Think it’s too late to launch an online campaign to drive sales this Memorial Day weekend? Think again! With Memorial Day less than two weeks away, now is the time to really hunker down and make sure your campaigns are ready for the first long weekend of the summer! Here are a few points to consider:

Online-to-Store
While this could easily be the topic of another post entirely, it’s worth pointing out that on big holiday weekends, consumers are looking to take advantage of the extra time off and do some shopping. If your business is offering Memorial Day weekend promotions, it’s never too late to get the word out about those deals! Don’t have time to create new ad copy? Consider leveraging sitelinks within your campaigns to highlight Memorial Day sales, printable coupons or even special online-to-store pickup and return policies! Using Google Insights for Search, we can see that the search volume for [printable coupons] experienced a bump around Memorial Day in 2010, and is expected to do the same again this year:














Big Ticket Items
Big ticket items, such as furniture, mattresses, and appliances aren’t usually purchased on a whim. Due to the large financial commitment, these purchases are often the result of a joint decision making process. With routinely busy schedules, what better time to plan a family shopping trip than a long weekend? Google search trends back this up. Take the term [mattress sales], for instance. In 2010 this term experienced the greatest search volume in the days leading up to Memorial Day weekend, Labor Day weekend and Black Friday, as illustrated here:














The same holds true for [furniture sales]:














If you’re a retailer in this space, make sure to capitalize on this opportunity! Whether or not you have brick and mortar locations, now is the time to get your deals in front of potential customers!

After you’ve spruced up your campaigns for the long weekend, sit back, relax and have a cold glass of lemonade in honor of our soldiers past and present. Happy Memorial Day!

Posted by Erin Maddens, The Google Retail Team

Memorial Day is officially known as the time for remembering all those who have died serving our country.

Unofficially though, it also marks the beginning of the summer. The beginning of sundresses and white shoes, sandals and bikinis, and of course, those DIY projects the winter months prevented us from tackling.

According to Tod Marks, senior project editor for Consumer Reports, stores in 2009 were overwhelmed with products, especially apparel, due, in large part, to the recession and the demand for lower prices. As a result, large chains have been cutting prices left and right in order to offer consumers larger-than-life discounts. Query trends from 2010 confirm this continued interest in sales as the term “Memorial Day Sales” rose over 56% from 2009 to 2010.














Another trend we’re seeing around Memorial Day is price cuts on home improvement items. Whether it’s building a new deck or replacing old appliances, home improvement stores are offering up deals that can help kick start your latest project. You can expect to see the biggest markdowns on washers and dryers and other big-ticket items as consumers begin to spend more freely on items to fix up their homes. In the fourth quarter of 2010 alone, sales on big-ticket items rose nearly 10% at Home Depot and the trend is expected to continue.

Retailers are also beginning to mark down hot-ticket items such as TVs and video games that can help to complete the home enhancement transformation. Technology equipment tends to be marked down around Memorial Day as retailers are pushing to get customers spending. By offering the lowest price around on hot tech items, retailers are more likely to draw the in-store crowd they’re looking for and give the consumer the price they’ve been waiting for.

Lastly, keep in mind that many consumers will be comparison shopping in order to find the best deal around. Consider creating an online e-circular that highlights your best discounts and promotions. It’ll help consumers find all of their summer essentials without driving around town or breaking the bank.

Happy Memorial Day from all of us on the Google Retail Team!


Posted by Angela Cortese, The Google Retail Team

Consumers are smarter than ever and utilize Google to hunt for sales and promotions, especially around holidays. Whether it’s Valentine’s Day or President’s Day (both of which were wildly successful this year) shoppers are now trained to search for deals around these dates.

St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner, and looking at historical search volume, queries for ‘St. Patrick’s Day sale’ terms were up 92% from ’09 to ’10, and three weeks out from the big day, advertisers are already advertising on holiday sale terms.
















We can only anticipate that queries for deals, coupon codes and sales will continue the upward climb this year. And what about other upcoming celebrations to plan for?

Earth Day, which will be celebrated on April 22nd this year, also had a large year over year increase from ’09 to ’10, with Earth Day sale and promotion searches jumping 49%, while Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and Father’s Day deal terms also soared.




















Source: Google Internal Data


In order to build quality score and maintain low CPCs, get in the auction early! If you are running a promotion around St. Patrick’s Day, go ahead and imagine Clint Eastwood asking, ‘Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya?’


Posted by Kelly Smith, The Google Retail Team