Retailers Increase Reliance on PLAs

Retailers took spending on product listing ads (PLAs) to another level at the end of 2014. According to data from Adobe Digital Index, Google Shopping ad spending in the retail sector grew 47 percent year-over-year and 53 percent quarter-over-quarter in last year's fourth quarter. Meanwhile, spending on Google text ads was down 6 percent year-over-year. PLAs accounted for one-fifth of U.S. retail search ad clicks in the fourth quarter of 2014. Despite their decline in spend, Google text ads led in share of search engine marketing clicks, grabbing two-thirds of the total.