iPods, laptops and digital cameras are set to be the most sought-after gifts this Christmas, according to new research.
The report from search engine marketing company Greenlight into search trends in the brown goods sector this September found early indications that entertainment products were the most searched for category in the sector, with more than 546,000 searches made – equivalent to 40% of all brown goods searches. These included MP3 players, personal video players, iPods. The term ‘iPod’ alone accounted for 246,000 searches in September 2010 – or 18% of all brown goods-related searches. That was followed by PCs and laptops, with 31% of all searches and cameras and camcorders, with 11%.
Simon Hollingsworth, lead researcher at Greenlight, said: “Greenlight’s analysis in the September report gives an early insight that products such as the iPod, laptops and digital cameras will be the most sought after gifts this Christmas; thus, competition for related keywords, in terms of visibility, will be strong.”
He said that retailers must therefore work hard to promote the value-for-money effectiveness of their goods. “Retailers must ensure that they state prices and feature unique selling points, including ‘free delivery’ or ‘next day delivery’, to maximise sales conversions,” he said. “In addition, nearer to the holidays, advertisers should display final cut-off times for pre-Christmas deliveries, which will be extremely important in capturing consumers making last minute purchases. For post-Christmas sales, retailers should likewise bear in mind the importance of pointing out any price reductions in online adverts.”
The research also found that the number of searches had fallen by 90% to 1.3m searches – compared to the 14m searches made in August. However, this is may be largely explained by changes in the way Google searches are calculated that took place during September. Now, only searches on Google.co.uk are calculated, whereas previously partner search engines were also included.
The sites that came out top for brown goods searches in natural search were amazon.co.uk, in 46% of results, Wikipedia.org, in 43% and pcworld.co.uk in 37%. In paid for search, amazon.co.uk (43%) was followed by tesco.com (41%) and johnlewis.com (37%). John Lewis had previously been the most visible paid-for advertiser in June.
