This document summarizes the state of search and eCommerce for 2017 according to Elizabeth Marsten. It discusses the growth of platforms like Yahoo, Bing Ads, Amazon and Google in eCommerce search and advertising. It highlights innovations from these platforms in areas like native ads, custom audiences, and the buy button. It emphasizes the importance of high quality product data for success. The document advises focusing on data quality, mobile experiences, and shifting budgets from text to product listing ads as traffic patterns change.

1. State of Search
What to Expect: eCommerce
2017
Elizabeth Marsten
@ebkendo Image:

2. @ebkendo
• Senior Director, e-Commerce Growth Services
• Seattle, WA
• 10 years in the search industry
• PPC, Social, SEO, Analytics, Content
• Speaker: SMX Adv/East/West, Mozcon,
• Author: Lynda.com, All in One Web Marketing
for Dummies
• And…
@ebkendo

3. Proud parent of a Toadler

4. CommerceHub – One Connection
NORTH AMERICA’S LARGEST RETAILERS,
MARKETPLACES AND SEARCH ENGINES
DEMAND GENERATION
ASSORTMENT EXPANSION
WAREHOUSES, STORES, DROP-SHIPPERS,
BRAND MANUFACTURERS
DELIVERY EXPERIENCE
NATIONAL CARRIERS, REGIONAL
CARRIERS, LOCAL CARRIERS Image: CommerceHub

5. Supply Solutions
Increase product offering and grow
revenue through “virtual inventory”
Integrate with any trading partner or
order fulfillment source
Maintain branding and complete
control over fulfillment process
Demand Solutions
Profitably acquire new customers
through search, social and
marketplace channels
Push product catalog to channels
where consumers seek new products
Manage and optimize digital
advertising spend across channels
Delivery Solutions
Optimize consumer shipping through
real-time decisions on cost-effective
delivery methods that meet the
consumer’s delivery date
Extend the reach of rapid delivery
programs by geographically distributing
inventory to partner 3PLs
Image: CommerceHub

6. Yahoo
Image:

7. Verizon
Dynamic
Product Ads
(Native)
Native
(Display,
Retargeting)
Search (Text
Ads)Polyvore
Brightroll
Flurry
Analytics
Text Ads
• Search
Partners
• Yahoo
• Ask
Product
Listing
Ads
• Search
Partners
•Yahoo
•Polyvore
Display
Ads
Text Ads
•Search Partners
•Yahoo
•AOL
• adMarketplace
• Syndicated Search
Partners
Product
Ads
•Search
Partners
•Yahoo
•Search Partner
•Yahoo
Image: CommerceHub

8. Polyvore: Owned by Yahoo
Image: CommerceHub
And for part of 2015, was powering all of the Yahoo Shopping ads when it came to apparel.

9. Shop The Look: New Ad Format Powered By Google Shopping
• Apparel and home décor
• Broad queries trigger
• Shop those exact, or visually similar,
products featured in the image
• Sourced from trusted partners such as
LIKEtoKNOW.it, Polyvore, and Curalate
• Opted in based on Google Shopping
participation
Image Source: http://searchengineland.com/google-shop-the-look-mobile-ads-apparel-home-products-258213

10. Polyvore: What We Saw
@ebkendo
Source: CommerceHub data
CommerceHub Book of Polyvore
Clients
• 41% Increase in Clicks YoY
• 27% Increase in Sales YoY
• 11% Decrease in Cost

11. Yahoo: Custom Audiences for Search & Search Retargeting
Custom Audiences for Search
• 225% increase in CTR
• 230% increase in CR
• 51% reduction in CPA
Search Retargeting on Native
• 23% conversions from native
• 14% lower CPA on native than search (text) ads
*Results from comparison between audience targeted vs. non audience targeted traffic
Source: Yahoo!

12. Yahoo Dynamic Product Ads in Pilot
• Retargeting method – showing
previously viewed products
• Uses product catalog feed
• Native format
• All devices
@ebkendo Image: Yahoo!

13. Bing Ads
Image: iStock

14. Bing Ads Sales – Internal to CommerceHub
Source: CommerceHub data

15. Where’s the Bing Ads Volume Coming From?
• Increase in impressions on mobile for Product Ads
• AOL partnership (was less than 1% for e-Commerce, now 8%)*
• Faster feed processing times than last year
• Product Ads now available in Canada
*Internal CommerceHub data, January 2016- October 2016

16. LinkedIn – Welcome to Microsoft
@ebkendo
• B2B advertising
• Lead generation primarily
• CPC often higher than you’d
like
• Recently started leveraging
Lynda.com acquisition
Image: CommerceHub

17. Connexity
Image: iStock

18. Expansion of Partnerships
• Pricegrabber, Become, Shopzilla, Yahoo, Meredith
• Focusing on publisher network
• Long term growing sales through social channels
Image: Connexity

19. Connexity: What’s Next
• Highly curated editorial content
• Engaging with social agencies and influencers
• Marketplace connecting retailers and influencers
Image: Connexity

