Google Slowdown, Yahoo!

The most-popular Internet search engine is experiencing slowing growth in the number of clicks on text advertisements.

Clicks on Google's sponsored links rose 3 percent in February from a year earlier, researcher at ComScore said. In January, Google had no growth, after a 25 percent increase in the fourth quarter.

Overall, ad clicks fell 3 percent in February from the previous month, ComScore said. In January, total ad clicks fell 7.5 percent from the previous month.

Experts attribute the slowdown to the lackluster economy. Google says it’s due to upgrades to its systems that eliminate promotions that aren't relevant to searches.

We tend to think something else might be going on. Maybe, just maybe, the Internet has reached a peak of sorts, or maybe people simply are beginning to grow weary of living in front of a screen.

Either way, any trend toward dis-connectivity is good news for an industry that relies on getting folks off their butts and outside. Now if we can just get them to put down their Crackberries long enough to enjoy the vistas.

Four Reviews Before Buying Online

As much as 68 percent of online shoppers read at least four reviews before making a purchase, according to data from joint research by PowerReviews and the e-tailing group. The companies surveyed 1,200 consumers who shopped online at least four times per year and spent at least $500 in aggregate and found that almost a quarter of the respondents checked at least eight reviews or more before deciding to buy.

Some 22 percent of respondents said that they "always" read reviews before making a purchase, while more than four in 10 said they checked ratings and reviews "most of the time." In contrast, just 2 percent of the online shoppers surveyed said that they "never" read reviews in advance.

Consumer reviews seem to carry particular weight, compared to “experts,” and are more important to site visitors than coupons and special offers, suggest other findings. A recent Avenue ARazorfish study found that 55 percent of online shoppers chose user reviews most frequently when conducting product research—more than double the 22 percent that used comparison charts or expert reviews (21 percent).

Most Desired Features on Retail Web Sites*
Features______________________% of Respondents Choosing
User ratings and reviews ................................. 64%
Special offers and coupons .............................. 61%
Videos ............................................................ 48%
Personalization capabilities ............................. 37%
Games and quizzes .......................................... 29%
Source: Forrester Research; *Included consumer electronics, travel and banking sites—key drivers of e-commerce in the U.S.

Evangelical Work Still Needed

There’s good news and bad news to report out of a new study on sustainability at retail by TNS Retail Forward. The good news is about half of consumers surveyed said efforts around workers’ rights, product recycling and minimizing waste in packaging are important or very important to decisions on where and how they shop.

The not-so-good news is consumers are failing to put there money where their mouth is. When asked about the three most important criteria for store-choice decisions, less than 20 percent listed responsibility and sustainability efforts among their top three. More than 80 percent did not rank such efforts at all. Perhaps more surprising, the respondents who ranked responsibility and sustainability among their top concerns remained relatively unchanged since November of 2006, when a similar survey was taken.

Granted, those surveyed represent all consumers and not just “outdoor consumers,” who may express more social awareness. But anyone truly interested in a greener planet has to consider the overall picture and not just our little world.

Interestingly enough, when asked about their willingness to pay a bit more for items purchased, respondents said that products “produced or grown locally” were as appealing or more appealing than products that were produced in energy efficient manners, packaged to reduce waste or were recyclable.

Unfortunately, that doesn’t exactly jive with the overwhelming trend whereby outdoor gear and apparel is produced half way around the globe.

Green evidently not the next black

While most other major industries are steering their marketing efforts toward greener pastures, high fashion seems to be moving in an opposite direction. At the conclusion of Paris fashion week, the Wall Street Journal reported that polyester “is the new name in Paris fashion.”

Finally shaking the style stigma of leisure suits and "Saturday Night Fever," polyester now is considered the “fabric très chic,” says WSJ. Of course, this isn’t your Marcia Brady style polyester but rather “silky” synthetics used “to create a lighter-than-air ethereal feeling,” says designer brand Nina Ricci. And certainly polyester has never really left the apparel business; it just went under the cooler name of microfiber.

But it would have been nice, I guess, to see the Paris fashion leaders inspire headlines on bamboo or organic cotton or coconut or any number of interesting sustainable fibers.

The timing sure seems right. Maybe we just don’t get it.

Web Video Flop?

Because we can’t resist when hype meets reality … it struck us when we heard the news that “quarterlife," the first Web-based series ever picked up by a major TV network, delivered NBC's worst ratings for its time slot in at least 20 years. Evidently, Internet buzz and viral marketing don’t always translate into prime time, mainstream audience attention.

Online video contestants discussed the apparent flop at a recent industry conference:
"If you can't be patient, this isn't the market for you," said Fred Seibert, co-founder of digital media startup Next New Networks.

"There's a lot of people experimenting," said Rob Lane, CEO of Ottawa-based digital media company Overlay.TV. "We don't know what works," he admitted.

Such humble responses are a far cry from the entertainment revolution rhetoric we have been hearing of late about online and user-generated video.