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Baidu To Leave The USA

By Elin Box on September 23, 2015

Global Marketing News – 23rd September 2015

Baidu to leave the USA

The Chinese search engine Baidu is considering leaving the US stock market in order to focus its attention purely on the Chinese market.

Baidu first appeared on the US stock market over a decade ago, but the search giant fears that US investors are failing to see the value of the online-to-offline (O2O) market and Baidu’s efforts in this market.

Earlier this year, Baidu said that it will be investing over 3 billion US dollars in online-to-offline services in the next 3 years, and according to CEO Robin Li, the company’s future lies in services, rather than searching.

Online-to-offline services are those which allow users to do a real-world activity online, such as taxi-hailing and ticket-booking apps.

Baidu’s focus on online-to-offline services has been put down to the increasing penetration of smartphones in the Chinese market.

Mobile internet use rising rapidly in Brazil

Research from the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee has revealed that mobile internet use is rising rapidly in the country.

47% of Brazilians now use their mobile phones to access the internet, more than triple the 15% who used mobile internet services just 3 years ago.

Around 80% of people who use their mobiles to access the internet do so every day.

The most popular activities are the use of messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, social media use and sharing images and videos online.

There is regional variation within Brazil with regards to where these mobile internet users are located, with the majority, 60%, living in the south of country.

Australian broadcasters demand investment from Netflix and Google

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Screen Producers Australia have joined forces to demand that big names such as Google and Netflix invest in the Australian TV market.

Australian TV channels are feeling increasingly threatened by the popularity of online alternatives such as YouTube and Netflix.

Earlier this month, YouTube announced that it had more Australian viewers than any single Australian TV channel.

A spokesperson from the ABC said that a contribution equivalent to 4% of revenues generated in Australia, going towards the creation of fresh Australian content, would be an acceptable contribution from international online video giants.

A spokesperson from Google has hit out against the demands, however, saying that the company already invests over a quarter of a million dollars in the Australian TV market every year.

Emails read on desktops in Japan

The majority of emails in Japan are read on desktop computers and laptops, rather than on mobile phones, according to research by Writeup.

The vast majority of Japanese internet users, 96%, said they subscribed to marketing emails and newsletters.

The main reason for signing up to such emails was to get discounts, with around 40% of respondents saying this was their primary reason for subscribing. Wanting to receive shopping recommendations was another commonly given reason.

With three-quarters saying they read their emails on a computer, versus just one quarter who said they used their smartphones to read their emails, this marks Japan out as different to other countries with mature internet markets, where smartphones are quickly becoming people’s device of choice.

Madewell to expand online stores to 100 new countries

And finally, the fashion retailer Madewell has expanded its online stores to over 100 new countries.

Previously, the brand was only available online in the US, Canada and Japan. The new countries are from all around the world, coming from South America, Europe, Australia, Asia and the Middle East.

Madewell sold 900 million US dollars’ worth of clothes online in 2014, up 20% on the previous year.

The brand is most famous for its jeans and denim products, although more recently it has diversified to include boots, leather jackets and t-shirts.

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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