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S.Z. Za and I. Tricahyadinata (2017) Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-1: 60-67
DOI: 10.3126/ijssm.v4i1.16433
Full text of this paper can be downloaded online at www.ijssm.org/ &http://nepjol.info/index.php/IJSSM/issue/archive
An Analysis on the Use of Google AdWords to Increase E-Commerce Sales
Saida Zainurossalamia Za*and Irsan Tricahyadinata
Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Business, Mulawarman University, Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia
*Corresponding author’s email: saida.zainurossalamia.za@feb.unmul.ac.id
Abstract
The development of information and communication technology affected many aspects of life, including economical
state. E-commerce is an activity of selling or buying goods and services through the internet by using electronic media.
The optimization of e-commerce could be carried out by advertising. Google AdWords is one of online advertising
technologies that provides benefits in the business of e-commerce. This research was aimed to analyze and describe the
improvement of the e-commerce sales by using Google AdWords. The research design was qualitative research design
by utilizing secondary data from Google, Inc. Based on the result of the research, the e-commerce sites received
increasing visits to the websites, increasing numbers of the new customers, increasing sales, and even business
expansion. It could be concluded that Google AdWords was highly useful to enhance e-commerce. The researcher
suggested to utilize Google AdWords online-advertising system in the e-commerce activities. Future researchers are
suggested to use the revealed data as the basis of further research in relevant field.
Keywords: Google AdWords; e-commerce; sales.
Introduction
The development of the technology brings impact to many
aspects of life, including economic and business. Internet
technology becomes an important aspect in life, changes
the way people learn, find information, communicate, and
even shop (Google, Inc., 2007). The activity of selling and
buying which was carried out in traditional way by a
meeting between the seller and the buyer, nowadays could
be carried out online through the internet. The huge
change of the technology in the field of communication,
software application and computer hardware, web browser
technology, and multimedia facilitates the information
search towards particular goods and services that people
need.
The activity of selling and buying by using electronic
media and the internet is defined as e-commerce (Franco
& Regi, 2016; Gao, 1999; Gupta, 2014). E-commerce is
chosen as current system of selling since it has many
benefits for the customers and the seller. The advantages
of e-commerce use could also be seen in a short and long
period of time. By using e-commerce, the information of
the products could be spread in larger scale, which allows
the consumers to choose the goods with their best price,
offers unlimited, fast communication and information
access, time and cost efficient, and improve the quality of
the service (Gao, 1999).
Besides providing services to the customers, the focus on
e-commerce activities includes the aspects of business
transaction, marketing, and advertising (Franco & Regi,
2016). Advertising nowadays could be conducted easily.
The customers would look for the desired goods or
services by typing the keywords into the search engine. As
one of mostly used search engines, Google provides
advertising facility for the e-commerce users as well.
Advertising through the internet began on October 1994 in
the form of banner in a web page. As a search engine
company, Google changed the advertising method of a
business to their customers (Mehta et al., 2007). In 2000,
Google released an advertising program based on the
keywords, named AdWords. AdWords could be utilized to
enhance marketing activities through search engine.
AdWords would display the advertisement which contains
a link to the e-commerce sites that match the keywords
Research Article
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S.Z. Za and I. Tricahyadinata (2017) Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-1: 60-67
Full text of this paper can be downloaded online at www.ijssm.org/ &http://nepjol.info/index.php/IJSSM/issue/archive
typed on Google search engine. AdWords advertisements
are displayed in the web pages from the result of searching
and in another site which belongs to Google Search and
Content Network.
The use of AdWords in e-commerce could increase search
query and the visit rate of an e-commerce website. If the
visit rate is increasing, the sales of the offered goods and
services would be increasing as well. This article would
elaborate the data which demonstrates the ability of
AdWords in increasing e-commerce sales. Moreover, there
would be elaboration on the advantages of the use of
Google AdWords from different perspectives in the scope
of e-commerce.
