Top Toys For Christmas 2009 – Let the season of goodwill begin…

October 19, 2009
by Mark Johnson

On the 28th October the Toy Retailers Association will announce their ‘Top 12 Toys for Christmas’, which in the past has signified the start of the Christmas gifts season. However, in recent years, and particularly this year, online searches for Christmas related goods have started earlier and earlier thus suggesting this is no longer the case and that other news stories are driving these searches instead.

For me, one of the indicators that Christmas is not too far off is the start of the live shows for X-Factor. Love it or hate it, we have come to accept that the Christmas number one single tends to be the winner of the competition, regardless of how good/bad/festive the song is. So the start of the live shows begins about an 11 week countdown to the day itself.

Also, in the past week or so, we were again reminded that many companies are gearing up to the Christmas period with the news of possible Royal Mail strikes, causing businesses such as Amazon to look elsewhere so that they can ensure deliveries in the run up to Christmas are unaffected and sales not compromised.

So what does this mean for digital marketers and online retailers? Well firstly, if you happen to sell any of the products listed in this year’s list, you need to be prepared for the large increases in search volumes after they have been announced and therefore set budgets and bids accordingly.

The graph below shows just three of the products from last year and the massive increases in searches following the announcement of the list on October 15th.

The second graph shows the increase in ‘top toys’ related searches around this date, and therefore expect many similar searches to be made this year when the Toy Retailers Association announce its list on Wednesday 28th October.

If you haven’t already done so, you need to start to consider creating specific campaigns for these products. Although the official list has not been announced there are many websites who are already making predictions. They would suggest toys relating to the Transformers films are going to be quite popular this year as well as toys like Go Go Pet Hamsters and video games such as Wii Sports.

Research and planning are therefore key in the run up to Christmas when running any online retail account. Understanding the search trends of the products you are selling will enable you to ensure you are advertising at the right times. This year even more people will use the internet as a research tool, so understanding when people are searching for a product will also allow you to have your ads present and visible in the important research phase.

I would strongly recommend that, if you haven’t already, you put together a Christmas plan outlining sale dates, product launches, special offers and last day delivery times etc, so you can optimise your accounts accordingly to promote the right message and right products at the right time. Before things start to get really busy!

If you do have any questions, or would like to find out more on what we will be recommending to our retail clients to maximise their ROI this Christmas, then please feel free to get in contact.

Please also check back regularly as I will be posting more retail related blogs in the run up to Christmas.

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