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Alibaba Sees Sales Increase By 40%

By Elin Box on May 13, 2015

Global Marketing News – 14th May

Alibaba Sees Sales Increase By 40%

Alibaba has reported a 40% growth in sales for the last quarter. Chinese consumers have purchased 600 billion Yuan worth of products through the Chinese e-commerce site in the quarter ending March 31st. This is compared to the 430 billion Yuan spent in the previous quarter.

These figures come after a year of controversy for the company, which has been accused of selling counterfeit goods and placing fake orders in order to improve search engine results.
However, this hasn’t deterred shoppers from buying on Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba’s shopping portals. Figures for the full year show that $394 billion of goods were purchased, compared to $83 billion on eBay, and an estimated $150 billion through Amazon.

Alibaba also announced that its CEO, Jonathan Lu, will be replaced by Daniel Zhang, the former chief financial officer of Tmall.

The United Arab Emirates Leads OnlineTicket Purchases in The Middle East

Online ticket sales in the Arab region add up to $11 billion, according to PayFort, a Dubai-based online payment gateway. $4.7 billion of that was in the United Arab Emirates only, with $2.2 billion coming from Saudi Arabia.

Egypt was third in the region, with $1.9 billion, closely followed by Kuwait, Lebanon and Jordan.

These figures highlight the transformation that is taking place all over the world as online ticket purchasing takes over from traditional tour operators. Even tourism companies are switching to the online platforms of airlines.

As a result the Arab world is fast becoming a travel hub with the market expected to grow further by 2020 as online ticket purchases are expected to reach $16.2 billion.

Google is Testing a New Feature To Improve Mobile Page Load Speeds

The US internet giant will be able to detect whether or not a user is on a slow network. It will then optimise the display, making it faster and lighter.

The new feature is due to be launched in Indonesia. It could then be rolled out further afield as the increase in portable devices leads to a surge of internet congestion worldwide.Initially, it will only be available to Chrome users on Android. However, as early trials saw a 50% increase in traffic to the faster pages, it will have wider appeal.

Google is hoping that this new feature will help publishers and advertisers reach new customers, while users will get a faster browsing experience. The new feature will optimise websites by default, but web developers will be offered an opt-out option.

Easy Ship Aims To Improve Asian Ecommerce Logistics

The Hong Kong-based start-up Easy Ship is Hoping to Improve Logistics for Ecommerce in Asia, offering a single solution for international shipping. Easy Ship was founded in 2013 by three formers workers of Lazada, an online shopping mall for South East Asia.

They saw the need for a reliable logistics platform that covers all stages of international shipping; from pick-up to delivery. The focus will be on Hong Kong and South East Asia as online e-commerce continues to boom across the area; there are more than 10,000 online companies in Hong Kong alone.

As Chinese e-commerce companies continue to pose a real threat to established companies such as Amazon and Alibaba, cross-border e-commerce is increasing in value. Consumers are looking further afield for better value, better quality products.

Losing Internet Connection has been ranked as the NO.1 form of ‘Torture’ in a Weibo Survey

The survey, carried out by China’s microblogging site, revealed the top ten list of ‘tortures’. Out of 1,500 users questioned, an unbelievable 33% thought loss of internet the worst kind of torture, with one netizen comparing it to being sentenced to death.

Apparently, the second worst torture is having to get up early in the morning.
Other distressing options include losing weight, spoilers, and missing someone. ‘Having to get along with a Virgo’ was placed at the bottom of the list.
There were some respondents who thought that issues such as poverty should maybe make the list.

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.

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Elin Box

Content Marketing Manager at Webcertain
Elin is a Content Marketing Manager at Webcertain. She is responsible for Webcertain’s Self-learning platform, producing in-depth guides on a range of international digital marketing topics. She also helps run the Webcertain blog and is the writer of the Webcertain search and social report, an annual report summarising digital marketing best practices in over 50 countries. She is passionate about educating and empowering people to make the best decisions for their business and is proud to help share Webcertain’s wealth of digital marketing knowledge with the world. Elin is from the UK.

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