Global Marketing News – 5th August 2016
AMP pages to appear in Google’s main search listings
Google announced on Tuesday that its Accelerated Mobile Pages will now be extended beyond the carousel at the top of news search results.
Since its launch in October of last year, the AMP initiative has been used to highlight trusted news articles at the top of the page.
However, non-news publishers have adopted the system faster than Google expected, leading to them appearing within the carousel.
Dave Besbris, Vice President of engineering at Google, said that it was “really important to deliver to these publishers who are trying to create AMP”, and that it would now “show them in search when they are available.”
Since its launch, non-news companies like eBay and Rakuten have enlisted to make their mobile sites AMP-enabled.
Dior becomes first to sell luxury bags on WeChat
The fashion designer Dior has become the first luxury brand to sell high-end bags over WeChat.
Earlier this week, the company launched its limited edition Lady Dior bag, in time for the Chinese Valentine’s Day celebrations, before it sold out over the social network in just over 24 hours.
Lu Zhenwang from Wanqing Consultancy said “luxury brands can find their target consumers by using WeChat’s big data”, adding that because it is the largest social network in China, “it’s easier for them to advertise and sell products”.
Luxury brands such as Cartier, Montblanc and Longchamp already sell over WeChat, providing special discounts and offers for the platform.
A recent study on luxury items from Ruder Finn Inc showed that 36% of respondents in China said they buy luxury items online, a notable increase of 24% on the preceding year.
Instagram launches Instagram Stories
Instagram has launched its new Instagram Stories feature, which will allow users to share a series of images in a row.
Unlike a normal Instagram post, each image will only be viewable by others for 24 hours, appearing in a slideshow format, with the images themselves being editable with emojis and drawing tools.
The app’s makers have said that users “don’t have to worry about over-posting”, and that it encourages “as much creativity as you want.”
However, Instagram has been hit by a small amount of criticism over the new feature as it bears a striking similarity to Snapchat.
Defending the comparisons, Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom claimed that it wasn’t “about who invented something”, but about putting “your own spin” on an existing format.
Brits are most likely of EU5 to shop on mobile
Research by ComScore has shown that consumers in the UK are more likely to shop using a smartphone than anywhere else in the five major EU markets.
The data, taken in April 2016, shows that around 34% of British smartphone users above the age of 13 purchase items over mcommerce; more than Italy, Germany, France or Spain.
It was also revealed that, unlike the other four countries in the surveyed group, the amount of people who make purchases on mobile through a browser compared to those who do so through an app is very similar.
Whilst in France 67% of people use a browser on their device, with only 41% of people using apps, 60% of Brits use a browser with 59% of them buying in-app.
Shoppable gets $3.5 million to fund universal shopping cart
And finally, the ecommerce startup Shoppable has raised 3.5 million US dollars to fund its universal shopping cart.
The company offer products that allow publishers to make items possible to purchase directly from a featured video or photo.
Using what CEO Heather Marie calls “shoppable moments”, users would not have to leave a publisher’s website to buy advertised items, from multiple retailers.
Marie added that the whole buying process stays within the publisher’s website, providing “a much more seamless experience”, whilst also providing more detailed customer data.
Shoppable has announced that it intends to added to the already integrated 200 merchants, with more than 100 others currently on a waiting list.
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