Global Marketing News – 2nd December 2015
Mozilla distances itself from Google amidst anti-trust probe
The internet browser Mozilla Firefox has announced that it is distancing itself from the search engine giant Google.
For the last few years, Google has paid Mozilla over 300 million US dollars in exchange for being the default search engine on the browser.
The deal has come to end, and Mozilla has announced that it has changed the default search engines to Yahoo in the US, Yandex in Russia, and Baidu in China.
Google is still the default search engine for users in Europe, but Mozilla is no longer being paid by the search engine, and therefore is free to change this at any time.
There is speculation that the Mozilla-Google partnership came to an end because of allegations of anti-competitive practices by Google.
Google is currently under investigation by the EU for unfairly prioritising its own services over its competitors in its search results.
Mozilla has said it prides itself for its unbiased approach, something that may have made it want to distance itself from Google, at least until the EU investigation has come to its conclusion.
BlackBerry withdraws from Pakistan after privacy row
The smartphone company Blackberry has withdrawn from Pakistan following a disagreement about privacy with the Pakistani government.
The government had allegedly asked Blackberry to provide it with unrestricted access to users’ personal information, including access to emails, BBMs and data.
It had supposedly ordered all telecoms companies in the country to block Blackberry services by the end of November.
Blackberry pipped it to the post, however, by leaving before it could be blocked. It also announced it would be withdrawing its BlackBerry Internet Service from the country.
A spokesperson from the company said that the principle of safeguarding user data was not one it would violate in any circumstances.
Lidl buys food delivery company Kochzauber
The German budget supermarket Lidl has bought the food delivery company Kochzauber.
Lidl hopes that the acquisition will help it to strengthen its position in the German grocery ecommerce market.
Lidl already sells non-food items such as household goods, health and beauty products, gifts, wine and baby and pet products on its website, and its acquisition of Kochzauber will see it expanding into the lucrative German food market.
The launch comes ahead of the widely speculated entry of competitor AmazonFresh in the country next year.
The German ecommerce market is one of the most mature in the world, with a digital buyer penetration of 82%.
Credit card use on ecommerce sites rising in Turkey
The amount of money spent using credit cards on ecommerce sites in Turkey has exceeded 160 billion Turkish Lira over the last 4 years.
Credit and debit card penetration has increased at an exponential rate in the country over recent years.
Electronics, textiles and travel are the top 3 product categories for Turkish online shoppers.
A spokesperson from Abraaj Group, which has shares in the leading Turkish ecommerce site Hepsiburada commented on the Turkish ecommerce market earlier this year, saying: “The online retail sector in Turkey has been growing seven times faster than store-based retail since 2007; yet online retail penetration in the country is still low at approximately one fifth of the European levels.”
Foodpanda turns to Indian rail stations
And finally, an online food delivery service has started targeting Indian railway stations.
The scheme is the result of a collaboration between Foodpanda and the Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation.
Users will now be able to order food using the Foodpanda app or website and get it delivered to the New Delhi Railway Station. Foodpanda has said it intends to expand to other Indian train stations if the trial in New Delhi is successful.
They will be able to pay either online or in cash when the meal is delivered.
This is not the first tech venture to target the Indian railway system. Earlier this year, Google announced it would bring free, high-speed Wi-Fi to 400 train stations in the country.
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Cal O'Connell
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