Consumers in the UK made over 2.1 million searches on the web for beauty care products in June and 38 per cent were made using mobile devices, reveals the latest online search data from leading independent digital marketing agency Greenlight. Overall, queries pertaining to make-up were the most popular.
The agency’s ‘Beauty Sector Report – Issue 1’, the first edition of its quarterly research series covering the sector, identified the most popular keywords used by consumers in June to find skincare, hair care, nail care, make-up and fragrance products on Google UK, when they searched via desktops/laptops and mobile devices. The report also charts the most visible brands, retailers and sites for those searches across both platforms.
According to Greenlight, 1.3 million searches for beauty care products were made via computers, and 816,481 were made using mobile devices.
Hair care and fragrances were the second and third most popular sectors search-wise, holding a 31 per cent and 15 per cent share of consumer queries, respectively.
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searches for beauty care products were made via computers, and 816,481 were made using mobile devices – Greenlight
Make-up accounted for 36 per cent of all beauty-related searches and those pertaining to MAC cosmetics dominated.
The term ‘mac makeup’ was queried 40,500 times, making up eight per cent of laptop-made searches and 12 per cent (33,100) on mobile devices.
Hair care terms clocked up 664,119 searches, of which 19 per cent were made via desktops and 12 per cent on mobile devices.
‘Hair accessories’ and ‘dip dye hair’ were the two most queried terms on desktops, accounting for nine per cent of searches apiece.
However, on mobile devices, the term ‘dip dye hair’ was most popular, accounting for six per cent of searches. ‘ghd hair straightener’ and ‘hair dye’ followed with 5,400 each.
Just four of the top 10 search terms used to look for fragrances via desktops, searches of which totalled 203,795, were for perfume brands, compared to seven on mobile searches.
‘Alien perfume’ was the most popular brand-related query on mobile device searches. It was followed by ‘jimmy choo perfume’ then ‘chanel perfume’.
On desktops, ‘chanel perfume’ was the most popular brand-related term looked for.
Across both platforms, however, it was a generic term, ‘perfume’, that was the most used to find fragrances online.
Skincare-related searches were least popular on mobiles, making up nine per cent of searches compared to 10 per cent on desktops.
Totalling 111,769, Nail care terms attracted the least number of beauty product-related searches made on desktops.
Overall, Amazon was most visible site attaining a 34 per cent share of visibility in the organic listings*. It was also the most visible advertiser, achieving a 58 per cent share of voice in the paid listings**.
Greenlight’s retrospective 12-month view of the online beauty market shows searches across both laptop and mobile devices peaked in January, dropping off sharply in February and into March. Whilst they picked up again in April, desktop search volumes in the lead up to June have remained well below levels seen between July 2012 and January this year.
*Natural/organic search – listings in search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms.
**Paid media – an internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market.