| Good morning Marketer, and welcome to Monday.
It’s clear by now that COVID-19 lockdowns have altered consumer behavior dramatically. Needs-driven spending has largely surpassed discretionary spending, and online shopping – sometimes with curbside pickup – has replaced in-store buying. As product search behaviors continue to rapidly evolve, Google has introduced Rising Retail Categories. Similar to Google Trends, the tool exposes “fast-growing, product-related categories,” associated queries, and the geographic areas where product categories are trending the most. Marketers can compare the topic and keyword trends by week, month or year. Google said it is the first time it’s provided this data on product categories that people are actively searching for. While the product-trend data you can glean from Google’s Rising Retail Categories appears relatively modest (for now), it’s still interesting and potentially helpful for brand marketers and small businesses. Don’t forget there’s more to read below, including two social advertising updates from TikTok and Facebook. Taylor Peterson,
Deputy Editor | 