Mobile Drives Google Shopping Retail Sales In Q1 2016
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
Revenue from smartphones rose 164 percent.
Retail sales from Google Shopping ads bucked the traditional post-holiday trends and actually grew by 52 percent year over year in the first quarter of 2016, driven by mobile purchases, according to e-commerce marketing technology Sidecar. Revenue from smartphones rose 164 percent.
The data also showed that clicks increased 171 percent, orders also rose by 171 percent, and ROAS was up by 23 percent. Retailers’ revenue form mobile devices also increased by 45 percent year over year at the site-wide level.
"Google Shopping has paved the way for product advertising as a whole -- particularly on mobile devices," said Andre Golsorkhi, CEO of Sidecar. "The first quarter shows that Google Shopping is a key customer acquisition channel, and it catapulted to the top priority of more online retailers in the U.S. It is a must-have channel -- and, more important, a must-do-well channel."
Other findings from Q1 further show that retailers have a growing opportunity to convert more traffic from Google Shopping PLAs. Click growth reached 98% year over year -- exceeding the click growth during Holiday 2015 of 65%. And impressions in the channel were up by 130% year over year.
This data is significant, given the showdown between Amazon and Google. “It’s easy to paint the doomsday scenario for Google,” Scot Wingo, executive chairman of e-commerce firm ChannelAdvisor, told Re/code in December. “But the interesting part of [Google's PLA growth] is it shows Google still has a dog in the fight. It’s not game over.”
One advantage of Google over Amazon search is that Google allows customers to compare prices, and today’s bargain-savvy shoppers look for the best buys. Price-matching policies are thriving across the brick-and-mortar and online communities as companies seek to win – and keep – customers.