Digital American Newsletter

Amazon ads drive as many sales in other channels as on Amazon, according to recent statistical analysis from Analytic Partners.

The impact of Amazon display ads is even more skewed. On average, 70% of sales spurred by those ads occur in brick and mortar or other channels. The exact percentage varies by company, and increases in tandem with the individual brand’s percent of non-Amazon sales.

What’s more, marketing on Amazon, particularly paid search, influences shoppers’ choices over time, not just in the moment.

Experts speculate that Amazon advertising has such broad and long-lasting impact because consumers leverage the site as a shopping comparison tool. 80% of digital shoppers use Amazon to discover new products, 61% to research different brand options. Americans view the site as a highly trusted source of current pricing, product information and recommendations. Shoppers often use Amazon for research while physically present in other channels and sometimes gather data over time for future purchases.

Sources: Analytic Partners 2019, eMarketer 2018

Focusing all your marketing on Millennials is tempting, until you look at the numbers.

Households over 50 years old now account for 52% of US consumer spending, versus 44% ten years ago. They spend more than younger households on personal care, pet products, household supplies and groceries.

Older household’s share of expenditures will continue to increase because their annual income is greater than younger household’s, and their net worth is increasing three times faster.

What’s more, attitudes across generations are not as different as many think. 66% of Millennials seek brand transparency, 55% of Boomers agree. Two thirds of Millennials eat to manage health conditions, over half of Xers and Boomers do too.

Different generations do not require completely different marketing tactics, either. Advertising on Amazon spans generations. According to Epsilon, the average Amazon shopper is a 45-54 year old affluent married couple. The majority of Xers and Boomers are on Facebook and YouTube, too. (Full disclosure: Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok have low usage by people over 30.)

People over 50 are not sitting home in the dark, hungry, dehydrated and naked. They are eager to buy food, beverage, fashion, and household products that speak to them.

Sources: Epsilon 2019, Media Post 2019, New Hope 2019, Pew 2019

Within the next year, over half of grocery shoppers plan to buy produce, dairy or fresh bakery items online. That’s according to an IDC survey of consumers in the US, Canada and selected European countries.

Consumers’ transition to buying fresh foods online is happening far sooner than most predicted and it’s having a significant impact on ecommerce grocery shopping in total.

• Good quality fresh food is the #1 attribute consumers look for when deciding to buy groceries online.
• Produce is the #2 category of items purchased for curbside pick up, following chips/snacks.
• Perishable sales are already catching up with other food categories. In March 2019, 31% of online grocery shoppers purchased canned products, 29% bought prepared foods, 24% fresh produce and 23% dairy.
• There are significant gender differences in the specific perishables purchased online. Men lead in prepared foods, while produce and baked goods are more likely to be bought by females.
• Millennials are leading the charge towards buying fresh foods online (of course.)

Online perishable purchasing is being driven by the rapid expansion of 2-hour grocery delivery services and order online pick up in store options. Millennials strongly favor the first, while Boomers prefer the second.

Sources: eMarketer 2019, IDC 2019, Marketing Daily 2019, Nielsen 2018

Almost half of social media users believe Pinterest is for discovering and buying products. 15% feel the same way about Facebook, 11% about Instagram. 55% of members use Pinterest specifically to search for potential purchases. Roughly two-thirds save pins and refer to them again when they are in a store.

These are pretty compelling statistics given that consumer interest in social shopping has skyrocketed this year.

At the same time, Pinterest has expanded its footprint significantly. In each of the past 2 years, it has acquired more new users than Facebook and Twitter together.

Pinterest reaches 83% of American women between 25 and 54 years old. About half are members. The rest engage with Pinterest images during visual searches, especially on Google.

More men and Millennials are joining Pinterest. 38% of US dads use the platform, along with about a third of Millennials. Pinterest now has more members than Twitter, Snapchat and LinkedIn.

Users value what they get from Pinterest. They are two times as likely as members of other social platforms to say their time on the network is well-spent.

Sources: Bazaarvoice 2019, Emarketer 2019, Hootsuite 2019, Marketingland 2019, Pinterest 2019

Over 50% of listeners feel ads on podcasts are enjoyable, relevant, engaging, and memorable. 68% wouldn’t mind more commercials if they helped keep podcasts free. 49% go out of their way to support brands that advertise on their favorite podcasts.

I can’t think of any other media where ads get this type of reaction.

What’s more, podcasts have a rapidly growing, attractive audience. 51% of US adults have ever listened to a podcast, and 22% (62 MM people) engage weekly, up roughly a third vs year ago. Weekly listeners average 7 shows per week, an increase of 2 vs 2017.

The majority of the podcast audience is 18-44 years old. The typical user has a college or advanced degree, high net worth, and above average engagement with social media. Historically, more men than women listened to podcasts, but the split is now rapidly approaching 50/50.

In a world dominated by media multi-tasking and ad skipping, consumers give podcasts their undivided attention. 70% do nothing else while they are listening, and only a modest percentage skip the commercials.

Sources: Edison Research 2019, Infinite Dial 2019, MarketingCharts.com 2018, Musicoomph 2019