Global Marketing News – 6th August 2015
Global CEOs cite international expansion as key growth driver
A study by KPMG has revealed that almost half of CEOs worldwide are planning to devote significant amounts of money to international expansion over the next 3 years.
47% of CEOs questioned said they would be investing in geographic expansion beyond their home country in the next 3 years, with 30% saying it was their number one priority.
It reflects a growing realisation amongst businesses about the potential of overseas markets, with 54% saying global economic growth was the biggest factor to have an influence on their company, and two-thirds saying they expected their international revenues to increase over the next 3 years.
The US was the most popular target country for expansion, followed by China, Western Europe, Central Europe and India.
The study also examined the attitudes of CEOs towards growth in their own countries. 95% of Chinese CEOs believed the economic situation would improve in the next 3 years, with this sentiment also reflected by 90% of Spanish and Italian respondents, and 85% of Australians and Indians.
CNIL orders French dating sites to improve online security
The data privacy watchdog in France, the CNIL, has ordered eight French dating websites to improve their online privacy and security protocols or risk being hit with a 150,000 Euro fine, equivalent to 165,000 US dollars.
The CNIL investigated the dating websites’ security measures and found them to be inadequate, with problems such as a lack of transparency about data collection, keeping user data even when a user had closed their account, and a lack of encryption being commonplace.
This is in direct violation of French law, which states that websites must get explicit consent from users before collecting “sensitive” data such as sexual orientation, ethnicity, and religious and political opinions.
The websites now have 3 months to improve their privacy and security to be in line with French law, or they will be fined.
Payfort introduces pay-in-instalments option
The Middle Eastern online payments company Payfort has launched a new feature that allows buyers to pay in instalments rather than a single lump-sum.
The feature has been launched in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt and will allow users to pay in instalments when using their credit cards on ecommerce sites.
A spokesperson from Payfort has commented on the launch, saying: “This could be a game-changer for the Middle East and North Africa’s e-commerce market, empowering online consumers with greater purchasing power and so opening up a whole new segment of consumers for the ecommerce industry.”
Payfort is the payments system used on some of the most popular ecommerce sites in the Middle East, including Souq, Dubizzle and Landmark.
Twitter translated into 4 new Indian languages
Twitter has been translated into 4 new Indian languages: Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil.
The Twitter website and Android app, which were translated by volunteers, are now completely localised in the new languages with its menu and settings all being translated.
Twitter is now available in 6 Indian languages, with the social network already having been translated into Hindi and Bengali.
Chatbot “girlfriend” app huge success in China
And finally, Microsoft’s so-called “girlfriend app” has been a big hit in China.
Xiaoice is a chatbot that can remember past conversations and ask questions based on them, tell jokes and answer questions.
She is on Weibo, one of China’s biggest social networks, where she has around 850,000 followers. And people tend to talk to her multiple times, with the average user said to engage in conversations with her around 60 times a month.
Microsoft have said that, “XiaoIce is a sophisticated conversationalist with a distinct personality,” adding that, “People were amazed and by her personality and sense of humour”.
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Gemma Houghton
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