U.K. Retailers Increase Online Revenue by 54 Percent and Return on Advertising Spend by 45 Percent

London (16 December, 2011) – Skai (www.skai.io), a global leader in digital marketing software, today unveiled preliminary findings of the Skai U.K. Retail Index for online search advertising, focused on the Christmas season. The first of its kind in the U.K. published by Skai, the index represents core online search advertising data gathered from transactions over the period of 1st November to 12th December, 2011 and compared against 2nd November to 13th December, 2010. A full report for the season with detailed charts and trend analysis will be released in the New Year.

Key findings for the 2011 season to-date:

  • Online search advertising spend increased 7 percent year-over-year (YoY)
  • Online retail revenue driven from search advertising increased 54 percent YoY
  • Average search advertising cost per click (CPC) increased 35 percent YoY
  • Online retailers’ return on advertising spend (ROAS) increased 45 percent YoY
  • Total number of online purchases driven by search advertising increased 17 percent YoY

“Online Christmas shopping has been quite strong in the U.K. so far this year,” said Aaron Goldman, chief marketing officer at Skai. “Search advertising appears to be a main growth driver of U.K. e-commerce with both advertisers and consumers spending more than ever before. The best news for retailers is that the higher cost per click has not resulted in a lower return on ad spend. This makes search advertising an extremely profitable channel.”

The data above is based on the Skai U.K. Retail Index, a cross-section of Skai retail advertisers covering verticals like apparel, electronics, entertainment, home improvement, gifts, luxury goods, and toys. The research covers paid search advertising in the U.K. across channels like Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The trends were culled from an aggregation of more than 1.4 billion total search advertising impressions, 34 million clicks and 1.4 million online sales transactions.

About Skai
Skai is a digital marketing software company that engineers technology solutions for search marketing, social media and online advertising. Brands, agencies and marketing providers use Skai Enterprise, Skai Local and Skai Social to direct more than $15 billion in annual customer sales revenue. The Skai Universal Platform delivers automation, intelligence, integration and scale to make better marketing investments. Skai powers 6 of the top 10 global hotel groups, 7 of the top 10 retailers, 7 of the top 10 telecoms, 9 of the top 10 ad agency networks, and 23 of the Fortune 50 companies. With campaigns running in more than 100 countries, Skai customers include Annalect, Barnes & Noble, CareerBuilder, Facebook, Havas Digital, Hitwise, iREP, John Lewis, LendingTree, Sears, Starcom MediaVest Group, Tesco, Travelocity, Walgreens, and Zappos. Skai has ten international offices and is backed by Sequoia Capital and Arts Alliance. Please visit www.Kenshoo.com for more information.

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