Mother’s Day Consumer Insights

March 2013

Industry trends shows Mother’s Day will be a $18.6B event with an opportunity to capture sales that spans a two week window pre-holiday while the consumer research period may extend out to four weeks pre-holiday. Though consumer confidence remains positive, expected consumer spending should show a moderate increase from 2012. Advertisers should begin optimizing their campaigns in mid-April and conclude testing by April 28th to capitalize on the optimal online buying window. Due to the highly competitive nature of the gift categories, retailers are encouraged to review their budget levels and settings so as not to inadvertently reduce their visibility and potential conversions. Retailers are also encouraged to provide free and guaranteed shipping to attract customers and utilize in-store pick-up to drive brick-and-mortar traffic for potential up-selling. Additionally, retailers will benefit from the unique attributes of the YBN audience which over-indexes against average Internet consumers between 25 and 34; the age group which has indicated the highest average purchase intent of $216.75. YBN also over-indexes with consumers 35 – 44 who indicate an average purchase intent of $179.67. Jewelry and special outings such as brunch and dinner continue to rank among the top gift categories for Mother’s Day. These gift categories also have a strong correlation with the YBN audience which indicate a higher proportion of incomes (when compared to the Internet average) ranging from $60K and higher.

Mother’s Day In A Nut-Shell

Agenda

Insights

Consumer Trends

Volume Ramp and 2012 Mother’s Day Recap

• YBN Audience

• SMB Optimization Strategies

• Ad Formats and Tools

Appendix

Insights

• Men are primary targets, but consider targeting women for incremental buys for other close female relations such grand mothers, aunts, and godmothers

• Capitalize on sentimentality – with rising gas prices, tax increases and economic concerns I expect a marginal increase to a flat holiday period; however, the timing of tax refunds will support some buying behavior

Messaging

• Highlight free shipping, sales, discounts and promotions

• Promote shipping options such as guaranteed delivery for last minute gift shopping

• Promote gift card redemption for buyers redeeming holiday 2012 gift cards

Calls-to-action and Special Offers

• Ramp up campaigns in mid-April to capture early searches

• Refine campaigns for traffic spikes one and two weeks prior to the holiday

• Promote e-delivery and guaranteed delivery the week of

• Promote gift card redemption first two weeks after the holiday for those who received gift cards as a gift

• The timing of tax refunds will help fuel spending for Mother’s Day as consumer confidence continues to rise; however, rising gas prices, tax increases and economic concerns may result in a smaller percent growth increase

Timing

• The YBN audience has a high purchase intent with the majority having spent more than $7500 online within the last 6 months (Compared to Internet average)

• Typically older than 25, our audience has an income of $60-$100K+ (Compared to Internet average)

YBN Audience

Bing Insights 2012

Consumer Trends (slide 1 of 3)

PriceGrabber's 2012 Mother's Day Shopping National Retail Federation and BIG Insights, Gas Prices No Match When it Comes to Mom, According to NRF Survey Aboutflowers.com, Mother’s Day Floral Statistics Staticbrain, Mother’s Day Statistics CNBC.com’s Consumer Nation, Show the Love: Mother's Day Spending Seen 8% Higher * Consumer Affairs defines special outings as brunch or evening dinner.

• Online research begins about one month before Mother’s Day with the following purchase breakdown

• 30% of consumers indicate they will buy a gift one week before the holiday

• 27% two weeks prior

• 18% forty-eight hours prior

• 13% one month prior

• 12% two weeks prior

Purchase Timeline (Based on 2012 data)

• Total spend in 2013 is expected to reach $18.6 billion versus $13.1B in 2011 (2nd highest spending holiday with 24% of all holiday transactions occurring on Mother’s Day)

• Men outspend women with an average of $189.74 compared to $1117.42 (a 61.6% difference)

• 25 – 34 year olds indicate the highest spend intention of $216.75 followed by 18 – 24-year olds with $187.84 and 35 – 44 with $179.67

• Jewelry has traditionally driven the highest spend with $3.7B in 2012 followed by special outings* ($3.4B), Flowers ($2.2B) and gift cards ($1.8B)

Overall Spend (2013 and 2012)

2013 Consumer Trends (slide 2 of 3)

• 24.4% of tablet users indicate an intent to purchase their gift online compared to 12.4% of smartphone users

• Both tablet and smartphone users stated an intent to research and compare prices using their devices (35.7% vs. 25.4%)

• Tablet and smartphone uses also indicated an intent to use mobile applications to purchase products (12.8% vs. 9.2%); redeem coupons (13.5% vs. 10.1%), and use their devices to look up retailer information (19.6% vs. 18.7%).

