Digital's role on Black Friday ramps up across mobile search, prospecting and retargeting

Dive Brief:

Black Friday had the highest volume of mobile shopping searches of any day during Thanksgiving week, Google said in a blog post. Thanksgiving Day was a close second with searches peaking at 8 p.m.
Rhode Island and Delaware had the most local shopping search interest, with more mobile searches containing “near me,” “hours” and “stores” taking place in these two states than in any other state.
A separate report provided to Marketing Dive by digital prospecting and retargeting platform AdRoll showed advertisers spent 17.9% more on Black Friday and 13.8% more on Thanksgiving this year compared with a year ago.

Dive Insight:

Black Friday has traditionally been an in-store event, but as shoppers increasingly look to avoid the crowds while taking advantage of the convenience of online shopping, digital’s influence has grown significantly, resulting in marketers increasing their spend on digital strategies.

The numbers from Google support the trend toward mobile becoming a key shopping assistant for consumers. With this in mind, Google continues to enhance the online-to-store connection on search. For example, before Thanksgiving, the company added a real-time look at how crowded a store is at the moment of a search.

Mobile searches on Google surpassed desktop more than a year, so mobile’s key role in holiday shopping is not a surprise. However, the company needs to reinforce the value and key differences in mobile search for consumers and marketers as declining cost-per-click rates on mobile continue to plague Google. Additionally, the company is gearing up for the launch of a mobile-first search index that will be separate from a desktop index, further supporting the unique benefits and qualities of mobile search.

The AdRoll figures suggest that advertisers are ramping up their digital spend to connect with existing customers and to acquire new ones. Click through rates increased 0.11% on Black Friday and 0.10% on Thanksgiving compared to 2015.

The numbers also show that Facebook continues to attract a significant portion of advertisers’ spend, with AdRoll seeing a 10.7% increase on Facebook spending on Black Friday and a 13% increase on Thanksgiving compared with a year ago.

This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the 2016 holiday shopping season. You can browse our holiday page for more stories.