While many of us are still gloomy about the downward graph, I am in quite an upbeat mood because of the encouraging signs reflected by comparative analysis. The client numbers were surely bad in April but if you compare them with those of February and March, the numbers were, after all, not that awful. For me, it is definitely an encouraging sign. There are quite a few more signs, which, now I am putting forward to get you in the same upbeat mood too. They are:

• • Conversion Rates seem to have rebounded: Where Q1 saw median CR across our clients 5% below the previous year, so far in April CR is actually up YoY by 3%.
  • Average Order Value seems to have stabilized: Consistent on the downward graph of 5%, as was the case in Q1. It is not falling lower. So be happy.
  • Downfall of competitive PPC Sales slowed down: While the PPC sales were down more than 20% in Q1, so far, in April, the median has moved in the right direction getting restricted at 17%.

However I am not hopelessly positive. I do know there are some discouraging signs as well; some of them being:

• • • Costs are only down 13% Year over Year in April, where they matched sales at over 20% down in Q1. Retailers are pushing the gas harder to try to drive the top line.
    • Brand Sales are still way off: nearly 30% down Year over Year. This is a combination of general traffic volume decline, heavy consumer use of coupons through affiliates and email promos, and in some cases pull back in other offline media channels that drive folks to the web.

Actually, according to me, retailers still face a sizeable drop in the number of consumers shopping, but those who are in the marketplace do not hesitate to spend big bucks. So we need to be neither too positive nor too negative. Adopt the middle path and keep going on.