November, The Flurry of Shopping Events

Singles Day, Black Week, and Cyber Monday are officially over, offering us a good view of this month's campaigns. Within the November season, several industry trends emerged, presenting significant takeaways. 

Programmatic Highlights

• Increased faith and investment in YouTube activities compared to the previous year.

• The use of Video Action YouTube Campaigns (VAC) performed surprisingly well as a conversion-driven strategy, showcasing effectiveness in utilizing multiple ad formats and including shorts.

• A notable trend of increased engagement was observed at the beginning of the sales period.

• Among many clients we can see a broader variety of creatives used during the sales period, aiming to provide the algorithm with a range of content to reach varied audiences with tailored messages.

SEM Insights

• Clicks increased by 10-15% while CPCs increased by 5-10% during Black Week

• Search and Shopping campaigns decreased traffic by 20-35% while Performance Max increased by 50+%

• The newcomer Temu was expected to go aggressively during Black Week, but we saw a decrease in visibility from Temu during Black Week vs previous periods. Instead, Amazon increased their presence by about 25%

• It is clear that clients are more and more prepared as the planning starts earlier every year, which is positive for avoiding last-minute preparations and mistakes

Paid Social Analysis

• CPM prices were very similar to the low prices in 2022 for E-commerces with a slight decrease of 4%. At the same time, CTR dropped by 26% which caused an overall increase in CPC by 30%.

• Conversion rates increased by 48% which compensated to some extent, leaving the ROAS flat year over year.

• Advantage+ stood out in the campaign mix with a ROAS development of +65%.

Overall, November 2024 showcased substantial shifts and noteworthy strategies across various marketing platforms, highlighting the evolving landscape of consumer engagement and campaign dynamics within the retail sector.