Global Marketing News – 10th June 2016
Amazon invests $3 billion in Indian market
Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, has announced that the company has made a 3 billion US dollar investment in the Indian market.
Launched only 3 years ago, Amazon.in is already one of the top ecommerce retailers in the country, alongside the local platform Flipkart which launched in 2008.
With Amazon equalling another competitor, Snapdeal, with 35 million items listed on its site, and falling just 5 million behind Flipkart, the new investment will mean Amazon now has more total funds than both its main rivals.
Bezos said in a statement that Amazon has “created some 45,000 jobs in India and continues to see huge potential in the Indian economy”, but did not share any other details regarding the company’s plans.
WeChat is a marketing hub for cosmetics in China
WeChat has become a marketing hub for cosmetic brands in China, with 96 out of the 100 brands studied having an account.
According to a new study by L2, this number is up from just 30 out of 100 last year, whilst the social network’s user base increased 39% in the same time period.
The cosmetic companies tracked were both Chinese and foreign and are increasingly reaching potential customers through WeChat even though, in most cases, the items advertised cannot be bought through the service.
However, the study does show that half of brands offer direct links to online stores whilst WeChat offers retailers ecommerce services, such as order management and order tracking.
Asia sees huge increase in online videos
Online video media is growing substantially in Asia and is becoming the most popular way for marketers to connect with consumers.
According to a study by Brightcove, social media posts that include a video file receive 1200% more shares than text and image posts combined.
This has led to around 8.4 billion video posts being shared in the Asia-Pacific region each day, with 88% of businesses there using video content in their marketing strategies.
Video viewing is also at an all-time high on mobile in the region, where social media accounts on mobile showed a 32% increase in the last year.
Due to these increases, consumers now spend twice as much time watching video than reading text online.
Canadian ad blocking preferences revealed
A new study has shown that Canadian internet users are far more likely to install ad blocking software onto a laptop or desktop than anything else.
The research, which was undertaken by the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Canada, showed that 15% of laptop or desktop users had installed ad blockers, whilst only 5% smartphone or tablet users had done the same.
However, the research also asked respondents about their awareness of ad blocking, to which 70% had never even used it, whilst only 17% of respondents used it currently, making it somewhat of a rarity.
Notably it was found that 13% had used it previously but no longer did, showing that a number of users did not feel the need for it anymore.
Siri calls ambulance for unwell baby
And finally, Apple’s Siri has called an ambulance in Australia for an unwell child.
Stacey Gleeson was rushing to the aid of her one-year-old daughter after she stopped breathing, when she dropped her phone.
While she then attempted resuscitation, she spoke across the room at her phone that was lying on the floor and called the emergency services using the Siri software.
While speaking to Australian news, Ms. Gleeson said she wanted to thank Apple and that “saving me the trouble of having to physically dial emergency services was a godsend”.
Her daughter, Giana, has now fully recovered.
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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Cal O'Connell
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