Gmail Ads for Toy Stores: Reaching Gift Buyers Before Black Friday

Gmail ads work for toy stores as branding and light retargeting in the weeks before Black Friday and Christmas. They aren’t a main sales channel: in the five toy store accounts I’ve run over the last three years, Gmail and Discover together get about 10% of the Google Ads budget, through Demand Gen campaigns.

This post is part of the complete guide to Google Ads for toy stores. For the step-by-step setup, see how to set up ads on Gmail.

What do Gmail ads do for a toy store?

Gmail ads keep your store in front of gift buyers while they’re reading offers from other stores. They show at the top of the Promotions and Social tabs, which is exactly where Black Friday and Christmas emails land. For a toy store, that gives them two jobs:

• Branding: putting your name in front of parents and relatives who’ll buy toys this season, before the rush.
• Light retargeting: reminding people who visited your store or bought from you before.

The aim is to make your Shopping and Search campaigns work better in November and December, when about 30% of yearly sales happen in the toy accounts I run.

When should a toy store run Gmail ads?

In the weeks before Black Friday, and again before Christmas. That’s when gift buyers start looking through offers in their inbox.

Gmail comes after YouTube in the season. YouTube ads start in late October because they take a few weeks to show any lift. Gmail reminds people closer to the moment they buy.

There’s a cost reason to start before the peak too. In November and December, CPCs in toy accounts jump around 70%, so the reminders that come before that are cheaper.

Who should a toy store target with Gmail ads?

Target the adults who buy toys. Google turns off ads personalisation for users under 18 (Google Ads policy), and they aren’t the ones paying anyway. Good audiences for a toy store:

• Past customers, from your customer list. Someone who bought a gift last Christmas is likely to buy again.
• Recent website visitors, especially people who looked at products but didn’t buy.
• Custom segments built from what gift buyers search for: toy brands, categories and gift searches by age.

Give retargeting and new audiences separate ad groups, so you can see what each one returns.

What creative works in Gmail ads for toys?

Gmail shows image ads and product feed ads; video doesn’t run there. For toy stores, these work well:

• Gift guides by age: “Gifts for 3–5 year olds” with a few products and one clear link.
• Bestsellers only. It’s the same rule as everywhere in toy advertising: put the money behind what sells.
• Delivery dates: the last day to order for Christmas delivery is useful information in a Promotions tab full of offers.
• A headline that does the work. In the inbox, people only see your logo, name and one headline before deciding to click.

Across the 12 online stores whose Gmail ads I manage (not just toy stores), image ads usually do a bit better than product feed ads, and images with text work well. Test your headlines more than anything else. The image specs and limits are in the Gmail setup guide.

Do Gmail ads for toy stores work the same in the US and Europe?

No. In the US, a Gmail ad opens and reads like a real email; in Europe the format is more limited and stays visibly an ad. In my experience, Gmail ads work much better in the US for that reason. If you sell toys in both, run separate campaigns, and don’t use US results to plan a European budget.

How do Gmail ads fit with other toy store campaigns?

Gmail sits next to Discover: both are Demand Gen channels with the same job before Black Friday. YouTube builds demand earlier, and Search and Shopping collect it. For the budget split and the full yearly calendar, read the complete guide to Google Ads for toy stores.