Monthly Market Report

For the majority of retail sectors, January was a period of decline in brand search YoY. With an intensifying cost-of-living crisis becoming the new normal for many households across the country, brands are going to have to get used to YoY declines in brand search and a decreasing overall pot of search to find a voice in.

Across retail sectors brand demand softened 7.9% YoY throughout the month, although this discrepancy shrunk from 10.1% at the start of the year to 5.3% by the month’s close.

It was the non-retail sectors where brand demand soared in January: Travel’s YoY performance undoubtedly benefited from comparison with last year’s post-Omicron context, but even so it was a strong month for the sector’s organic search in an important period of the year.

Similarly, throughout January we’ve seen Job search consistently up YoY, perhaps as a side product of the economic squeeze people are feeling at the moment and the increasing demand for flexible working.