Global Marketing News – 9th November 2015
Google issues more detailed response to EU investigation
Google has issued a more detailed response to the EU regarding the ongoing anti-trust investigation.
Google stands accused of deploying tactics to boost the ranking of its own Google Shopping price comparison services, whilst pushing rival services offered by competitors further down the search results by demoting the value of their links or simply refusing to list them altogether.
The search engine has responded by saying it is not guilty of the charges because its search services are free.
In a statement, the search giant said: “The [EU’s] objections fails to take proper account of the fact that search is provided for free. A finding of abuse of dominance requires a ‘trading relationship’ as confirmed by consistent case law. No trading relationship exists between Google and its users.”
If the charges against Google are successful, the search engine may be forced to pay fines of up to 10% of its revenue, which could total as much as 6.6 billion US dollars.
Internet penetration rising in Algeria and Morocco
Internet penetration rates are increasing rapidly in the North African countries of Algeria and Morocco.
The number of internet users in Algeria has increased tenfold in the last eight years, going from 1.5 million in 2007 to 15 million today. That is a penetration rate of 38%, with the majority of the growth being driven by increased mobile internet subscriptions.
In neighbouring Morocco, internet penetration has reached 41%, with 14 million Moroccans now having access to the internet. Mobile internet again accounts for a large proportion of this, with almost 13 million Moroccans going online using a mobile phone.
As more and more people in the region start going online, online advertising is gradually becoming more popular in the region as well.
However, with just 2.5% of Algerian and 5% of Moroccan advertising spend going on digital, the online advertising markets in the two countries still has a long way to go.
Social commerce site Pelando launches in Brazil
The coupon company Méliuz and the social commerce company Pepper have joined forces to launch a social commerce website targeting the Brazilian market.
The website, Pelando, allows users to discuss and vote on online promotions, with the aim of helping users find the deals they are looking for quickly in a fun and interactive way.
The website is free for users, with advertisers having to pay on a CPC or CPO basis to be included on the site.
This is not Pepper’s first foray into the international market. Earlier this year it teamed up with a local Indian player to launch an Indian social commerce site DesiDime.
It says it decided to enter the Brazilian market due to the country’s remarkable growth, saying: “Growing at an annual rate of 20% and generating a turnover of around $16 billion in 2015, Brazil is one of the fastest growing and most attractive e-commerce markets worldwide.”
Baidu to launch Indonesian mobile ad platform
And finally, the Chinese internet giant Baidu has revealed further details about how it intends to conquer the Indonesian market.
It has announced that it intends to launch a mobile advertising platform in the country to help app developers using its app store MoboMarket get more users.
MoboMarket launched around 18 months ago. During that time, it has attracted 4 million monthly active users and half a million apps.
Travel, gaming and children’s apps are the most popular apps in the app store, with social media apps lagging slightly behind.
The advertising platform is due to be launched this month although an exact date has not yet been announced.
Baidu revealed earlier this year that it would focussing on a mobile-centric strategy in Indonesia, saying that it would primarily be pushing its app store MoboMarket, its internet speed booster and battery saver apps, and its O2O services in the country.
Webcertain’s global marketing news bulletins are daily 5-minute videos, providing marketers with the latest international digital marketing news in an easy-to-digest format.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Gemma Houghton
Latest posts by Gemma Houghton (see all)
- Watch the recording: How to identify and seize growth opportunities in international markets - April 20, 2022
- International marketing recruitment: How to drive global growth amid The Great Resignation - February 23, 2022
- 5 trends to include in your 2022 international digital marketing strategy - December 21, 2021
Will be interesting to see how Pelando grows…
So far it has not taken a huge market share!
[…] article, Google Issues More Detailed Response To EU Investigation, first appeared on multilingual […]