Sales and Marketing expenses of Alphabet (Google) 2013 -2019.
Amounts in millions.
| Year | Sales and marketing expenses (Millions) |
| 2019 | $18,464 |
| 2018 | $ 16,333 |
| 2017 | $ 12,893 |
| 2016 | $ 10,485 |
| 2015 | $ 9,047 |
| 2014 | $ 8,131 |
| 2013 | $ 6,554 |
In fiscal 2019, Alphabet, the parent company of Google spent $18,464 million on sales and marketing compared to $16,333 million in the previous fiscal year.
The sales and marketing expenses of Google include the following mainly:
• Advertising and promotional expenditures related to Alphabet products and services; and
• Compensation expenses (including SBC) and facilities-related costs for employees engaged in sales and marketing, sales support, and certain customer service functions.
Google’s sales and marketing expenses increased $2,131 million from 2018 to 2019. The increase was primarily due to an increase in compensation expenses (including SBC) and facilities-related costs of $1,371 million, largely resulting
from a 15% increase in headcount. In addition, there was an increase in advertising and promotional expenses of $402 million in 2019 compared to the previous fiscal.
Google’s sales and marketing expenses grew by $3,440 million from 2017 to 2018 mainly due to an increase in compensation and facilities-related costs for employees in sales and marketing as well as sales support and certain customer service functions. There was a 12% increase in headcount resulting in a growth of $1,418 million in sales and marketing expenses. Advertising and promotional expenses also increased adding $1,233 million to the sales and marketing expenses of Alphabet in 2018. Overall, sales and marketing expenses increased by 11.9% in 2018 compared to the previous year.