And holiday sales will break a new record as Cyber Week growth slows down
To view this email as a web page, [click here]() Oct 21, 2021 Good morning, Search Marketer, âWhat was that one taco place we ordered from last summer?â Search isnât just conducted on the world wide web â it occurs in inboxes, order histories, the DMs and more. Search engines are focused on helping us find the new information weâre looking for and, although some degree of personalization impacts the results, itâs very difficult to remember which listing you clicked on if it wasnât in the top positions or a brand you recognize (which speaks to the importance of branding). Back to my greeting at the top: My partner wanted to order from that same place again and it took us 30 minutes â both searching our inboxes, order histories and various food delivery platforms â to finally find the restaurant. âThat is sad,â my colleague Barry Schwartz said when I told him about it. It is sad that platforms havenât prioritized their internal search features to more quickly and accurately surface our historical interactions â if youâve ever had to search by date in Gmail, you probably know what Iâm talking about. This could have been lost business for that restaurant and, in a more general sense, diminishes our marketing efforts because itâs not very useful to be top-of-mind if the inability to locate a piece of crucial information prevents prospective customers from converting. George Nguyen,Editor Local Business reopenings have flattened while new leisure and hospitality openings drove growth, according to Yelp Eighty-five percent of temporarily closed businesses in the U.S. since the onset of the pandemic have reopened as of September 30, 2021, [according]() to Yelp. In Q3 2021, new hotels (up 32% YoY), nightlife (up 30% YoY) and beauty (up 7% YoY) businesses drove openings, although total new business openings nationwide have flattened (increasing just 1% YoY). Consumer interest in the nightlife, fitness and entertainment sectors has also risen substantially â interest in dance clubs is up 67%, yoga is up 41% and indoor play centers are up 204%, for example. Why we care. These statistics give us a general idea of how local businesses are operating and whatâs top-of-mind for consumers. Business reopenings have decreased, which may mean that temporarily closed businesses are becoming less common and that local economies are adapting. While leisure and hospitality drove new business openings, these businesses may still be navigating a labor shortage, which can severely impact the ability to serve customers and undermine marketing efforts. The restaurant and food industry is facing a similar labor shortage, along with rising food prices, which may explain the diminished growth nationwide. In the nightlife, fitness and entertainment industries, consumer interest has exceeded 2019 levels across the board â save for movie theaters â which may indicate less hesitancy among consumers to engage in activities where social distancing is difficult or impossible. These statistics can be interpreted as generally positive, but itâs important to remember that itâs historical data. The pandemic is still here and so are its side effects: Inflation is at its [fastest rate in 13 years](), there is a labor shortage in certain sectors, mask mandates remain in effect in some states, certain cities have vaccine requirements for indoor businesses and [supply chain difficulties are trickling down]() to customers. In addition, we are approaching the holiday season, which saw a substantial spike in COVID cases last year â business owners and marketers should have a plan in place should history repeat itself. [Read more here.]() Indicators Holiday sales are predicted to break a new record even though Cyber Week growth is slowing U.S. online holiday sales will reach a new record, $207 billion, from November 1 to December 31, according to [Adobeâs Holiday Shopping Forecast](). Thatâs up 10% YoY, a strong growth rate after a year in which the pandemic drove customers towards e-commerce. However, major shopping holidays seem to be losing steam (see the chart above): While Cyber Week (Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday) is expected to drive $36 billion in online spending (17% of the entire holiday season), growth has slowed, coming in at just 5% YoY â half the rate of the seasonâs overall growth. Nevertheless, Adobe expects Cyber Monday to remain the biggest shopping day of the year, although the three major shopping days (Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Thanksgiving) are growing less than the season overall. Here are some more quick stats from the report: - U.S. consumers will pay 9% more on average during Cyber Week this year, compared to the last holiday season.
- Out-of-stock messages are up 172% vs. pre-pandemic period (Jan 2020); and up 360% vs. Jan 2019.
