Rewind

Paid Search: Spring Apparel 2010 (February – April)

In This Report:

Sales (Orders & Demand) 2 Conversion 4

Spend 3 Top Days of the Week 5
Clicks 3 Methodology 6

Executive Summary

In this emerging economic recovery, the hard

work that online apparel retailers have done to
Year-Over-Year Changes for Spring Apparel 2010
define their own ―new normal‖—adjusting pricing,
incentives and inventory, for example—has paid 35% +33%
off. The apparel retail sector in Spring 2010
30%
showed dramatic year-over-year growth. +27%
Consumers continue to demonstrate their 25%
eagerness to shop online and to view search as 20%
an essential conduit to their fashion needs.
15%

Although research firm comScore cited 10% first- 10%

quarter growth for all online retail, PM Digital’s +4%
5%
apparel clients saw paid search demand swell +2% +2%
33% on average for the season (February-April), 0%
which they achieved with a comparatively modest -1%
-5%
increase in year-over-year spend. Search dollars
CPC Spend Clicks Conversion Demand AOV
also went further, as CPCs actually improved. Rate

The Spring Apparel 2010 Rewind study, based on aggregated and indexed performance data, shows that seasonal
patterns for apparel marketers are largely knowable. The second and final weeks of February were the two
strongest for sales, the former likely being influenced by Valentine’s and President’s Days promotions. We’ve
further observed that Spring Apparel sales typically peak near the end of all three months, March and April included.
This was once again the case in 2010, whether measuring by demand, orders or conversion.

Key Findings

 The top two sales weeks for Spring Apparel occurred in February. Sun 2/21–Sat 2/27 indexed highest for
demand. Coming just prior to Valentine’s and President’s Days, Sun 2/7-Sat 2/13 indexed highest for order
volume. (see Sales - Orders & Demand, page 2)

 Thursday 3/25 was the top single day for paid search sales. For the second consequent year, this seasonal
peak occurred roughly 10-12 days before Easter. (see Sales - Orders & Demand, page 2)

 Conversion followed similar ups and downs to sales metrics, being strongest at key points towards the end of
each month. Sat 4/24 was the best single day for conversion. (see Conversion, page 4)

 Sundays were the top day of week for demand and conversion, while Tuesdays indexed highest for order
volume. Mondays were strongest for clicks in this category. (see Top Days of the Week, page 5)
 Rewind
Spring Apparel 2010

Sales (Orders & Demand)

The charts below show indexed data representing the number of paid search orders and the total paid search
demand during the 2010 Spring Apparel season.

Top Weeks: Week Ending 2/27

(Demand), Week Ending 2/13 Paid Search: Sales (by Week)
(Orders)
125
2/7-2/13 Orders
2/21-2/27
Other Key Weeks: Week Ending (111) (108) Demand
3/27, Week Ending 4/24
100
 Paid search demand for Spring Index
Apparel peaked at the close of
February, with the week ending 75
Sat 2/27 indexing highest (108)
for the season.

 Measuring by order volume, the 50

top week was Sun 2/7-Sat 2/13
(111). Consumer behavior
anticipating online sales and
promotions pegged to Valentine’s
Day and President’s Day likely
played a role here. [Weeks Ending]

 Both key February weeks were strong overall—the top week for demand was the second-best week for orders,
and vice-versa. We’ve further observed that the weeks near the end of each month are typically strong for
Spring Apparel sales, and this was once again the case in 2010.

Top Day: Thu 3/25 Paid Search: Sales (by Day)

Other Key Days: Wed 2/10, Thu 3/25

175
Thu 3/25 (152)
Thu 2/25, Thu 4/22, Mon 3/22 (133) Orders
150
Demand
 Thursday 3/25 had the highest index 125
of any single day for paid search, as
measured both by demand and the 100
Index

number of orders. Seasonally, this

late-March peak was anticipated as 75
it occurred at a similar time last
50
year, roughly 10-12 days before
Easter (the holiday itself is identified 25
on the graph by the sharp fall-off in
sales on Sun 4/4). 0

 The second highest-indexing day for

demand and orders was Wed 2/10,
which aligns with one of the top
sales weeks.

 Daily data shows similar upticks in Spring Apparel sales near the end of each month.

PM Digital’s products are a unique blend of its services, people, systems, technology and tools.
This information is highly CONFIDENTIAL. © Copyright 2010 PM Digital. All rights reserved.

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 Rewind
Spring Apparel 2010

Spend

The chart below shows indexed data representing total spend for paid search on any given day during the 2010
Spring Apparel season.

Top Day: Mon 2/8 Paid Search: Spend

Other Key Days: Sun 2/7, Sat 2/6 150

Mon 2/8
 Indexes representing total paid (124)
search spend followed a similar trend 125
as orders, demand and clicks. The
first and largest spend peak occurred
Index
on Mon 2/8 (124), anticipating the 100
peak in sales two days later. Other
peak spend days similarly
75
anticipated subsequent sales peaks
in March and April.
50

Clicks

The chart below shows indexed data representing the number of paid search clicks for each individual date during the
2010 Spring Apparel season.

