Retailers without an
online presence and marketing strategy this holiday season run the risk of losing millions in sales. ProStores introduced Tuesday a search advertising tool to help small- to-mid-size retailers that
are building an online presence be discovered by consumers searching across Google, Yahoo, Bing and Facebook. The eBay company tapped Clickable to provide the service.
While ProStores
merchants experimenting with online advertising can create a complete solution through Clickable, those already managing online marketing campaigns can expand their presence to all major search and
social advertising networks, while finding new opportunities and optimizing performance.
Clickable's tools also provide ProStores merchants with the ability to track sales from online ads
across all major networks. The tools can track performance across the conversion funnel on ecommerce sites from keyword query to sale, unlike brick-and-mortar retail stores that have to make
assumptions about sales generated from online advertising campaigns. The return-on-investment (ROI) metrics allow merchants to optimize campaigns and ensure they meet marketing goals.
ProStores
aims to help merchants drive sales and save time. Paid-search tools support that agenda, according to Li Shearer, senior manager who heads marketing and revenue at ProStores. "Setting up one campaign
is difficult enough, but doing it across the three major search engines and Facebook makes it that much harder," he says. "Clickable makes it all pretty easy."
Shearer says the agreement should
make paid search -- which can be challenging for small businesses -- much easier on the hosted solution.
A ProStores-Clickable branded landing page offers retailers a 15-day trial and $200 in
credit to start.
Online sales will rise 15% in November and December compared with the same months last year, according to the trade group the National Retail Federation. U.S. consumers plan to
spend on average $688.87 for holiday-related shopping items this year -- up from the $681.83 they gave to merchants in 2009, the NRF reports. Holiday sales should rise 2.3% to $447.1 billion this
year.
Nearly 27% of U.S. consumers with a smartphone will use the mobile devices to research or buy products this holiday season, according to the survey. About 44% of consumers age 18 and
above will shop online for holiday items this year, up from 42.4% last year.
The agreement also includes tools that support mobile advertising via the Google AdWords network, according to Max
Kalehoff, Clickable VP of marketing.