Understanding Consumer Insights
As the time in lockdown proceeds, search volumes for goods and products are showing some extremely volatile changes and predicting what products will be in high demand next is proving difficult. However, Google has recently released a tool called ‘Rising Retail Categories’ which provides marketers with data on the most searched for categories.
Prior to this new feature, marketing professionals and business owners had access to tools and resources like Google Trends, social listening and online customer surveys to get an understanding of consumer trends & interests over time; for example many businesses discovered that there was a rise in customers searching for outdoor swimming pools, jigsaws and sewing machines during the first phase of lockdown. However, in order to use these resources to find products in high demand and drive SEO marketing value to customers, you needed to know exactly where to look. Google has therefore created Rising Retail Categories as an easy way to keep on top of trending product categories.
Much like Google Trends, Rising Retail Categories proposes a list of top trending product categories and how consumer interest in that category has changed over different periods of time. Whilst currently Rising Retail Categories only collects data from the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, it will hopefully be expanding very soon to support e-commerce marketing worldwide.
Google has also made data filtering available, so users can filter countries and change the measurement of time eg, weekly, monthly or yearly. This allows businesses to have a wider spectrum of the market demand, it gives them room to reason why certain products have such increased popularity and the advantage to predict what consumers will be looking for in the future.
How does this new insightful tool work? By simply selecting a product category you will be taken to a list of trending queries around that category. This therefore divides the category into sub-categories, making it easier for businesses to identify exact consumer needs.
By scrolling down the page, a diagram will represent where the largest frequency of searches for that product category is coming from allowing businesses to direct their goods accurately at the countries which have a high search volume around that product.
How to use this data effectively
The data provided from Rising Retail Categories can be scrutinised and used in a range of ways to help businesses thrive during these trying times. Google gives some useful examples of how to successfully use the data provided to your businesses advantage.
Content creation: First of all, a significant rise in searches for “flour” encouraged a cookware company and a local chef to come together and create a range of recipes and tutorials that incorporate flour.
Promotion: An accessories company partnered with fitness influencers to help promote their products after a rise of searches for “free weights”. This would therefore expand their audience and drive customers to their e-commerce store.
Product ideas: And finally, a clothing company said that the data will inspire new product line ideas for their products so that their products will appeal to people around the globe.
Google has said that their aim is to release new data everyday for the next few months so that the statistics remain relevant and accurate. Rising Retail Categories will be supporting the global economy globally during these difficult times by allowing business owners to utilise and manipulate this data and continue to provide accurately for their customers.
Interested in how you can increase the ranking of your business on Google? We help clients across all industries to improve their search visibility. Get in touch with our Search Engine Optimisation specialists for a free audit.