the way: more than half of smartphone users have discovered a new company or product when conducting a search on their phones⁶.

They Want the Best - Not the Cheapest

In July we learned that shoppers are on the quest for the best - and this still rings true more than ever today. Last holiday, mobile searches related to “best gift” grew 70% year over year while mobile searches related to cheap or inexpensive gifts grew about 35%⁷. They’re also willing to do the research to the make the best decision: on YouTube, mobile watch time for product review videos has grown 60% year over year⁸.

But supershoppers don’t only want the best - they want personalized, unique, cool gifts. Mobile searches related to “unique gifts” grew more than 65% while mobile searches related to “cool gifts” grew a whopping 80%⁹.

Mobile is Their Door to the Store

Although more and more people are willing to buy on mobile, we know that mobile is still used predominantly as a door to the store. In fact, 76% of people who search for something nearby on their smartphone visit a related business within a day, and 28% of those searches result in a purchase¹⁰.

Once they’re inside your store, they expect the experience to be a seamless one: more than 40% of smartphone shoppers want retailers to automatically surface relevant information such as the location of the item in the store, a special deal or related products¹¹.

They Shop ‘Til they Drop

Supershoppers live up to their name as the holiday season progresses. From November through mid-December we see online conversion rates increase across devices. Last year, on mobile alone, they jumped 30% on Black Friday and 50% on Cyber Monday when compared to November 1¹².

Here Are a Few Tips to Reach Today’s Supershopper

1. Get your holiday campaigns in shape: Use a combination of search and video ads to reach shoppers across all their digital touchpoints. Ensure your products stand out by reading our list of optimization do’s and don’ts as well as our best practices for TrueView video ads.
2. Be Present on Mobile: use mobile bid adjustments to ensure your brand is present no matter when people are shopping. For search campaigns, you can send mobile users to the right pages on your site by using mobile URLs in expanded text ads.
3. Manage Your Bids Efficiently and Effectively: Use Smart Bidding in AdWords or DoubleClick Search to maximize your performance. Improve your bidding for sales and promotions by using Business Events in DoubleClick Search.
4. Bring your Brand into the Consideration Set: as shoppers are more open to new brands online, help shoppers discover your brand and products through category keywords and audience targeting formats like TrueView for shopping. You can use TrueView video discovery ads to target YouTube search pages relevant for your brand.
5. Don’t Miss Out on People Who are Willing to Buy Your Products: Monitor your budgets and review your click-share daily to make sure you’re not losing out on shoppers ready to buy. Increase bids and budgets as conversion rates rise, and don’t forget to keep the lights on even after the holiday season ends! Finally, don't forget to use store visits or store sales to make sure offline sales are accounted for.

Julie Krueger, Retail Managing Director, Google

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1. Google/ Ipsos, Post Holiday Shopping Intentions Study - Total Shoppers Report, Jan 2016, Base: US Holiday Shoppers, n=1,500
2. Google/Euromonitor International, Micro-Moments Survey, US, July 2016, Smartphone shoppers = 1000, Same store shoppers = 801
3. Google/Euromonitor International, Micro-Moments Survey, US, July 2016, Smartphone shoppers = 1000
4. Google/Euromonitor International, Micro-Moments Survey, US, July 2016, Smartphone shoppers = 1000
5. Google-commissioned Ipsos Brand Building on Mobile Survey, U.S., December 2015 n=1000, 18-54 year olds
6. Google/Ipsos, "Consumers in the Micro-Moment," Wave 3, U.S., n=1291 online smartphone users 18+, August 2015.
7. Source: Google Search Data, Apparel, Home & garden, Beauty & personal care, Computers & electronics, Gifts, Toys & games, Photo & video, Nov-Dec 2014 vs Nov-Dec 2015, United States.
8. YouTube data, U.S., Classification as a “Product Review" video was based on public data such as headlines and tags, and may not account for every such video available on YouTube, Nov - Dec 2014 and Nov - Dec 2015
9. Google Search Data, Apparel, Home & garden, Beauty & personal care, Computers & electronics, Gifts, Toys & games, Photo & video, Nov-Dec 2014 vs Nov-Dec 2015, United States.
10. Google/Purchased Digital Diary: How Consumers Solve Their Needs in the Moment, May 2016, Representative sample of US Smartphone users = 1000. Local searchers = 634, Purchases = 1,140
11. Google/Euromonitor International, Micro-Moments Survey, US, July 2016, Smartphone shoppers = 1000
12. Google Analytics Shopping category data, Nov 1, 2015–December 14, 2015, United States

