SureBright study says merchants may be wasting 30%-40% of ad spend on the wrong hours

SureBright analyzed more than 1.1 million e-commerce orders across the U.S. and Canada and found that shopping demand is concentrated in narrow seasonal and daily windows. The company says aligning ad budgets with those hours could lift return on ad spend by 20%-35%.

Why it matters: - E-commerce merchants may be spending a meaningful share of ad budgets outside the hours when customers are most likely to buy. - SureBright’s modeled estimates suggest better timing could improve customer acquisition cost by 15%-25% and return on ad spend by 20%-35%, depending on category, channel mix and execution. - The findings also point to operational gains beyond advertising, including inventory planning, fulfillment scheduling and customer support staffing.

What happened: - SureBright released an analysis of more than 1.1 million e-commerce transactions across the U.S. and Canada. - The study examined seasonal, hourly, geographic and device-based shopping patterns using each merchant’s local time zone. - SureBright also published a guide, Align Ad Spend with Customer Shopping Timing: Learnings from 1 Million+ Orders Data, with recommendations for budget allocation, campaign scheduling and device-specific ad strategies.

The details: - November and December accounted for 36.6% of annual order volume. - December made up 19.9% of annual order volume. - November made up 16.7% of annual order volume. - Nearly 36% of daily orders were placed between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time across the U.S. and Canada. - Midday emerged as the strongest advertising window of the day. - U.S. mobile purchasing activity stayed elevated through 10 p.m. to 11 p.m., while desktop activity fell sharply after 7 p.m. - Canadian consumers showed stronger evening purchasing behavior than U.S. consumers. - U.S. consumers were more active in the morning than Canadian shoppers. - Orders above $1,000 peaked at 11 a.m., about two hours earlier than purchases under $200. - The report includes hourly shopping analysis, seasonal budget recommendations, device-specific advertising frameworks, U.S.-Canada comparisons and implementation guidance for Google Ads, Microsoft Advertising and Meta campaigns. - The data came from a limited anonymized sample of 1.1 million transactions from SureBright’s proprietary dataset across 20+ product categories.

Between the lines: - The analysis suggests many merchants may over-focus on who to target and what to say, while under-optimizing when to spend. - Timing appears to be a separate performance lever, not just a minor tweak to media planning. - The hourly patterns also differ by market, device and order value, which means one national campaign schedule may miss a large share of high-intent traffic. - The report’s estimates are modeled, so the exact lift will vary by merchant and channel.

What’s next: - Merchants can audit current campaign schedules against peak shopping windows and shift spend toward higher-intent hours. - Brands can test dayparting, seasonal pacing and device-specific bids to see where performance improves. - The report’s framework gives advertisers a starting point for rebalancing budgets without raising total spend.

The bottom line: - SureBright’s study argues that timing is one of the most underused ways to improve e-commerce ad efficiency.