Top Day: Mon 2/15

Paid Search: Clicks
 President’s Day, Mon 2/15, indexed 125
Mon 2/15
highest for the number of clicks (114) (114)
for the Spring Apparel season,
possibly driven by consumers seeking
related holiday deals. 100
Index

 While sales were also strong on this

day, and spend was appropriately
75
higher as well, the increase in
demand on President’s Day was just a
bit shy of bringing it into the top five
sales days for the season overall. 50
With many consumers home that day,
some were clearly searching for
online deals. But it also seems likely
that online retailers faced competition
from in-store events on this day.

PM Digital’s products are a unique blend of its services, people, systems, technology and tools.
This information is highly CONFIDENTIAL. © Copyright 2010 PM Digital. All rights reserved.

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 Rewind
Spring Apparel 2010

Conversion

The charts below show indexed data representing paid search conversion, or the ratio of same-day orders to clicks,
by individual date and by week during the 2010 Spring Apparel season.

Top Week: Week Ending 2/13 Paid Search: Conversion (by Week)
125
Other Key Weeks: Week Ending
2/7-2/13
2/27, Week Ending 4/24, Week (108)
Ending 3/27
100

 The strongest single week for Index

conversion during the Spring
Apparel season was Sun 2/7 – Sat 75
2/13 (108), just prior to Valentine’s
and President’s Days.

 The next highest weeks for 50

conversion aligned with the end-of-
month weeks in which sales metrics
were also strongest.

[Weeks Ending]

Paid Search: Conversion (by Day)

Top Day: Sat 4/24
150
Sat 4/24
Other Key Days: Thu 2/25, Sun 3/28 (130)
125
 Same-day paid search conversion
followed similar ups and downs to 100
Index

sales metrics, and was strongest at

key points towards the end of each
75
month. Sat 4/24 had the highest
single index (130) for this metric.
50

25

Note: Data does not include delayed conversions.

PM Digital’s products are a unique blend of its services, people, systems, technology and tools.
This information is highly CONFIDENTIAL. © Copyright 2010 PM Digital. All rights reserved.

4
 Rewind
Spring Apparel 2010

Top Days of Week

The charts below show how each day of the week fared for paid search campaigns during the 2010 Spring Apparel
season, as measured by various indexed metrics.

Orders Demand
120 120

(107) (108)
110 110
Index

Index
100 100

90 90

80 80

Clicks Conversion
120 120
(108)
110 110
(102)
Index

Index

100 100

90 90

80 80

Note: Conversion chart does not include delayed conversions.

Top Days of Week: Sunday, Tuesday, Monday

 Sundays indexed the highest for demand and conversion for Spring Apparel retailers, while Tuesdays indexed
the highest for the number of orders.

 While Mondays were the strongest day of the week for clicks, lower conversion on that day meant it was not the
top day of week for sales (though it remains so at other times of year). This scenario suggests that strategic
opportunities exist, with options ranging from trying to boost conversion on that day of week to trying to shift
those Monday clicks to better-converting days.

PM Digital’s products are a unique blend of its services, people, systems, technology and tools.
This information is highly CONFIDENTIAL. © Copyright 2010 PM Digital. All rights reserved.

5
 Rewind
Spring Apparel 2010

About This Report

Rewind is a product of PM Digital Research that analyzes recent sales patterns within a given online media channel,
market category and time frame. This edition focuses on paid search campaigns for online merchants during the
Spring Apparel 2010 season (February-April).

Our goal is to provide PM Digital clients with actionable intelligence and perspective, to aid strategic planning and to
help benchmark success.

MediaHarbor® is PM Digital’s suite of search engine marketing tools, analytics and research. The suite not only
improves workflow efficiency and program performance; it also drives strategy, planning, optimization and execution.

Methodology

Rewind examines performance data from PM Digital clients after it has been aggregated and indexed to ensure
confidentiality as well as maximum statistical relevance. Data presented in all charts and analyses are drawn from
the MediaHarbor® proprietary Online Media Tracking and Reporting Tool, combined with data reported by Google,
Yahoo and MSN. All data has been indexed within the context of each type of program (in this context, paid search
campaigns) to allow fair comparisons across marketers. Each marketer's average performance during the Spring
Apparel shopping period of 2/1-4/30 served as its own baseline (index = 100). Each marketer's daily performance
was compared to its own baseline to calculate an index value. Index values below 100 indicate below-average
performance; index values above 100 indicate above-average performance. The average of all marketers'
performance metrics are reported in the graphs of this report.

Staff

Editor: Paul Freibott

Contributors: Brenda To, Glenn Lalich

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Rewind report or suggestions for future editions, please contact us at
info@pmdigital.com.

PM Digital’s products are a unique blend of its services, people, systems, technology and tools.
This information is highly CONFIDENTIAL. © Copyright 2010 PM Digital. All rights reserved.