Commentary

Search Volume Declines The Week Of Cyber Monday

Searches declined on engines Google and Bing as well as on Amazon for the seven days ending December 1 -- which means the decline, compared with the prior week, includes the number of searches conducted on Cyber Monday.

Data released Wednesday by Hitwise looks at the top ten searches on search engines and on Amazon.

It seems a little unusual for the volume of searches to decline, unless consumers knew what they wanted and went directly to brand and retail websites to make purchases, surpassing searches on Google, Bing, and Amazon.

The data suggests that the total number of individuals searching for eight of the top 10 items fell week-over-week, which makes sense if consumers already know what they wanted to buy.

Yankee Candle, which made it into the top 10 for the first time this year, was the only top product to see an increase in searches. The number of people searching for it rose 61% week-over-week.

The online game Fallout 76 tops the hot list for the week with 277,293 searches -- down 27% from the week prior. At No. 2, Nintendo Switch came in with 188,007 -- down 23%. Vans came in at 180,290 at No. 3, falling 14%. Fitbit saw 121,214 searches -- down 11% from the prior week. And Red Dead redemption 2 came in with 117,195 searches -- down 9%.

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Other products like Roku, down 15% and Apple Watch, down 14%, saw fewer searches and greater declines.

Instant Pot was new on last week’s list with 74,668 searches, along with Yankee Candle at 73,568 searches.

Hitwise notes “similar stability among Amazon's top hot products” for toys, with little change among the top ranked items.

Echo Dot, Roky and TV, big sellers on Cyber Monday, dropped out of the top 10 making room for Kindle, Christmas Tree and iPad to re-join the list this week.

Making its debut in the top 10 on Amazon this season was "weighted blanket" which ranked No. 8 last week with nearly 190,000 searches. 

On Amazon, searches for the top products also fell this past week, compared with the week beginning with Cyber Monday. Nintendo Switch, for example, fell 48% to 550,232. Instant Pot fell 40% to 261,931. PS4 fell 51% to 233,328.

Toy searches didn't show as harsh declines. Hitwise reports that many of the top hot toys saw a growing volume of searches as shoppers moved more aggressively to check toys off their list after satisfying their gadget cravings. Board games spiked 73% in searches.

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