- Online revenue from Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) this year has been 10% higher than 2020 and 45% higher than 2019. Shoppers are also using BNPL for less expensive orders, with the minimum order value dropping to $225 (a 12% decrease YoY). Why we care. âWe are entering a second holiday season where the pandemic will dictate the terms,â said Patrick Brown, vice president of growth marketing and insights at Adobe, âLimited product availability, higher prices, and concerns about shipping delays will drive another surge towards e-commerce, as it provides more flexibility in how and when consumers choose to shop.â Additionally, Cyber Weekâs diminished growth is something weâre also seeing for other major shopping holidays â Memorial Day, Labor Day and Presidentâs Day grew on average 16 percentage points slower in two-year growth than the seven days leading up to them, according to the report. This may indicate that retailers are spreading out their sales over more days and/or a shift in when consumers are shopping. PPC campaign launch checklist Launching and managing a successful campaign takes time and planning. This primer from MoreVisibility will help orient you along the way. It covers audience and goals, channel selection and budget distribution, and campaign assets. [Get your copy now »]() Industry After 13 years, Frédéric Dubut, principal product manager, core search & AI, departs Microsoft After thirteen years, Frédéric Dubut, principal PM manager, core search & AI at Microsoft, announced his departure on Monday. Dubut â seen above on the left, joking with Fili Wiese at SMX Advanced in 2019 â has been an avid contributor to the search community, lending his insights into the inner workings of Bing for our [Bing SEO guide]() as well as speaking at SMX on [webspam and penalties](), [Bingâs âquest for intelligent searchâ]() and more. Why we care. In addition to being an industry, search marketing is also a community of professionals that do our best to share what we know so that our colleagues and the brands they work for can succeed. In his role at Microsoft, Frédéric Dubut exemplified these qualities and greatly contributed to the industryâs understanding of how Bing crawls, indexes and ranks. Dubut has not disclosed where heâs headed next, nevertheless, we hope the best for him and are optimistic that whoever steps into his now-former role will also be a steward and advocate for SEOs. [Read more here.]() Search Shorts Rethinking ROAS, the Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines and creative briefs The ROAS pathology: How revenue-based optimization is selling you short. âAs ad channels like Google Shopping become increasingly hands-off in nature, the true competitive advantage will not be in bidding itself,â [wrote Mike Ryan](), head of retail insights at Smarter Ecommerce, âBut rather in being able to determine the actual ROI more realistically than your competitors.â Ryanâs article highlights the potential dangers of ROAS as a KPI and how advertisers can stay ahead of the competition by ditching this metric. Dive deep into the refreshed Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines. On Tuesday, Google announced an [update of its Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines]() â the first update in over a year. Jennifer Slegg, founder of The SEM Post and SMX speaker, has published her very detailed [guide to all the latest changes](), even the ones not mentioned in the change log. Types of creative briefs. [This weekâs Marketoonist]() pokes fun at the many approaches marketers and their agency counterparts take in coming up with a creative game plan. âBecause most marketers give insufficient attention to the creative brief, this gives an advantage to the few that do,â said Marketoonist creator Tom Fishburne, âInspired briefs attract inspired teams and lead to inspired work.â Low rates for SMX expire Saturday! Don't wait, book now and save. Your final chance to save big on a ticket to SMX expires in two days â Early Bird rates are flying away Saturday, October 22 at 11:59pm ET. Do yourself and your wallet a favor: Select your ideal pass and book now! [Register for just $249 »]() What We're Reading We've curated our picks from across the web so you can retire your feed reader. [5 principles of an ideal SEO team structure]() â Kevin Indig [Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai calls for federal tech regulation, investments in cybersecurity]() â TechCrunch [Google Centerpiece Annotation â Primary Content Of Page & Site]() â Search Engine Roundtable [How to identify ranking gaps in Googleâs People Also Ask (PAA) SERP feature using Semrush [Tutorial]]() â GSQI [Yoast SEO 17.4: Performance, web stories and News SEO]() â Yoast [Search Engine Land] [() Information on Advertising/Sponsorship [here](). This email was sent to {EMAIL}.
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