March continued to see growth in both paid search expenditures and revenue, which PM Digital has been tracking consistently since last spring. PM Digital’s March 2011 Rewind Index, which measures monthly U.S. paid search performance for online retail clients, shows that revenue from this source was up 39%, on a spend increase of 30%. Clicks were up a healthy 12% year-over-year, and for the second consecutive month, improvement in the average conversion rate outpaced the growth in all other metrics. Average orders saw another modest increase vs. last March. The end of the month produced all of the top sales days, a good sign as online retailers head into April.
YoY Performance Metrics for March 2011
March 2011 Top Sales Days (Revenue): Thu 3/31, Tue 3/22, Tue 3/29, Sun 3/27
March 2011 Top Sales Days (Orders): Tue 3/29, Sun 3/27, Thu 3/31, Tue 3/22
As mentioned, all of March’s top sales days for PM Digital retail clients came at the end of the month. Furthermore, these top days were the same whether measured by order volume or revenue, though they varied slightly in ranking. Revenue peaked on Thu 3/31 and Tue 3/22, while orders peaked Tue 3/29 and Sun 3/27. In general, the month did not see significant spikes in the data as in other months, which can be expected since March has few traditional retail holidays. The end-of-month uptick can be seen even more clearly when the data is rolled up by week (below).
March 2011 Top Spend Days: Sun 3/27, Mon 3/28
Top spend days for paid search also came at the end of the month, indicating strong ROI and an alignment of paid search budgets with bottom-line performance.
March 2011 Top Clicks Days: Sun 3/27, Mon 3/28
The top two days for paid search clicks matched those for spend. The strong growth in average conversion rates, noted up top in the YoY Performance Metrics chart, reveals itself again in the relatively short distance between dates when searchers clicked and when they placed orders.
The PM Digital Rewind Monthly Index measures paid search performance for online retail marketers during the prior month. Based on aggregated and indexed performance data, the PM Digital Rewind Index provides immediate, ongoing perspective for the retail sector just a few business days after the close of a given month. The Index covers all retail categories, including merchandise and apparel.
Look for our next edition of the monthly PM Digital Rewind Index covering April 2011 to be released in early May.
