US' Amazon wins biggest share of Google results in apparel and beauty

Out of the seven e-commerce verticals analysed by Searchmetrics in its latest report Amazon is revealed to have the highest market share of page one search results in four categories (apparel, beauty, health, and sporting goods). In the three other sectors (DIY, furniture, electronics) Amazon comes second, Amazon said in a press release.

Search activity in all e-commerce verticals remains higher than before the pandemic. The acceleration of e-commerce during the pandemic has seen all seven verticals continuing to experience higher average search volumes during 2021 when compared with pre-COVID-2019 figures, according to the analysis. The sector with the biggest uplift in search activity is furniture in which the volume of monthly searches per keyword averages 193 per cent higher than in 2019. Next is the DIY sector, with monthly searches per keyword 190 per cent higher on average. For apparel, the average is 84 per cent higher, and for beauty it is 83 per cent higher.

Amazon is also among the biggest spenders of Google Shopping ads in some e-commerce verticals. In the apparel vertical, the top three biggest spenders of Google Shopping ads are Amazon, Walmart, and Etsy, respectively. In beauty they are Amazon, Walmart, and Ulta. However, in furniture they are Wayfair, Overstock, and Walmart, with Amazon not making the top three.

Retail brands can beat Amazon by targeting informational searches. The analysis indicates that around one in two e-commerce searches are for informational queries — those queries in which people are searching with the intent to gather information or learn more about goods and services, rather than with an intent to make an immediate purchase, according to Amazon.

According to Searchmetrics, most e-commerce brands do not focus enough on informational content, meaning competition is not as fierce as it is for transactional searches. This makes informational content an open field and a great way of taking on Amazon.

“If you can get shoppers to engage with your brand by luring them to your website via informational searches, there’s a greater chance your company and its products will come to mind when they eventually make a purchase. Your aim should be to answer the key informational questions shoppers are asking in your market by providing advice, how-to articles, product comparisons and analysis of the newest trends and so on. There’s even an opportunity for retailers to set themselves apart from Amazon with these practices. Because while the online marketplace may have collaborated with publishers, shops and brands to provide some of this content, as yet it hasn’t been done in great depth for very many products,” Lillian Haase, CMO from Searchmetrics said in a statement.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (GK)