Brief:
- Shopify this week became the first e-commerce platform to integrate with Microsoft Advertising, expanding its ad-buying tools for web merchants to the Microsoft Search Network, per a company blog post shared with Mobile Marketer. The network includes Verizon Media's Yahoo and AOL online brands that rely on Microsoft's Bing search engine.
- Shopify merchants that want to use the feature can click "create campaign" in the site's Shopify Marketing section and connect with it via an existing Microsoft Advertising account to reach the more than 116 million unique searchers in the U.S. who use Bing each month.
- The feature lets merchants set up, optimize and track results of campaigns alongside the store management dashboard in Shopify. Merchants also can set up a daily budget based on seasonality and goals.
Insight:
Shopify's integration with Microsoft Advertising aims to give marketers more choices for running campaigns on a broader selection of sites that generate high volumes of web traffic. Microsoft's website says it has 36% of the U.S. desktop search market, including 53.3 million desktop searchers not reachable on Google. Like Google Ads, Microsoft only charges marketers when searchers click on sponsored search results.
The integration with Microsoft Advertising follows the addition of Facebook's dynamic ads and Story Ads on Snapchat in April. That expansion let merchants synchronize their pricing and product availability information with Facebook ads aimed at target audiences on the social network. It also let Shopify merchants create branded tiles in Snapchat's Discover section to display a selection of products with Snapchat Story Ads.
Shopify also has expanded its mobile ad services in the past year, including an in-app shopping channel with Snapchat, augmented reality support tools for merchants and Venmo acceptance at checkout. The addition of the Microsoft Advertising is a significant step in giving Shopify merchants more flexibility in their digital ad campaigns, and could compel more marketers to try out the new tech.
