44 per cent of total searches for last minute gifts and store locations will be from mobile devices this holiday season, up from around 20 per cent in 2010, according to Google. Despite tough economic conditions, those advertisers who create mobile-specific advertising campaigns to target the smartphone user will have a happier Christmas than those who rely on traditional forms of Christmas marketing, the company says.
Google notes that in 2008, mobile search volume on popular gifts represented less than 2 per cent of total search. Two years later it was over 10 per cent, and last month, it represented just under 15 per cent of the online total.
Once Christmas and Boxing Day are out of the way, queries on mobile recover from the temporary lull more quickly than desktop. Search volumes of the top 1,000 commercial queries illustrate that in the week after Christmas, mobile queries increase by 35 per cent, while on desktop the rise is just 2 per cent.
Data from the past two years also shows that UK mobile queries for top retail brand terms spike three times over the holiday season. The first peak arrives at the end of November with the last payday before Christmas. The second is in the final days before the holiday itself, and the third coincides with the start of the January sales. And, says Google, this opportunity is growing, with this type of search query demonstrating 166 per cent year-on-year growth. 
“As more and more consumers use their mobile phones to do their holiday research and shopping, there is a great opportunity for businesses to reach their customers where they are; on mobile,” says Google UK head of mobile advertising, Simon Morgan. “Advertisers can take advantage of innovative mobile ad features to drive people to their web properties, increase footfall, or even grow phone traffic. For example, hyperlocal provides useful information to users such as an expandable map, driving directions, distance and contact information with the option to click-to-call, making it easy for customers to find and navigate to your store.”
To make the most of the mobile opportunity over the holiday season, Google advises brands to align messaging across their TV, desktop, mobile and Tablet campaigns; to optimise search campaigns for mobile; and to activate the click-to-call and hyperlocal features in mobile search ads. to enable users to reach you easily and get locally-relevant information, including distance and directions to find and navigate to your business.
