Kenshoo Releases Early Edition of 2012 U.S. Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report: Top Retailers Increase Online Sales Revenue from Search Advertising 25 Percent Year-over-Year

SAN FRANCISCO, December 7, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

Kenshoo (http://www.Kenshoo.com), the global leader in premium digital marketing technology, today unveiled the Kenshoo 2012 U.S. Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report: Early Edition. The free report provides actionable insights for advertisers and documents the growing role of mobile search, superior performance of Google Product Listing Ads (PLAs), a 25 percent year-over-year (YoY) increase in total sales revenue driven by search advertising, rising average order value (AOV) buoyed by a 19 percent YoY increase in Thanksgiving Day sales and continued multifaceted growth on Cyber Monday, which remained the busiest day of the holiday period.

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"U.S. consumers didn't waste any time getting a jump on their holiday shopping this year as they loaded up their plates on Thanksgiving Day and continued to pile on through Cyber Monday," said Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer for Kenshoo. "Savvy retailers that leveraged advanced tools for managing paid search, mobile and PLA campaigns certainly have enjoyed the fruits of their labor so far this season."

Some early key findings from the 2012 holiday shopping season include:

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) from paid search rose eight percent YoY, and Conversion Rates were up 10 percent as advertisers improved campaign quality.
• Cyber Monday drove the heaviest search traffic of the holiday period, with a 66 percent YoY increase in search ad impressions and 57 percent lift in clicks; paid search ad spend rose 51 percent YoY.
• Thanksgiving Day delivered the largest AOV of any day during the period, topping $150, with revenues from search advertising for the day increasing more than 60 percent YoY.
• Low average CPC and high AOV combined to drive ROAS on Thanksgiving Day to $10.30, 72 percent higher than the $5.99 ROAS overall holiday season average.
• Phone and tablet usage captured more than 27 percent of all clicks.
• Tablet search drove the highest AOV of any channel at $135.01, but tablet CPCs ($0.44) remained lower than that of computers ($0.49).
• Google PLAs outperformed product-related keyword searches, providing 36 percent higher ROAS and 28 percent lower CPC, while more than doubling their click-through rate.

The Kenshoo 2012 U.S. Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report: Early Edition contains an in-depth look at mobile ad performance and Google Product Listing Ads along with timely SEM trends and insights. The report also includes implications for advertisers and tips on how to capitalize on timely opportunities as well as a glossary of search marketing terms and formulas.

The data analyzed by Kenshoo reflects a representative cross-section of Kenshoo clients (advertisers and agencies) managing paid search programs for the retail vertical in the United States with active campaigns tracking impressions, clicks, conversions and revenue over the 12+ month period from November 1, 2011 through November 26, 2012. The data set covers 10+ billion paid impressions and clicks on search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing that delivered more than $500 million dollars in online sales revenues during the 26-day November periods leading up to and through Cyber Monday in 2011 and 2012. Final figures and YoY analyses will be released in the full Kenshoo 2012 U.S. Retail Holiday Shopping Report, available in early January.

Download the Kenshoo 2012 U.S. Online Retail Holiday Shopping Report: Early Edition to get a breakdown of all the key SEM metrics for the season to date.

About Kenshoo

Kenshoo is a digital marketing technology company that engineers premium solutions for search marketing, social media and online advertising. Brands, agencies and developers use Kenshoo Enterprise, Kenshoo Local and Kenshoo Social to direct more than $25 billion in annual client sales revenue. The Kenshoo Universal Platform delivers automation, intelligence, integration and scale to make better marketing investments. With campaigns running in more than 190 countries for nearly half of the Fortune 50 and all 10 top global ad agency networks, Kenshoo clients include CareerBuilder, Expedia, Facebook, KAYAK, Havas Digital, Hitwise, iREP, John Lewis, LendingTree, Resolution Media, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Tesco, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Kenshoo has 16 international locations and is backed by Sequoia Capital, Arts Alliance and Tenaya Capital. Please visit http://www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

Kenshoo is a trademark of Kenshoo Ltd. Other company and brand names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE Kenshoo