Consumers spent more in cyberspace on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday in 2011, and that means cost per click is on the rise.
According to online measurement firm ComScore, shoppers spent $816 million online on Black Friday, up 26% from Black Friday 2010. There was also a significant rise in Thanksgiving Day sales, as online shoppers spent $479 million. That’s an increase of 18% over last Thanksgiving.
Ecommerce sales were also up for the first 25 days of November, according to ComScore. Shoppers spent $12.7 billion online, up 15% from the first 25 days of November 2010.
But more shoppers equals a higher spend on paid search, according to data put together by search engine marketing firm Performics.
Thanksgiving Day saw biggest increases in activity, according to Performics, with paid search spend up 128% and clicks up 87% year over year.
Paid search spend on Black Friday was up 120% and clicks were up 65% year over year. Cost per click steadily increased throughout the week, and rose to 34% year over year on Black Friday.
Also, more than 20% of Google paid search clicks on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday came from mobile devices. Performics predicts that mobile paid search will make up 25.4% of all clicks – desktop and mobile – in December.