Consumers click more often on paid search ads for spring apparel

Online consumers shopping for spring apparel increased spending through paid search by 33% and the number of orders completed by 27%, according to a new report by search marketing agency PM Digital.

The report, “Rewind: Spring Apparel 2010,” which analyzed data from February through April, also finds that costs per click decreased by 1% even though retailers increased paid search spending 2% year over year.

“Online apparel retailers had to do some hard work in this emerging economic recovery adjusting pricing, incentives and inventory,” says Chris Paradysz, PM Digital CEO. “Now we’re seeing the hard work pay off with a dramatic year-over-year swell in demand for spring 2010.”

The report also finds that the week of Feb. 7, which led up to Valentine’s Day, had the highest number of orders placed by shoppers.

The day with the most paid search clicks was President’s Day, Feb. 15, as consumers sought holiday-related deals, says the report. The day with the highest number of sales through paid search was March 25, a time when many consumers were shopping for the Easter holiday, according to the report.

The report says certain days of the week fared better for sales:

• Sales and conversion were highest for retailers on Sundays
• The number of orders placed were highest on Tuesdays
• Highest number of clicks on paid search occurred on Mondays

The report is based on data from PM Digital clients combined with data from search engines Google, Yahoo and MSN.