If you’re inviting a friend to dinner or asking them about the best hotels in New York City, you’re probably doing it through mobile messaging. Nearly two thirds of smartphone owners use messaging more than five times a day to communicate with others.Read More

If you’re inviting a friend to dinner or asking them about the best hotels in New York City, you’re probably doing it through mobile messaging. Nearly two thirds of smartphone owners use messaging more than five times a day to communicate with others.¹ And people aren’t limiting their use of messaging to social communications - 65% of consumers say they’d consider using messaging to connect with a business to get information about a product or service, or to schedule an in-person appointment.²

In the coming weeks, we’re introducing click-to-message ads to bring the efficiency and effectiveness of messaging to search ads. By setting up a message extension, you’ll give users an easy way to text you to start a conversation and continue it whenever is most convenient for them.

Tapping on the texting option launches a user’s SMS app with a pre-written message tailored to the product or service they’re interested in. For example, if you’re a travel advertiser and someone messages you after searching for New York City hotels, they can send or edit your pre-written message text, “I’m interested in a reservation. Please text me back with more information.”

Many advertisers are already using click-to-message ads to take advantage of a new and faster way to connect with consumers on mobile to increase conversion rates:

"Click-to-message ads have proven to be a great way to help prequalified customers start the hotel reservation process in a way that is convenient and easy for them. They can text an agent to get questions answered, continue the conversation on their own timetable, and trade booking information before completing the final checkout over the phone or on our website. It's a seamless and streamlined process that helps increase brand trust. The conversion rate on message extensions is 41% higher compared to other ad extensions. Paired with customer support software, they’ve also allowed our agents to respond to requests in a more efficient and cost-effective way. ”

- Gabe Thayn, Director of Search Marketing, TravelPASS Group

"Click-to-message is a useful tool that allows consumers to engage with our business in a way that’s comfortable and efficient for them. They could be on their commute or in a rush, so they can text us quickly through click-to-message. It’s also a good medium to get questions answered that aren’t addressed on our website, or to reach us during hours when our office is closed. Our main performance objective is to help customers as much as possible - when we take care of their questions and needs in a helpful, relevant way, that leads to better business results."
- Gavin Chan, Digital Marketing Manager, AnyVan

"The results from click-to-message have been phenomenal and we've seen a 80% higher conversion rate when compared to other similar channels. We can now tap into an important consumer base that prefers to use SMS to learn more about our insurance products. Besides giving users a new way to get in touch with us, we feel this is by far the fastest and most cost-effective way to connect with them."
- Gavin Parker, Paid Search Manager, Auto & General 

“We started testing click-to-message as soon as we heard about it. Text messaging is a popular medium of communication among young professionals and the opportunity to engage them through SMS is very exciting. We sell industrial equipment and supplies, which can be very technical. Sometimes customers don’t have time to talk over a web chat or phone conversation, but still need more information. Messaging helps simplify these exchanges and the customer response has been very positive since they can post a question and follow up in their own time."
- Ashar Mairaj, VP of Marketing, Global Industrial


Mobile users have more flexibility than ever to choose how they want to connect with businesses. Through messaging, you can initiate valuable conversations with them by tapping into one of their most preferred modes of communication. Learn more about click-to-message ads by visiting the Help Center. Also read our new best practices to learn how to use click-to-message ads to build a faster consumer experience on mobile and deliver useful information that gets customers closer to purchasing.

Posted by Amit Agarwal, Senior Product Manager, Mobile Search Ads

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1. Google Consumer Surveys, US, Canada, UK, Australia, October 2016, Base: Respondents who own a smartphone and use it to access the Internet (n = 1,262 in US, n = 1,222 in UK, n = 567 in Canada, n = 563 in Australia)
2. Google Consumer Surveys, US, Canada, UK, Australia, October 2016, Base: Respondents who own a smartphone and use it to access the Internet (n = 1,036 in US, n = 1,032 in UK, n = 489 in Canada, n = 485 in Australia)

When it comes to attracting customers over the busy holiday season, showcasing your products online can help you get in front of more people, and many retailers already use ecommerce platforms to upload and promote their products online. Today, we’re excited to announce partnerships with three major ecommerce platforms -- BigCommerce, PrestaShop, and Magento -- to make it easier than ever before to get started on Google Shopping for the holidays, and beyond. If you’re using any one of these platforms (or if you’re thinking of using one of these platforms), our new partnerships let you easily submit your product information to Google Shopping and quickly reach millions of new customers searching for what you sell.Read More

When it comes to attracting customers over the busy holiday season, showcasing your products online can help you get in front of more people, and many retailers already use ecommerce platforms to upload and promote their products online. Today, we’re excited to announce partnerships with three major ecommerce platforms -- BigCommerce, PrestaShop, and Magento -- to make it easier than ever before to get started on Google Shopping for the holidays, and beyond. If you’re using any one of these platforms (or if you’re thinking of using one of these platforms), our new partnerships let you easily submit your product information to Google Shopping and quickly reach millions of new customers searching for what you sell.

