Google’s economic impact in New England
Cambridge, MA — A click here, a click there, and soon you’re talking big money.
That was the message from Google.com Tuesday as top executives came to Pemberton Farms, a North Cambridge gourmet grocer and flower shop that’s used Google advertising to build a fast-growing national e-commerce business selling gift baskets and fruit baskets.
Last year, according to Pemberton’s Mark Saidnawey, the Massachusetts Avenue shop sold over $150,000 worth of gift baskets to buyers as far away as Washington, D.C., and the Midwest.
Saidnawey said the key has been Google ads that offer Pemberton as a place to buy when shoppers put in a term like “corporate gift baskets” and a city name in the Google search box.
Pemberton started a gift basket business more than a decade ago, initially relying heavily on mailing catalogues. “What we thought it was was throwing $2 darts at things. I mean, every catalogue we mailed was $2 in the mail, and you figured most of them landed in the recycle bin.”
