Global Marketing News – 7th June 2016
Putin’s chef launches attack against search engines
Vladimir Putin’s personal chef, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has filed lawsuits against the internet companies Google, Yandex and Mail.ru.
He alleges that the companies have refused to remove links from their search engine results pages that appear when you type in his name.
Although he has not revealed which links he wants removing, a quick search brings up several results to do with an investigation into one of his businesses, as well as references to him being an ex-convict.
Russia introduced a “right to be forgotten” law at the beginning of the year, which states that search engines must remove links that are illegal, irrelevant or incorrect or face being hit with a 1 million ruble fine.
Loyalty programs are hugely successful in China
New research has shown that loyalty programs are hugely successful in China, with nearly 90% of those questioned saying loyalty programs encouraged them to spend more.
The survey was done amongst the top 15% of earners in each country questioned, which included China, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Whilst Chinese respondents were more positive about loyalty programmes – with 34% believing that such programmes had increased in value since last year, compared to 16% of respondents from Singapore – the greatest differences could be seen in their attitudes towards companies they feel loyal to.
Whilst three-quarters of those in China said that they would “go out of their way to do business” with a company they felt loyal to, only 36% of those in Singapore and 30% of those in Hong Kong would do the same.
This difference in attitudes has been attributed to the high value that businesses put on customer service in China, compared to its nearby markets.
Most mobile phones in Mexico are now smartphones
Smartphones are now responsible for the vast majority of all mobile connections in Mexico.
A study from May this year showed that the high rate of growth that smartphone penetration has taken in the last few years has meant it now makes up nearly 83% of all mobile connections.
Whilst only six years ago the number was as low as 2%, the incredible rise of over 80% in six years is mainly due to the high level of smartphone adoption in Mexico in two particular age ranges.
The surveys from The Competitive Intelligence Unit show that younger users who are aged under 12, have seen growth of 46% in 2014 and 33% in 2015.
However, the age range with the largest growth is users over the age of 65, who saw an increase in penetration of 83% in 2014 and 54% in 2015.
This growth is expected to slightly decrease year-on-year, but is still forecasted to see Mexico’s mobile penetration increase by 5% in 2020.
European Ecommerce Awards winners announced
The winners of the European Ecommerce Awards have been announced.
The Pure-Player award, awarded to ecommerce retailers using digital platforms to excite consumers, went to Zalando, which was judged to be the clear winner due to being “super aware of both its strengths and needed areas of improvement”.
A closer contest took place for the Omni-channel award, where Adidas and Topshop were judged to have been very close in the quality of their all-round digital presence through social media and through their online shops.
However, it was Adidas that took home the prize, being complimented on its “ability to connect physical experience with online stores”.
The entrepreneurial award went to Danish food business, Aarstiderne, who allow consumers to have organic groceries delivered via the internet “in a green, transparent, profitable way”.
KFit buys Groupon Indonesia
And finally, the coupon and discounts company Groupon has sold its Indonesian business to a start-up company called KFit.
KFit, which sells gym memberships, has said it doesn’t plan on changing Groupon Indonesia’s business model.
A spokesperson from the company commented on the sale, saying: “The combination of Groupon Indonesia’s established presence and KFit’s experience in building a mobile-first platform will propel us in a high-growth local commerce market, further accelerated by increasing mobile penetration.”
Groupon Indonesia has over 1 million users and 15,000 merchants.
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Cal O'Connell
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