Global Marketing News – 22nd June 2015
Microsoft opens ecommerce store in India
Microsoft has opened a store on the Indian ecommerce site Snapdeal.
The branded store will sell Microsoft smartphones, tablets, PCs and software and will offer free shipping, 24 hour customer support and exclusive offers.
While Microsoft already sells its products through Amazon in India, it is hoping that having its own branded online store will help it to increase its market share in the country. The Indian ecommerce market is predicted to be worth 60 billion US dollars by 2020, making it a lucrative market for global brands.
The number of Indians online is growing rapidly, with an estimated 213 million now having access to the internet, an increase of almost 25% since last December alone.
JD to enter Russian market
The Chinese ecommerce giant JD has announced that it will be entering the Russian market.
It has developed a Russian-language version of its website and has made arrangements with the Russian online payment companies Qiwi and Sberbank.
Although JD declined to provide a sales target, it has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming “a market leader in Russian ecommerce”.
JD is not the only Chinese ecommerce company taking aim at Russia. Alibaba recently launched its Russian website, which has been a huge success. Alibaba Russia has around 20 million monthly users, making it one of the top 10 most popular websites in Russia.
The Russian cross-border ecommerce market is worth an estimated 4 billion US dollars.
Google Trends now in real-time
Google Trends now shows data in real-time.
Google Trends offers an insight into the trending topics that people are searching for using the Google search engine.
Previously, it showed slightly outdated information – displaying data that was several days old. The update means that users can now see trending topics in real-time.
YouTube and Google News search are also now included in the data, meaning that Google Trends now offers a more complete picture of what people are searching for.
The updated Google Trends page is available in 28 different countries, with the search giant saying that more countries will be added in the future.
Indians most likely to follow brands on social media
Research by Waggener Edstrom has revealed that internet users from India are the most likely to follow a brand on social media, compared to other Asia Pacific countries.
59% of Indians said they were “very likely” to follow a brand on social media, with China coming in at second place with 51%, and the Philippines coming in third with 42%.
On the other end of the spectrum, Australians were the least likely to follow a brand, with just 11% saying they were “very likely” to follow a brand on social media. South Korea also had a low score, with just 14% saying they were “very likely” to do so.
The main reason for following a brand was for discounts and promotions to help users save money. This was the main reason for all countries apart from India, where the primary reason was to keep up to date with company news.
Almost 920 million people in the Asia Pacific region are predicted to use social media at least once a month by the end of this year, with China and India being the top two countries.
90% of young South Americans access Facebook every day
And finally, 90% of young people aged 13-34 in Argentina, Colombia and Mexico access Facebook every day, according to research by comScore.
The majority of these users access the social network via mobile, with 86% doing so, compared to 69% who access the site via computer.
Android accounts for most of these smartphone users at 74%, with just 8% using an iOS device to access the social network.
The study also revealed some country-specific information, for example that almost 20% of young Argentineans are still using feature phones, and that young Mexicans are now as likely to watch videos online as they are to watch a traditional television.
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Immanuel Simonsen
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