Global Marketing News –18th March 2016
Gender gap in internet use is worldwide problem
Levels of digital access and smartphone ownership are higher amongst men than women across the world, according to research by Pew Research Center.
The gender gap is largest in Africa, with Nigeria being the country with the highest levels of digital gender inequality.
In Nigeria, 48% of men have access to the internet, compared to just 29% of women. It’s a similar picture in Kenya, where 49% of men have digital access, compared to just 31% of women.
The trend persists in countries where internet penetration is low overall. In Uganda, a mere 16% of men have access to the internet, but this drops even further to just 6% amongst women. Likewise in Ethiopia, 12% of men have digital access, compared to just 4% of women.
Gender inequality also extends to smartphone ownership. Around 1 in 3 men have a smartphone in Nigeria, compared to just 1 in 5 women. Similarly large gender gaps also exist in Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda.
The research found that gender inequality even exists in more developed nations. Smartphone ownership sits at 75% for men in Spain, compared to 66% for women. In Mexico it’s a similar story, with 44% of men having a smartphone, compared to just 28% of women.
Alibaba to rid Chinese internet of fake goods
Jack Ma, the founder of the Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba, has pledged to rid the Chinese internet of counterfeit goods.
The billionaire has vowed to remove fake goods not only from his own websites but also from the websites of competitors such as JD and WeChat.
To tackle the problem of fake goods, Ma has promised to provide Alibaba’s anti-counterfeit team with an unlimited budget and unlimited staff.
Counterfeit products are a widespread problem on many Chinese ecommerce platforms.
A study conducted in 2015 by the State Administration for Industry and Commerce revealed that a staggering 63% of products sold on Alibaba’s Taobao platform could be fake.
Ecommerce app 5miles sees huge US growth
The ecommerce app 5miles has seen tremendous growth in the US over the last year.
5miles is a consumer-to-consumer (C2C) marketplace similar the eBay, but unlike eBay it does not charge users to post listings.
Users can sell and buy items on the platform, and 5miles also has an instant messaging feature allowing users to communicate within the app.
The app has acquired over 6 million users since in launch in 2015, mostly in the US, making it the 6th most popular shopping app in the country.
5miles was set up by a former Alibaba executive who wanted to replicate the success of the Chinese C2C online marketplace Taobao in a new market.
The approach has paid off, and 5miles now plans to expand to even more markets, including the UK, Australia, Mexico and the Philippines.
Video-on-demand search engine launches in France
A search engine that allows users to search video-on-demand services has launched in France.
JustWatch collates the TV programmes and films offered by the country’s largest streaming providers, allowing users to see which programmes are being shown on which platforms, all in one place.
Users can search for specific programmes or filter by genre, streaming provider, price, rating or release date.
JustWatch France currently indexes shows from Netflix, Google Play, iTunes, OCS, CanalPlay, Wuaki.tv and BBox VoD.
It has almost 13,000 films and over 500 TV episodes in its catalogue.
France has an internet penetration rate of 86%, equivalent to 55 million people.
Dutch ecommerce landscape in 2015 revealed
And finally, research by Thuiswinkel has revealed the health of the ecommerce market in the Netherlands.
The research found that the Dutch ecommerce market was worth around 16 billion Euros last year, an increase of 16% on the previous year.
The most popular product types bought online were food and toys.
The number of people engaging in ecommerce grew by 6% to 11 million, out of a total population of around 17 million people.
Mobile commerce is not popular in the Netherlands. Most ecommerce sales (48%) took place on a laptop, with desktop computers coming in second place at 36%, with tablets and smartphones coming in third and fourth place respectively at 12% and 3%.
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