Global marketing news – 9 February 2016
Luxury retailer Michael Kors to capitalise on European e-commerce growth
The luxury fashion retailer Michael Kors has announced that it is going to expand its online presence internationally.
It currently operates e-commerce websites in just the US and Canada, but will soon launch sites in 22 European countries, with the first sites going live this autumn.
The announcement comes off the back off strong growth in its North American markets, with the brand reporting retail sales worth 766 million US dollars last quarter, up 11% on the same period the previous year.
The company will focus on making mobile e-commerce as easy as possible for customers, saying that they had noticed mobile traffic to their website increasing every month.
Visa launches Visa Developer open platform
The global payment services company Visa has just launched Visa Developer, an open platform that allows software developers to access a range of Visa’s payment technologies.
Developers can access services such as Visa Checkout, consumer transaction alerts, currency conversion, person-to-person payment capabilities and account holder verification. They will also have access to Visa test data.
With the rise of e-commerce around the world, more and more companies are looking at ways to receive payments online.
A Visa spokesperson commented on the launch of Visa Developer, saying: “We are unbundling Visa’s full suite of products and services and giving developers open access to the underlying payment capabilities. We believe this will lead to the creation of entirely new commerce experiences with Visa technology integrated to enable greater security, scale and convenience when it comes time to pay.”
Majority of mobile advertising done in South Korea is through apps
A study by Researchad has found that the majority of mobile advertising done in South Korea is through apps.
The research found that 59% of mobile display advertising in the country was in apps, with the remaining 41% of mobile display ads being shown on mobile websites.
Advertisers in South Korea spent 1.6 billion US dollars on mobile display ads last year.
South Korea has one of the most mature smartphone markets in the world, with a penetration rate of over 100%.
Komplett to expand its services in Norway
The popular Norwegian e-commerce site Komplett has revealed that it wants to expand the range of services it offers in the country.
Komplett’s website currently sells electronic, home and decoration, beauty and household appliance products. It also recently launched an online pharmacy.
It has now announced plans to sell groceries on its site, and also build an online marketplace for other retailers to sell their items on.
Norway has one of the most mature internet markets in the world, with the third fastest internet speeds in Europe and 78% of Norwegian internet users engaging in e-commerce.
House of Fraser’s Twitter marketing stunt goes embarrassingly wrong
And finally, the department store House of Fraser was left red-faced after a social media marketing stunt went wrong.
House of Fraser decided to do a campaign called #Emojinal in which it superimposed various emoji onto celebrities’ faces and bodies.
In one, a photo of Leonardo DiCaprio was doctored to show him blowing a trumpet, whilst in another Kim Kardashian had a peach superimposed onto her buttocks.
The campaign, which was quite at odds with House of Fraser’s usual serious style, provoked quite a Twitter storm, with users pondering whether the Twitter account had been hacked or whether the person running it was drunk or suffering from a mental breakdown.
As it was, the out-of-character tweets were promoting a Valentine’s Day offer, with the company later explaining that love sometimes makes a person act differently and “a bit bonkers”.
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
Elin Box
Latest posts by Elin Box (see all)
- Top 5 social platforms in China in 2024 - August 8, 2024
- Digital marketing in the Middle East and Africa in 2024 - August 1, 2024
- 4 local e-commerce websites that are beating Amazon in 2024 - July 25, 2024