Tablets vs. Smartphones

• Greeting cards are the most popular gift (82.7%)

• Flowers (66.4% and accounts for ¼ of all holiday-related floral purchases)

• Special outing (54.3%)

• Gift Cards/Certificates (22%)

• Clothing (17%)

• Jewelry (15%)

• Experiential gifts (15%)

Gift Categories

PriceGrabber's 2012 Mother's Day Shopping National Retail Federation and BIG Insights, Gas Prices No Match When it Comes to Mom, According to NRF Survey Aboutflowers.com, Mother’s Day Floral Statistics Staticbrain, Mother’s Day Statistics CNBC.com’s Consumer Nation, Show the Love: Mother's Day Spending Seen 8% Higher * Consumer Affairs defines special outings as brunch or evening dinner.

2013 Consumer Trends (slide 3 of 3)

• 5% of PriceGrabber respondents said they planned to purchase their gift from a mobile device with 52% planning to buy online from their computer and 43% within brick-and-mortars

• 29% planned to use a daily deal site

• According to respondents, key purchase influencers include free shipping (53%), discounts/price cuts (43%), and sales (38%)

• According to Unity Marketing’s Gifting report 2012, as reported by CNBC.com, consumable gifts such as chocolate are the most popular gift of gift recipients and is the fastest-growing gift category.

Search Trends

• The growth in consumer electronics is expected to slow on economic concerns

• While gifts giving in this category rose 48% in 2011, it is uncertain how much it will rise in 2013

• 13% of 2012 Pricegrabber respondents said they would buy a tech-type gift with the most popular categories being tablets (51%), e-readers (15%), computers (15%), and cameras (13%)

Consumer Electronics

PriceGrabber's 2012 Mother's Day Shopping National Retail Federation and BIG Insights, Gas Prices No Match When it Comes to Mom, According to NRF Survey Aboutflowers.com, Mother’s Day Floral Statistics Staticbrain, Mother’s Day Statistics CNBC.com’s Consumer Nation, Show the Love: Mother's Day Spending Seen 8% Higher * Consumer Affairs defines special outings as brunch or evening dinner.

Mother’s Day Volume Ramp

Based on a selection of popular Mother’s Day keywords we saw search activity starting to increase in the first days of May, but the number of searches went up significantly only in the last week leading into Mother’s Day. In 2013 advertisers should be prepared for massive spikes by May 6th with competitive bids, additional budget and convincing ad copy.

Mother’s Day Undecided Shoppers

Advertisers should pay special interest to undecided shoppers, who are searching “Mother’s Day Gifts” or “Gift Ideas”. These searches were especially popular the weekend before Mother’s Day and the days after. Attracting those undecided shoppers to your website adds many additional opportunities for conversions.

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Searches

mothers day gifts mothers day gift ideas

Mother’s Day KPIs

In 2012 click-through rates were strong three weeks before Mother’s Day and then increased again in the last days before the event. In most verticals costs per click remained at or below a moderate $0.40, the only exception being the highly competitive “Flowers & Gifts” category, which climbed all of May until right before Mother’s Day.

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eGreetings Apparel & Accessories Flowers & Gifts

Books Health & Beauty Ticketing

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eGreetings Apparel & Accessories Flowers & Gifts

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Mother’s Day Main Line

Ads showing in position 1 had the highest click-through rates in 2012, but there is also a significant advantage for mainline ads. Across the selected keywords shown here we saw the same pattern for each, while at the same time costs per click to be in the mainline were only a fraction higher. For small businesses we recommend to focus on your top keywords and try to bring those in the mainline.

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Books GreetingCards

Flowers Mother's DayGifts

Mother's DayGift Ideas

Mother's DayPoems

CTR by Position

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Flowers Mother's DayGifts

Mother's DayGift Ideas

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Books Mother's DayPoems

CPC by Position

CPC ML CPC

SMB Optimization Strategies

New Ad Formats to Reach YBN Audience

Sitelinks • Up to 25% CTR for Retail; 10-20%

CTR improvement over text ads

• Up to 6 Sitelinks serves at time of delivery (10 may be associated with campaign)

• Campaign level

Location Extensions • 48% CTR improvement

over text ads

• URL + Location

• URL + Location + Phone

• URL + Phone

Long Ad Title

• 3-25% increased CTR for brand terms over text ads and 7% CTR improvement for non-brand terms

Uses !, ?, or . with space to append description line

YBN At A Glance