Statements of Problem
Based on the background of the study, the following are
the problems that were being observed.
1. How was the influence of using Google AdWords
towards the e-commerce sales?
2. What were the advantages of using Google
AdWords in e-commerce?
Objectives and Significance of the Study
According to the statements of the problem, the objectives
of the study were.
1. To analyze the influence of using Google
AdWords towards e-commerce sales.
2. To explain the advantages from the use of Google
AdWords in e-commerce.
This study is expected to transfer theoretical and practical
significance as the following.
1. This study is expected to deliver information to
the people about the advantages of using Google
AdWords to support e-commerce activities.
2. This study is expected to deliver information to
the people who would like to increase e-
commerce sales by using the technology of
Google AdWords.
3. The result of this study is anticipated to be the
source of useful information and reference for
similar studies.
Theoretical Framework
The Development of Technology and E-Commerce
The internet is an effective means of advertising and
information distribution of the products. Trading through
the internet has been popular alongside the development of
technology nowadays. Through the internet, the selling of
goods and services could be carried out globally. There are
lots of different definitions about e-commerce. The
following are some of the definitions (Gao, 1999).
According to Riggins and Rhee (1998), e-
commerce is an activity of selling and buying
goods and services through the internet.
According to Zwass (1996), e-commerce is an
activity to share business information, maintain
business relation, and carry out a business
transaction by using telecommunication network.
Therefore, e-commerce is not only about selling
and buying products through the internet, but also
about various business progresses between
organizations to achieve the goals.
According to Treese and Stewart (2003), e-
commerce is a global use of the internet to sell
and buy goods and products, including the service
after the sales. In this case, internet is an active
mechanism to advertise and distribute the
information about the products.
According to Minoli and Minoli (1999), e-
commerce is a selling activity through the
internet, especially website.
E-commerce is well-known as an activity of buying and
selling products through the internet. However, any
transaction which is carried out through electronic devices
could be defined as e-commerce (Niranjanamurthy et. al.,
2013).
Based on those definitions, electronic commerce or e-
commerce is an activity of selling and buying goods,
services, or another business matter which utilize the
internet or website. E-commerce might include different
types of business. There are lots of business that run
through the internet, that in the past five years, e-
commerce has been developed as one of important aspects
of internet and it is predicted that it would be gradually
developed (Franco & Regi, 2016).
The main characteristics of e-commerce, especially the e-
commerce website-based are: (1) include the exchanges
and processing of information through communication and
computer network, including e-commerce software; (2) the
majority of transactions are automatic; (3) include various
business services such as email across organizations,
online directory, order service, and management system
and statistic report (Gao, 1999).
The Strengths of E-commerce as a Selling Means
Nowadays
The main difference between e-commerce and traditional
commerce is in terms of the way to exchange information
and the sales process. In traditional commerce, the sales
are carried out by direct meeting, by telephone, or
correspondence, while the sales in e-commerce are done
by the means of internet or another communication
network. Moreover, the transaction in traditional
commerce is processed manually, but in e-commerce, the
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S.Z. Za and I. Tricahyadinata (2017) Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-1: 60-67
Full text of this paper can be downloaded online at www.ijssm.org/ &http://nepjol.info/index.php/IJSSM/issue/archive
transactions are automatic. Besides giving service to the
customers, the e-commerce activities include many aspects
such as business transaction, marketing, and advertising.
Some advantages obtained from the use of e-commerce
could be seen from consumers and business side (Franco
& Regi, 2016).
a) It is more comfortable since the customers’ only
need to look for the desired products in the
internet through search engine and the result
would be displayed in a few seconds.
b) The customers have more options since they
could compare the products without visiting the
stores.
c) Easier to compare the products because the
specification of the products are available online.
d) Easier to find a review to a product. There are lots
of reviews which explain the strength and
weaknesses of the products, so that the consumers
would feel more convinced in buying the product.
e) The consumers could get the best price since
there are many e-commerce sites that compete to
give the best prices.