20. eBay & Amazon
Image: Pixabay

21. eBay: In a Relationship with Facebook & Google
@ebkendo
• Accelerated Mobile Pages
• ASIN Pages
• Improve SERPs to be static pages, not auctions that have ended
• Buying traffic via AdWords to those new category pages
• eBay states 80% of products listed are new items, not used
• Facebook
• Monetizing messaging apps (no one opens emails anymore!)
• Create collections for sharing

22. eBay Commerce Network
• Formerly Shopping.com
• Sponsored ads on eBay pages
http://www.commercehub.com/shopping-com-ebay-commerce-network/

23. Amazon Product Ads Sunset in Oct. 2015
@ebkendo
$90
$95
$100
$105
$110
$115
$120
$125
$130
0%
200%
400%
600%
800%
1000%
1200%
1400%
2015 APA – CommerceHub Clients
Average Order Value Return on Ad Spend
Source: CommerceHub data

24. Amazon Sponsored Products: What it Is
@ebkendo
• Ads that stay on Amazon.com
• Surface up products that normally aren’t found or new
• Have to win the Buy Box
Image: CommerceHub

25. Amazon Sponsored Products: Like PPC
@ebkendo
• Keyword based (automatic and manual)
• Double dip cost model – CPC and product category % fee with
Amazon if the product sells
• Very similar to a simple Google AdWords account
• Potential to take keywords from Sponsored from search and vice
versa – especially when doing dynamic search ads on Google
• Using (most often) ACoS/ROAS

26. Where to Concentrate
Image: Pixabay

27. Data Quality in Feeds
@ebkendo
• Google Shopping
• Manufacturer Center
• Merchant Promotions
• Local Inventory (in store & pick up)
• Product Reviews
• Business Data

28. Google GTIN Requirements
What: Google requiring unique product identifiers, especially brands sold by multiple retailers
in multiple countries
@ebkendo
• Ad spend efficiency and user experience improvements
• Competition from marketplaces & Facebook
• Leaving “ownership” of the customer and the experience to retailers and brands
• And…

29. • Know and store popular product data
• The Assortment Report in Merchant Center
• Shopping Insights tool
• Ability to serve very specific versions of PLAs
The New Exact Match Keyword?
Image: Google Shopping Insights

30. How long before Google knows my favorite color is blue and
my clothing and shoe sizes?
Personalization takes on a new meaning
@ebkendo
Image: CommerceHub

31. • Product Cards, Google Shopping,
Google Now, Shopping Express
• Alternative images can be used
• Reported increase conversion rate
• Bosch, 4% lift
• Will not override PLA product titles
• Fill in missing information or clarify
like “cordless” or weight
Google Manufacturer Center
Image: CommerceHub/Source: Think with Google

32. The Buy Button: a Product Listing Ads enhancement on mobile
Purchases on Google
https://adwords.googleblog.com/2015/07/winning-shopping-micro-moments.html

33. • Still running on a % of eligible traffic across Android and iOS
• Only certain products (at your control) show the buy button
• Learned that everything before the buy button is what leads to it being
used or not
• Built a huge infrastructure, 150k+ active retailers and 500m products
to understand a shopper’s intent
• We’re expecting to see upwards of a 5% lift in conversions at
CommerceHub
Purchases on Google in 2016
Ugg – 50% increase in conversion rates on mobile PLAs with
POG and a 25% decrease in cost per conversion.
https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/05/ways-to-be-useful-for-mobile-shoppers.html
@ebkendo

34. Seller Ratings & Product Ratings
Images: CommerceHub
• Third party or directly send your product ratings to Google
• Look out for PLAs with ranking designations (1st 2nd 3rd)
• Different experiences for desktop and mobile

35. Mobile – Purchases on Google/hosted storefront
Research – Manufacturer Center, Product Cards
In person – In-Store Visits
Frictionless and seamless paths to convincing a CFO to consider a
different attribution model and marketing budget allocation.
Also, Amazon.
Continuing Innovations to Connect all the Pieces
@ebkendo

36. What Now
Image: iStock

37. Google Wants You to Spend
@ebkendo
• Easier to get into betas and be whitelisted (expansion)
• Better support (continue to spend)
• Better attribution (cross device tracking)
"Facebook, I think because it has been so successful, is probably, to be
blunt, a little bit more difficult to deal with. I think that's not a view we are
alone in having. Others would too if you ask around. My view is that is
going to change because they will see the benefit and the merit.“ – Martin
Sorrell, WPP CEO
http://www.businessinsider.com/wpp-google-spend-5-billion-relationship-better-than-facebook-2016-10

38. Shift in Spend and Traffic Types in eCommerce
@ebkendo
• Spend is shifting to PLA from text ads
• Non-brand queries tend to be more successful in PLA than text
• Mobile devices showing more PLAs per query
• Search partners (like Image search) increasing PLA impression share
• Online assortment is expanding both in variations and categories
• Brands are looking to sell more direct to consumer
• Removing the retailer, keeping that margin and owning the customer
http://searchengineland.com/google-shopping-ads-so-hot-right-now-the-meteoric-rise-of-plas-248055

39. Thank You! Go Dawgs!
@ebkendo