Get up and running on Google in just a few clicks

With this direct integration, you can save time and extra work by using your existing BigCommerce, Prestashop, or Magento account to easily submit your product data to fuel a new Google Shopping campaign.

With just a few clicks, your product information is populated in your Merchant Center account, helping you reach new shoppers on Google.com and other Google properties. This integration lets you:

• Find new customers, right where they’re searching. Connect your products to the customers who matter most -- the ones searching for what you sell.
• Easily display your rich product imagery and details. Put your product images, price, and other differentiators front and center, so that searching shoppers can easily find you.
• Get up and running quickly, minimizing your holiday workload. Use the product information you’ve already entered in your ecommerce platform without needing to submit this information separately to Google.
• Showcase your newest inventory. Roll out new products to Google Shopping, simply by adding products to your ecommerce store.

Early successes

We’ve been testing this technical integration with our ecommerce platform partners, and have already seen impressive results from small businesses, brand new to Google Shopping.

Peter Baseio, founder and CEO of baby product company Organic Munchkin, connected his BigCommerce account to Google Shopping to reach new customers with rich, visual ads. “Google Shopping allows our products to be listed in a visual format, increasing brand awareness for our niche market, as well as revenue,” said Baseio. “It has tripled our revenue stream, bringing in customers we never knew we had access to."

Sam Gong, co-founder of Man Crates, used the integration to help tens of thousands of new customers find their unique assortment of gifts. "Google Shopping is an incredibly cost-effective way for us to reach new customers on long-tail search terms and recapture visitors that have found Man Crates through one of our primary marketing campaigns,” said Gong. “It's well integrated with BigCommerce, incredibly easy to setup, and easy to measure and manage on an ongoing basis. It’s an absolute no-brainer for just about any ecommerce business."

Ready to get started?

If you’re not using an ecommerce platform today, find out how to sign up for one by checking out the BigCommerce, PrestaShop, or Magento website. If you’re already using one of these platforms, visit our Help Center or the BigCommerce, PrestaShop, and Magento help pages to learn more.

Posted by James Summerfield, Senior Software Engineer, Google Shopping

The shift to mobile has happened. And as marketers on the frontline, you need tools that help you build mobile-first experiences at scale. AdWords Editor is here to help -- and just in time for the holidays. The latest version (11.6) includes support for universal app campaigns, Gmail ad templates, and much more.Read More

The shift to mobile has happened. And as marketers on the frontline, you need tools that help you build mobile-first experiences at scale. AdWords Editor is here to help -- and just in time for the holidays. The latest version (11.6) includes support for universal app campaigns, Gmail ad templates, and much more.

Universal app campaigns

Developers and marketers know it’s not just about driving app installs, it’s about delivering valuable actions within your apps. AdWords Editor now supports universal app campaigns (UAC), which help you find the customers that matter most to you, based on your defined business goals. With UAC, you can find valuable users for your app across Google Search, Play, YouTube, and within apps and mobile websites on the Display Network. Create and edit universal app campaigns in AdWords Editor today.

Gmail ad templates

With Gmail ads, you can reach the 1B+ Gmail users around the world. Gmail ads provide a relevant way for you to connect with them as they're browsing promotional emails. AdWords Editor now supports Gmail image templates and Gmail single promotion templates so you can easily create, manage, and edit your Gmail ads, in bulk, alongside the rest of your ads.

Expanded text ads

As a reminder, support for expanded text ads is also available in AdWords Editor. Expanded text ads provide more ad space so you can showcase additional details about your brand, products, and services. Check out our best practices guide for tips and tricks on writing compelling ads.

Responsive ads

Responsive ads adapt to the increasingly diverse mix of content types and screen sizes across the Google Display Network. You can now create and edit responsive ads in AdWord Editor.

And more…

The latest version of AdWords Editor also includes:

• Device bid adjustments allow you to maintain the efficiency of managing a consolidated campaign that reaches consumers across devices, while giving you more control to set individual bid adjustments for each device type.
• Enhancements to advanced search, including an easier way to create filters.
• Scheduled downloads to help you stay on top of recent changes and performance statistics

Learn more about these updates in the AdWords Editor Help Center or download AdWords Editor here.

Posted by Blake Reese, Senior Product Manager, AdWords Editor