New Year, New You? Check Out These Category Trends in Sponsored Search

While the festive peak may have passed, some product categories started 2024 with a bang.

As part of our Sponsored Products Benchmark Report, we collect data on many aspects of the sponsored products landscape in retail media across major US retailers. Here's a snapshot of what we saw over the holiday season.

A Christmas Peak

Unsurprisingly, the leadup from around Black Friday (52.1%) to Christmas saw a significant increase in sponsored product coverage across the board, peaking on December 24th (63.6%), and dropping off on January 1st (55.3%).

During this time many categories saw an increase in coverage, likely due to increasing campaign volume and competition. In particular, common Christmas gift categories like Fragrance, Home Décor and various sub-categories within Fashion saw significant increases.

Advertisers Also Are Aware

It’s fairly common to over-indulge during the holiday season, and January 1st often represents a reset button. We promise to eat better, get into shape and generally become the paragons of virtue we know we are deep down.

Advertisers know that we’re in the market for a healthy new start.

While most categories have reduced coverage in January – like the heavily-gifted Fragrance category, which saw a whopping 22 percentage point drop since Christmas – there are several categories trending upwards related to health and wellness.

We see an upward trend in Activewear, Suits and Fashion, plus double-digit boosts for Men’s Grooming and Nail Care.

The biggest gainer so far in January, however – and growing from 80% coverage in December to almost perfect 100% coverage - is Vitamins and Dietary Supplements.

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Want to see more like this? Curious about more sponsored product category and subcategory insights? Stay tuned for the next in the coming weeks we'll be publishing a major update to our Sponsored Products Benchmark Report, with detailed trends and insights to help you truly understand the sponsored product landscape and learn from the best practices of the global leaders in retail media.