The Business Owner's Guide to AI

You know what your competitors' stores look like. You've seen their window displays. You might even know what brands they carry.

But do you know what their ads look like? How many they're running? What platforms they're on? What they're spending their own money on versus what brands are paying for?

We do. We pulled 20,946 active ads from 99 luxury watch and jewelry retailers across North America — from Google, Facebook, and Instagram — and broke them apart.

What we found isn't what we expected.

Only Half Are Advertising on Both Platforms

Of the 99 retailers we tracked, just 50.5% are running ads on both Google and Meta (Facebook and Instagram). Another 33% are Google-only. One percent are Meta-only. And 15.2% aren't advertising anywhere at all.

That last number is worth sitting with. Roughly 1 in 6 luxury watch and jewelry retailers have no detectable paid advertising on either platform — including authorized dealers with access to brand co-op budgets.

The retailers on both platforms have an advantage most don't think about. Google captures people searching with intent — "Rolex dealer near me." Meta works differently. It captures people before they're searching and while they're deciding.

Here's why that matters: when a customer starts engaging with jewelry ads on Instagram — clicking, saving, browsing — Meta's algorithm starts showing them more jewelry and watch ads. One retailer's retargeting campaign becomes another retailer's prospecting opportunity. If a competitor is retargeting someone who visited their site, and you're not on Meta at all, their ad spend is warming up customers you'll never see.

The 33% who are Google-only are capturing existing demand but invisible on the platform where demand gets created — and where their competitors' retargeting is doing the prospecting for them.

The Competition Is Thinner Than You Think

A small group of retailers occupy the dominant tier across both platforms. These retailers run more ads than 90% of the field — some maintaining hundreds of active ads at a time. Meanwhile, the majority run a handful of ads at most.

On Google, 9 retailers account for the bulk of all ad volume — running 564 or more ads each. Meanwhile, 57 retailers have a light or minimal footprint. The gap between the top tier and the rest is significant: dominant advertisers run 5x or more ads than a moderate advertiser.

Meta tells a different story. Only 13 retailers maintain a dominant or active social media ad presence. The majority — 71 retailers — have minimal or no Meta advertising. For a platform where luxury products photograph and video well, that's one of the largest untapped opportunities in the dataset.

This isn't a crowded market. It's a handful of retailers with serious programs and a long tail that's barely trying. The question isn't whether you can compete. It's whether you realize how few retailers you're actually competing against.

Authorized Dealers vs. Independents: Two Different Ad Worlds

Our dataset includes 81 authorized dealers (retailers carrying brands like Rolex, Omega, Cartier, Breitling) and 18 independent retailers operating outside those brand networks. Their advertising behavior is strikingly different.

Authorized dealers run 28x more Google ads than Meta ads on average. That imbalance is largely driven by brand co-op programs — Rolex, Breitling, and Richemont all fund display campaigns that point traffic to their authorized dealers' websites. The Google volume is inflated by brand dollars.

On Meta, the gap narrows. Independents who do advertise on social media are roughly comparable to authorized dealers in effort. The playing field is more level on the platform where the brand isn't subsidizing the ads.

9.9% of authorized dealers with access to co-op budgets have no detectable advertising on either platform. That's co-op money sitting unclaimed while competitors benefit from the same programs.

5.4% of Ads Use Video. In an Industry That Sells Beauty.

This is the stat we keep coming back to.

68% of all ads are static images. Another 25% are text-only (Google Search). Video — the format that gets more distribution and cheaper cost-per-view on both platforms — accounts for 5.4% of everything.

Both Google and Meta reward video with lower costs and broader reach. The algorithm favors it. Engagement rates are higher. And in this dataset, almost nobody is using it — which means less competition for that cheaper distribution.

Here's another way to think about it: 58.8% of all ads in this dataset have no extractable text at all. They're silent image banners — no headline, no body copy, just a visual. In a feed full of mute images, a video or a piece of educational content would be the loudest thing in the room.

What Are They Actually Promoting?

We classified every ad by strategy. The breakdown reveals where the money goes — and where it doesn't.

A large share of ads are run by brands, not retailers

A significant portion of ads are run by brands — Rolex, Breitling, Cartier, Richemont — under their own advertiser accounts, driving traffic to their authorized dealers' websites. That's only what we can see from the outside. Many retailers run ads under their own name and get reimbursed by brands after the fact. The real number of brand-supported ads is likely higher.