On the other hand, the advantages of e-commerce for
business side are:
a) Increasing the numbers of the consumers because
the people from all over the world could access
the products anytime.
b) Increasing the sales and the profits rate.
c) The products could be accessed anytime, for 24
hours, every day, throughout the year. This non-
stop service allows permanent contract with the
customers (Liliana, 2006).
d) Expanding the business by appropriate
presentation of information and suitable
marketing strategy.
e) The transaction is easier and faster.
f) There is no third-hand person or retailer because
the seller directly communicates with the buyer
(Rajaraman, 2000).
The Efforts to Increase E-commerce Sales
To increase e-commerce sales, there are 10 steps that
could be carried out (Able Solutions Corporation, 2016).
The following are the 10 steps:
a) Make use of the mobile technology to create a
website or responsive application.
b) Prioritize the access speed of the website as
maximum as possible. Pay attention to the factors
which affect the speed of loading the page.
c) Optimize the visitors’ experience by facilitating
the steps of shopping and establishing good
policy.
d) Sell more products.
e) Utilize the advertising which use PPC (pay per
click) system. One of online advertisings which
uses this system is Google AdWords.
f) Conduct a remarketing by making the use of the
advertiser, including Google AdWords.
g) Improve the quality of the pages that display the
products.
h) Use seasonal events that could increase e-
commerce activities to the busiest state.
i) Optimize the display of buy button to help the
customers to buy the products.
j) Understand the concept of micro moments. A
micro moment is a marketing concept initiated by
Google about how to understand consumers’
behavior alongside the changes of media and
technology.
Google AdWords and Its Advantages in E-commerce
Sales
Google AdWords is an online advertising from Google
which uses bidding system so that the advertisement made
by the owner of e-commerce appears in the Google
webpage search. The display of the advertisement would
appear on the top or right part of the searching results.
When a user types a keyword or phrase on Google search,
Google would display any related advertisements. Google
AdWords users would pay if there is a customer who
clicks the displayed advertisement. The clicked
advertisement leads the customer to the website of e-
commerce owner (Ireland, 2012). Fig. 1 shows the place of
Google AdWords advertisement on the searching page.
The increase of sales through AdWords happens since the
advertisement is displayed on the Google search page or
another page belongs to Google Network. Google
AdWords could be selected as good marketing tools
because it could introduce the products on sales.
Moreover, we do not need expensive invest to advertise
the products by Google AdWords. Google AdWords
allows the owner of e-commerce to reach the customers in
many countries which have less contact, so that it could
support the increase of the sales (Erkkilä et al., 2003).
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S.Z. Za and I. Tricahyadinata (2017) Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-1: 60-67
Full text of this paper can be downloaded online at www.ijssm.org/ &http://nepjol.info/index.php/IJSSM/issue/archive
Fig. 1: The position of Google AdWords advertisement on the Google search page
(Source: Ireland, 2012)
There are 10 aspects that should be noticed in using
Google AdWords (Alcouffe, 2013). Those aspects are
important to increase the income and win the competition
on sales. Those 10 aspects are elaborated as follows:
a) Make sure to choose and set the keywords well.
Selected keywords and query should be relevant
and include all of the potencial keywords search.
b) Make sure to set the match type and search terms
monitoring to the search terms must be conducted
regularly to increase or decrease relevant
keywords in the account.
c) Increase the Ad rank by designing and organizing
the groups of keywords.
d) Create an attractive advertisement. Attractive
advertisement is an advertisement which shows
advantages that would be obtained by the
customers so that they would be interested in
seeing the advertisement.
e) Try to use RLSA Campaigns. The use of RLSA
campaign could increase the conversion volume
and conversion rate.
f) Set a bid to defeat the competitors.
g) Take profits from mobile traffics in AdWords.
h) Let AdWords automatically set the bid to increase
conversion to achieve the set goals.
i) Create the display as attractive as possible to
establish the account.
j) Increase the performance by setting the campaign
with private setting.
