Global Marketing News – 20th June 2016
Baidu Announces Cut In Quarterly Projection
Baidu has announced a cut in its quarterly revenue projection, apparently due to the recent scrutiny it has come under regarding its paid search results.
In the statement, the company said that it was reducing its second-quarter revenue forecast from over 20 billion yuan, to 18 billion yuan.
Following the recent announcement shares in Baidu fell another 5%, after falling 13% since the beginning of this year.
Criticism has been directed at the company following the controversial death of a Chinese student, Wei Zexi, where it was claimed that it was advertising misleading medical treatments.
Since then, Baidu has been hit with strict new regulations and has itself banned advertising that it deems too risky.
This has led to what they call “short-term uncertainty” from users.
Swiss Ecommerce Merchants Show Poor Customer Service
A study from Swiss consulting firm Carpathia has shown that ecommerce merchants in the country fall short when it comes to customer service.
The results showed that only 12% of the merchants which sold clothing, textiles and shoes guaranteed free delivery, whilst 35% charged for delivery below a certain amount and 53% always charged for delivery.
When it comes to the threshold at which companies were most likely to offer free delivery, food and drink sellers offered free shipping on orders above 291 euros, whilst on average media retailers offered the same service on orders above just 35 euros.
However, of the one hundred shops scrutinised, only five of them offered free returns to customers.
Carpathia said that return conditions were also often difficult to understand or find.
They said that it was “unnerving” to read terms and conditions but still not have clarity over whether or not customers could return items.
Rakuten Is To Invest In India
Just a week after confirming its withdrawal from multiple global markets like the UK and Spain, Rakuten has announced plans to invest in India.
After opening up a development centre there in 2014, Rakuten will now launch its own marketplace in India by next year, putting it in direct competition with Flipkart and Amazon India.
Currently one of the top 10 largest internet companies in the world, the Japanese company has been looking to steal mid-level management from its competition in India for around two years.
With recent investments in Pinterest, multiple start-ups in Israel and British money transfer company, Azimo, Rakuten has reported growth in key metrics over the past year.
UK Customers Turned Off Brands By Social Media Bombardment
According to a recent study, UK social media users are likely to be turned off a brand if they are bombarded by them.
The study, done by The Chartered Institute of Marketing, showed that 52% of users said that too much coverage from one brand would have a negative effect, rather than a positive one.
Bombardment was even judged to be worse than a brand making false claims about content or have a negative story appear about them in the media.
However, another study taken over a year ago by Atomik Research, showed that social media users were already frustrated by brands posting too many social media updates, demonstrating that brands are perhaps unwilling to prioritise quality over quantity.
The Philippines Is At War; But Only According To Facebook
Facebook have mistakenly announced that The Philippines is at war.
The mistake occurred in a post by the social network that celebrated The Phillippines 118th independence day, that made the error of showing the national flag upside down.
This meant that the white, red and blue design was shown to have the red above the blue, representing the country being at war.
The Phillippines Republic Act states that “the flag, if flown from a flagpole, shall have its blue field on top in time of peace and the red field on top in time of war”.
The mistake was noticed by commenters who informed Facebook, who then issued an apology for the error saying the mistake was made “in an attempt to connect people on Independence Day”, and that they “cared deeply about the community in the Philippines”.
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Cal O'Connell
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