The scale difference is striking: authorized dealers average 278 Google ads compared to 36 for independent retailers. Much of that gap is driven by brand-funded advertising.

Here's something most retailers miss about co-op: brands typically want demand creation, not demand capture. They don't want you running Search ads to capture people already looking for a Rolex. What brands want is for you to introduce new audiences to the brand — which is exactly what Meta and display ads do. If you've been avoiding Meta, consider that your brand partners may actually be willing to pay for it.

The strategies nobody is using

The bottom of the strategy table is where the real opportunity lives:

• Service and repair: 0.1% of all ads. Retailers have master watchmakers on staff and aren't telling anyone.
• Product-specific ads: Almost nobody names a model. "See the new Submariner in person" beats "Shop our collection."
• Certified pre-owned: 0.1% of ads despite being one of the fastest-growing segments. The demand is there. The ads aren't.
• Educational content: Zero. No buying guides, no brand histories. Customers spend months researching. The retailer who shows up during that research earns the visit.
• Events: 0.2% of ads. Trunk shows, VIP evenings, collection launches — the campaigns that create urgency in a category where purchases get deferred indefinitely.

The CTAs Don't Match the Business Model

"Shop now" dominates the call-to-action landscape with 333 instances. "Learn more" follows at 114. "Book now" — the CTA that actually drives foot traffic — appears just 31 times. "Get directions" shows up 11 times. "Contact us" and "Call now" barely register.

For luxury retailers where the sale happens in-store, "Shop now" is often the wrong call to action. It pushes toward e-commerce when the real conversion path is a store visit, a phone call, or a booked appointment. 81.4% of luxury watch sales happen through offline stores (Fortune Business Insights, 2025). The CTA should reflect where the sale actually closes.

Where Ads Send People

73 advertisers send ad traffic to their homepage. That's a generic destination for a specific intent. Someone who clicked an ad about engagement rings should land on an engagement ring page, not a homepage where they have to navigate from scratch.

Only 32 ads — roughly 6% of those with detectable landing pages — send traffic to appointment or service booking pages. For an industry where the conversion event is "walk into the store and sit down with a specialist," that's a missed connection between the ad and the outcome.

One Ad Has Been Running for 1,597 Days. That's Not an Accident.

When a retailer keeps paying for the same ad month after month — for over four years — that ad is making money.

We identified 721 long-running ads in the 90th percentile of longevity. On Google, 90% of these long-running ads are image-based display. On Meta, 68% are automated formats (Advantage+ Catalog Ads and Advantage+ Creative). Automated formats dominate among long-running ads, suggesting retailers find them sustainable at scale.

Among long-running ads with readable copy, 39% promote the retailer's own value proposition rather than individual brands. Service-based CTAs appear in 27% of long-running ads — an underused approach that differentiates from the dominant "Shop now" pattern.

What This All Means

The data paints a consistent picture: most luxury watch and jewelry retailers approach paid advertising with a narrow toolkit. Google-heavy, image-dominant, message-light, with CTAs and landing pages built for e-commerce even though the majority of revenue happens across the counter.

Meta is underused. Only 13 of 99 retailers maintain a dominant or active social ad presence. The platform where luxury products look their best is the one most retailers ignore — and where competitor retargeting is warming up customers that Google-only retailers will never see.

Video is underused. 5.4% of ads in an industry built on craftsmanship, beauty, and emotion. The retailers who invest in video creative will stand out by default — and pay less for the distribution.

Nobody is advertising service, events, pre-owned, or education. The strategies that drive the most in-store traffic and the highest-margin revenue appear in a combined fraction of a percent of all ads.

CTAs don't match the business model. "Shop now" works for DTC e-commerce. Luxury retail needs "Book an appointment," "Get directions," "Call us." The conversion happens in person, and the ad should reflect that.

Most ads say nothing about the retailer. When 60% of ads are visual-only and another 39% are brand co-op, the store itself becomes interchangeable. The retailers who communicate their own story — why buy from us, not just what we sell — are the ones building a brand that survives independent of any single watch or jewelry line they carry.

This analysis is based on H&CO's March 2026 Ad Strategy Intelligence Report, which reviews advertising activity across 99 luxury watch and jewelry retailers on Google Ads and Meta.

Want the full report? It includes retailer-specific breakdowns, individual ad examples, proven winner screenshots, and the data behind every finding above. Drop your email and we'll send it over.

Want the full breakdown of what your competitors are running and how to beat them? Get in touch.