President Ilham Aliyev holds key meetings with Chinese industry leaders
President Ilham Aliyev held a series of strategic meetings with senior executives from leading Chinese industrial corporations in Tianjin on 31 August...
Temu and Shein's aggressive keyword bidding drives up search ad costs, impacting retailers this Black Friday. Rising "cost per click" pushes businesses to rethink strategies, shifting focus to social media, influencers, and high-value customer engagement.
Heavy online marketing investments by Temu and Shein are increasing costs for other retailers to reach shoppers during Black Friday, according to industry experts. Both platforms are aggressively bidding on search keywords, including those tied to competitors, to capture attention during the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.
Retailers vie for prime placement in search results by bidding on keywords, but higher demand inflates the "cost per click," the fee charged per ad click.
Data from Semrush shows Temu bidding on terms like "Walmart Black Friday deals" and "Kohls Black Friday," while Shein targets phrases such as "Zara jeans" and "Mango dresses." As a result, the cost per click for terms like "Walmart clothes" has surged 16-fold between August 2022 and August 2024. Generic terms like "cheap clothes online" have also seen steep increases.
Ecommerce consultant Erik Lautier warns that rising costs reduce marketing returns and, in some cases, can render paid search ads unprofitable. These ads often drive 15-30% of online sales and can consume up to half of marketing budgets.
Shein and Temu stand out for bidding on a broader array of competitor keywords than is typical, said Olga Andrienko, Semrush's VP of brand marketing, describing their approach as "more aggressive."
A Temu spokesperson stated the company is committed to fair advertising practices and employs a "negative keyword list" to avoid targeting brand names, although automated processes may occasionally result in inadvertent targeting. Shein did not respond to inquiries.
The rising costs are prompting businesses to shift focus to channels like social media, influencers, and traditional ads. Erin Brookes of Alvarez & Marsal notes some brands are moving away from cost-driven customers and prioritising those with higher margins and loyalty.
British retailer Asos, for example, recently launched a loyalty programme and is investing in emotional engagement through cinema ads and influencer partnerships, according to its Chief Customer Officer, Dan Elton.
A powerful eruption at Japan’s Shinmoedake volcano sent an ash plume more than 3,000 metres high on Sunday morning, prompting safety warnings from authorities.
According to the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ), a magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Oaxaca region of Mexico on Saturday.
The UK is gearing up for Exercise Pegasus 2025, its largest pandemic readiness test since COVID-19. Running from September to November, this full-scale simulation will challenge the country's response to a fast-moving respiratory outbreak.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
YouTube TV and Fox have reached a distribution agreement that will keep Fox News, Fox Sports and other Fox channels available to subscribers, the companies confirmed on Thursday.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at record highs on Thursday (28 August), after Nvidia’s quarterly report fell short of investors’ lofty expectations but confirmed that demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure remains strong.
Malaysia Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said he intends to convene a summit of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership in October, local media reported on Wednesday.
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported on Tuesday that G20 countries’ international goods trade rose slightly in the second quarter of 2025, mainly because imports into the United States fell sharply after rising in the first quarter.
The S&P 500 closed lower on Monday (25 August) as investors turned their attention to Artificial Intelligence (AI) chipmaker Nvidia’s upcoming quarterly results, following Friday’s rally that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average close at a record high.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment