Google launches rising retail categories for marketers.

Google’s “Rising Retail Categories” tool provides marketers with data on the most-searched-for product categories.

Throughout recent months, consumer interest has rapidly shifted on a monthly, even weekly basis. As Google notes, marketers are “hungry” for further insights and data.

This realisation has prompted Google to launch it’s new tool, designed to help marketers keep abreast with which products are in high demand amid the current global pandemic. This is the first time Google says it has provided this kind of data to the public.

Up until now, marketers have been making use of other tools, such as Google Trends, social listening and online surveys to understand consumer demand.

Rising Retail Categories

In a similar fashion to Google Trends, Rising Retail Categories exposes “fast-growing product-related categories”, their associated queries and the geographic areas in which product categories are hottest.

Data is currently only available for the UK, US and Australia. However, an international rollout is planned for the coming weeks.

Using drop-down menus you can filter the data by different countries, as well as change the measurement period from monthly to weekly or yearly.

Clicking on a product category will present a list of trending queries related to that category.

Scroll down the page and you’ll see a map indicating where the highest volume of searches for a given product category are coming from.

Google has confirmed that this data will be updated on a daily basis, in order to help marketers draw precise conclusions and strategies.

How to use these insights

This data should be used to inform product marketing, promotion and placement. In their blog post, Google provides a number of real-world examples of how businesses can harness these insights and apply them to their marketing efforts.

Content creation: A rising interest in “flour” inspired a cookware company to partner with a local chef to create content about recipes that incorporate flour.

Product ideas: An apparel company with a fast and flexible production model said its team would use this data to inspire new product line ideas.

Promotion: A rising interest in “free weights” prompted a jewelry and accessories company to partner with fitness influencers who could help promote their products.

Rising Retail Categories is now one of a number of search-data-driven tools and resources available on ThinkWithGoogle.

Marketers can now use this data to inform their marketing strategies, allowing them to operate effectively in an ever-growing agile environment.

If you have any further questions about Google’s new tool, or would like to act upon any insights found, contact our professionals.