Research Method
This study utilized qualitative research design. It was
aimed to analyze and describe the use of Google AdWords
to increase e-commerce sales. The source of the data was
secondary data from the previous researches in relevant
field. The use of secondary data was due to the limitation
of time of the study and the existed sources (Johnston,
2014). The data was in the form of the percentage of
increasing sales from several e-commerce sites after using
Google AdWords obtained from Google, Inc. The data
analysis was conducted by comparing and describing the
percentage of increasing e-commerce sales and
interpreting with existing theoretical supports. The result
of interpreting was utilized to draw the conclusions.
Findings
The increasing e-commerce sales obtained from success
stories Google, Inc (2013) could be seen in the Table 1
According to the data in Table 1, it was known that
through the use of AdWords, there were increasing
numbers of some e-commerce aspects. The increase could
be indicated from the query volume, increasing numbers of
visits, increasing numbers of the customers, and increasing
sales. The data which demonstrated the increasing query
volume could be seen in the website of Liberty Insurance
was 300%. The data which indicated the increasing
number of visits could be seen from ST701, CVWorks,
and Songhuong.co.vn. The highest level of the visits was
obtained by Songhuong.com.vn about 200%.
Meanwhile, the data of the increasing numbers of the
customers was demonstrated by Asiatravel.com,
PYOTravel.com, and SupermanSupermove.com. The
highest increasing numbers of the customers was
SupermanSupermove.com which got 97%. The most
increasing aspects was the increasing numbers of sales. E-
commerce sites with increasing sales were Samsung
Singapore, Qoo10, Amari Hotels, babytown.com.sg, Diem
Sang Viet, HBM, IT WORKS, PassionAsia.com, PT
Wahana Indonesia Transport, and Adorable Baby
Clothing. The highest increasing numbers on the aspect of
sales was Adorable Baby Clothing which obtained 610%...
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S.Z. Za and I. Tricahyadinata (2017) Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-1: 60-67
Full text of this paper can be downloaded online at www.ijssm.org/ &http://nepjol.info/index.php/IJSSM/issue/archive
Table 1: The Increase of E-commerce Sales Using Google Adwords
S.N. E-commerce Name Increasing Aspect Increasing Rate
1
Samsung Singapore
Increasing sales rate 60%
2
Qoo10
Increasing sales rate 10,2%
3
ST701
Rapid increase on the aspect of
the visit to the website -
4
Amari Hotels
Increasing sales rate from the
website 44%
5
Asiatravel.com
Increasing numbers of new
customers in each month 10%
6
babytown.com.sg
Increasing income after using
AdWords
2 times
7
Cworks
Increasing daily traffic on the
website 70%
8
Diem Sang Viet
Increasing sales of distributed
cellular phone 100%
9
HBM
Increasing sales in less than a
month
50%
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S.Z. Za and I. Tricahyadinata (2017) Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-1: 60-67
Full text of this paper can be downloaded online at www.ijssm.org/ &http://nepjol.info/index.php/IJSSM/issue/archive
Table 1: The Increase of E-commerce Sales Using Google Adwords
S.N. E-commerce Name Increasing Aspect Increasing Rate
10
IT WORKS
Increasing sales 200%
11
Liberty Insurance Vietnam
Increasing inquiry volume 300%
12
Lunch Actually
Business expansion in other
countries 3 countries
13
PassionAsia.com
Increasing sales 500%
14
PT Wahana Indonesia Transport
Increasing sales and business
expansion
50%
15
PYO Travel.com
Increasing numbers of new
customers
>50%
16
Songhuong.com.vn
Increasing numbers of traffic to
the website 200%
17
SupermanSupermove.com
Increasing numbers of new
customers 97%
18
Adorable Baby Clothing
Increasing sales 610%
(Source: Success Stories Data from Google, Inc., 2013)
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S.Z. Za and I. Tricahyadinata (2017) Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-1: 60-67
Full text of this paper can be downloaded online at www.ijssm.org/ &http://nepjol.info/index.php/IJSSM/issue/archive
Discussions
The Use of Google AdWords to Increase E-commerce
Sales
The result of the analysis demonstrated that the use of
Google AdWords could increase e-commerce sales. The
sales rate in each e-commerce websites were different,
however, those increasing sales provided great advantages
for the business. One of the factors which affected the
increasing sales was due to the increasing visits to the e-
commerce websites.
