Google Grabs Up 80 Percent Of Retail Advertising Spend

The latest data figures from Adthena indicate that Google’s dominance in the world of digital ad spending remains largely unrivaled.

According to news from FierceRetail, figures show that as of Q1 2018, Google Shopping campaigns account for almost 80 percent of all retail search ad spend. Ashley Fletcher, Adthena’s VP of Marketing, affirmed this pattern remains consistent when looking at desktop or mobile data, which strongly indicates Google is the far-and-away leader in retail advertising and setting the state for converting a sale from a product search.

As of the latest data for this year, Google drew more than 76 percent of all retail search ad spend. Moreover, the data indicated this search spend generated over 85 percent of all clicks. That strength was influenced by category accounting — U.S. fashion and apparel advertisers were the biggest spenders on Google Shopping ads — for almost 85 percent of all search ad spend in general, coming down with some 90 percent of all clicks.

Mobile continued to show strength as the emerging go-to channel for consumer outreach, accounting for over 38 percent of all retailers’ search ad spend. Mobile is where almost 42 percent of all clicks originated from. Looking at Google Shopping ads on mobile accounted for 79 percent of all spend and won 87 percent of clicks.

The searches were more likely to be category-based as opposed to brand-centric. U.S.-branded search terms accounted for less than 34 percent of Google Shopping ad spend, as opposed to more than 76 percent across all searches.

“This is a great way for retailers to be competitive with Amazon,” Fletcher told FierceRetail. “Amazon almost took in nearly 50 percent of all eCommerce dollars last year. Retailers need to take advantage of every opportunity to win back market share. Product listing ads are high performers and can drive awareness and demand directly back to retailer sites.”