Doubling Down on Paid Search in 2020 Part 1 Doubling Down on Paid Search

Over the past two years, Superstore has generated 2.1 million site visits from paid search on desktop alone (not including mobile).

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100K Paid Search Traffic

0 Nov. ‘18 Sep. ‘20 Part 2 Doubling Down on Paid Search

Superstore’s traffic from paid search far exceeds those of other Canadian grocery competitors.

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100K Paid Search Traffic

0 Nov. ‘18 Sep. ‘20

Real Canadian Superstore Sobeys Safeway Whole Foods Save-On-Foods Part 3 Doubling Down on Paid Search

That said, Superstore’s paid search traffic is dwarfed by Walmart and matched by Costco during the same period of 2018 - 2020.

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100K Paid Search Traffic

0 Nov. ‘18 Sep. ‘20

Real Canadian Superstore Walmart Costco Part 4 Doubling Down on Paid Search

Like many brands, Superstore paused almost all of their search ad efforts during the early days of COVID-19, going from 95K web traffic in February 2020 to just over 46K in March (-51% MoM).

Mar-Apr ‘20

-64% decrease 200K in paid search traffic (compared to previous period)

100K Paid Search Traffic

0 Nov. ‘18 Sep. ‘20

Real Canadian Superstore Sobeys Safeway Whole Foods Save-On-Foods Part 5 Doubling Down on Paid Search

Soon afterwards, however, the Superstore redoubled their paid search traffic to more than 2x its pre-COVID levels. Other grocery brands increased their Paid Search spend as well, but nowhere near as much, in both relative and absolute terms. This sustained increase in both spend and traffic likely indicates strong results from the channel.

May - Sept ‘20

+75% increase in paid search traffic (compared to Oct ‘19 - Feb ‘20) 200K

100K Paid Search Traffic

0 Nov. ‘18 Sep. ‘20

Real Canadian Superstore Sobeys Safeway Whole Foods Save-On-Foods Part 6 Doubling Down on Paid Search

Paid Search Keywords: Superstore’s top 100 traffic-generating keywords shifted majorly during Covid-19. Online shopping, pickup, and delivery was prioritized over everything else. At the same time, the overall number of keywords being targeted was greatly increased (by 66%) indicating a stronger focus on long-tail keywords.

Top Keyword Categories* Pre-Covid Changes During Covid

Pickup and/or Delivery 43% Minor Decrease 35%

Digital Flyer 9% 9x Decrease 1%

SLAM / Summer Collection 4% No change 5%

Click and Collect 3% 6x Increase 18%

Store Location 4% 4x decrease 1%

Total # of Keywords Targeted 1,678 +66% As Paid Search Focus Rises 2,787

As a % of the top 100 keywords by traffic volume ignoring brand name variations. Prior to Covid-19 = July 19’ - Feb 20’. During Covid-19 = Mar 20’ - Oct 20’ Part 7 Doubling Down on Paid Search

Paid Search Landing Pages saw a similar trend to keywords, with Superstore heavily prioritizing online shopping, pickup, delivery, and ship-to-home eCommerce; while de-prioritizing brand-based messaging such as SLAM.

Top Landing Page Categories* Pre-Covid Changes During Covid

SLAM Subdomain 33% 10x Decrease 5%

Online Shopping 24% 3x Increase 79%

PC Optimum 2% No change 0%

Single Product Landing Page 5% 3x Increase 17%

Digital Flyer 36% No change 40%

As a % of the top 100 landing pages by traffic volume ignoring using the homepage as a landing page Prior to Covid-19 = July 19’ - Feb 20’. During Covid-19 = Mar 20’ - Oct 20’ Part 8 Doubling Down on Paid Search

During Covid-19, Superstore kept its ad copy relatively stable. The most notable changes were a deprioritization of Health Management services and a heavy prioritization of ad copy about specific products, both grocery and ship-to-home.

Top Ad Copy Pre-Covid Changes During Covid Categories*

Flyer or Deals 53% No change 59%

Online Grocery Pickup, 21% No change 24% Delivery, or PC Express

PC Optimum 9% No change 6%

Health Management 6% 3x Decrease 2%

4% Specific Products 3x Increase 15%

*As a % of the top 100 ads by SERP position Prior to Covid-19 = July 19’ - Feb 20’. During Covid-19 = Mar 20’ - Oct 20’ Part 9 Doubling Down on Paid Search

Product Search Ads: None of Canada’s main grocery brands—including Superstore—has yet to make a foray into Google Shopping Ads. In comparison, Walmart ran 10K product ads in Canada over the past 12 months. Amazon ran 32K.

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20K Product Search Ads

0 Canadian Grocery Brands * Walmart Canada Amazon Canada Key Takeaways

From the Superstore Paid Search Case Study

Paid Channel Focus Allocation — Heavy Focus on Paid Search: Superstore heavily focuses on the Paid Search channel (3x - 10x grocery competitors, ~1M traffic per year), and has doubled their Paid Search efforts since the onset of Covid-19. In terms of warehouse retail competitors, Superstore’s paid search traffic is roughly equivalent to Costco, but 10x - 20x smaller than Walmart (in both cases, only referring to those brand’s Canadian traffic).

Paid Search Strategy — Driving to Digital Commerce: Since the onset of Covid-19, Superstore’s approach to paid search keywords and landing pages has heavily prioritized online shopping, pickup, delivery, and ship-to-home eCommerce; while de-prioritizing brand-based messaging such as SLAM.

Paid Search Strategy — Google Shopping Whitespace: Search Shopping ads are common best practice in most eCommerce verticals. None of Canada’s main grocery brands— including Superstore—has yet to make a foray into Google Shopping Ads. In comparison, Walmart ran 10K product ads in Canada over the past 12 months. Amazon ran 32K.