AdWords is a program which displays the advertisement
based on the keywords that the users type on the Google
search engine. When a shopper looks for goods or services
in google.com, he would type specific keywords and
Google would display an advertisement in which that if it
is clicked, it leads to the e-commerce website. The
following is the mechanism of Google search.
When a user visits google.com, he would type a keyword
and click Google search button. This stage is named search
query. As a response, Google would display the search
webpage which consists of the website list related to the
search query. The most relevant websites shows up first.
Besides the websites in the search list, Google also
displays relevant AdWords advertisements. Those
advertisements are labelled sponsored links, which appear
on top or on the right side of the search page.
AdWords advertisements not only appear on the Google
search page. Google distributes the searching results and
advertisements to the partners that belong to Google’s
Search and Content Network (Google, Inc., 2007).
Consequently, the advertisement spreads largely and its
chance to be seen and accessed by the shoppers would be
higher as well. The result of the research reveals that the
visits to the observed e-commerce websites was rapidly
increasing, such as in ST701, CNWorks, Liberty
Insurance, and Songhuong.com.vn.
One of e-commerce sites which took as a part of e-
commerce success stories in the use of AdWords was
Qoo10. Qoo10 had 10.2% increasing sales and increasing
search traffic for more than 15% (Google, Inc., 2013).
Qoo10 which was known for the pioneer of Asian e-
commerce could sell various products such as books,
cosmetics, and electronic devices in six countries:
Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Hongkong, and
Japan. In a day, Qoo10 carried out 30.000 transaction and
integrated 1.000.000 users. Until now, by the use of
Google AdWords, those numbers keep increasing.
The Benefits of Google AdWords in Increasing Many
Aspects of E-commerce
Based on the data presented in the findings, it is revealed
that the use of Google AdWords possesses beneficial roles
in e-commerce business. Those benefits could be
categorized into four aspects: increasing query volume,
increasing numbers of visits to the websites, increasing
number of the customers, and the most essential thing is
increasing sales.
Increasing query volume indicates the numbers of search
to the keywords which are relevant to the e-commerce
sites. The use of AdWords is highly related to the selection
of the keywords (Alcouffe, 2013). The keyword used in
AdWords would be utilized as a basis of the compatibility
between the keyword which is typed by the user.
Moreover, there are also increasing numbers in the aspect
of visits to the e-commerce websites. The visit from the
users to the website is an important factors since it gives
the chance to the shoppers to see the products. If they are
interested in the products, display and the service, they
could be a customer. Those aspects are highly related to
each other and possess a role in increasing the sales.
Conclusions and Suggestions
Based on the result of the analysis and the discussion, the
conclusions are drawn as follows:
1. Google AdWords could be utilized to support e-
commerce activities. The use of Google AdWords
is beneficial to increase e-commerce sales.
2. Google AdWords possesses many benefits that
could be utilized to increase the numbers of visits
to the e-commerce websites, the numbers of new
customers, and to expand the business.
3. Based on the results of the study, the following
are the recommendation from the researcher:
4. Due to the benefits and advantages, the people are
suggested to use Google AdWords to support
their e-commerce activities and to increase the
sales.
5. According to the results, the future researchers in
the similar field of study are recommended to
conduct advanced study, by comparing Google
AdWords and another advertising media in
increasing e-commerce sales.
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Full text of this paper can be downloaded online at www.ijssm.org/ &http://nepjol.info/index.php/IJSSM/issue/archive
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