Global marketing news – 22 March 2016
Bitcoin adoption is surging in Latin America
Bitcoin is one of the most popular virtual currencies in the world.
In 2015, the number of people in Latin America who used the virtual currency rose by a staggering 1,750% approximately.
Argentina has the largest proportion of Bitcoin users in its population in Latin America, but other countries such as Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico are starting to catch up.
The rise of Bitcoin in the region has been attributed to the economic downturn affecting Latin America.
Rising inflation is troubling many countries in the region, and some Latin Americans are now turning to Bitcoin to buy products from other countries and ship them in.
Mobile video viewing is huge in South Korea
Mobile dominates the video viewing landscape in South Korea, according to research by Nasmedia.
Almost half of all respondents said they predominately used their smartphones as their video viewing device. A further 16% said that they only watched videos on their smartphone.
Around a quarter said they split their video viewing equally between their smartphone and computer, and less than 10% said they watched videos on their computer most or all of the time.
Watching videos is an extremely popular online activity in South Korea, with almost 9 out of 10 internet users saying that they watched videos online.
Video websites and video apps were the most common video-viewing platforms.
The South Korean smartphone market is the most mature in the world, with a mobile penetration rate of over 100%, meaning that some people own more than one smartphone.
Mobile and internet penetration rising in Zimbabwe
Data from POTRAZ has revealed that mobile and internet penetration are rising in Zimbabwe.
Mobile phone penetration is now at 95% in the country, and internet penetration is approaching the half-way mark at 48%.
The two figures are intrinsically linked, as the vast majority of Zimbabwean internet users access the web via their mobile phone, with mobile users accounting for 97% of all internet users in the country.
The rise in internet penetration has been attributed to increased 2G and 3G coverage from the country’s top three mobile operators: Econet, NetOne and Telecel.
Comparing e-commerce in Croatia and Slovenia
A study by SMind has compared the e-commerce landscapes in Slovenia and Croatia.
The study, which is based on data from the European Commission, first looked at the proportion of businesses in the two countries that sold products or services online.
It found that 20% of Croatian businesses sold their products or services online, compared to Slovenia which came in at 16%. The EU average is 17%.
It also looked at whether different sectors had different levels of e-commerce. It found that wholesale companies were more likely to engage in e-commerce than businesses in the retail sector.
Both the Croatian and Slovenian figures were similar to the EU average for wholesale businesses, but for the retail sector Slovenia was bang on the EU average of 20%, but Croatia trailed behind at just 16%.
The study also found that larger businesses were much more likely to engage in e-commerce than smaller businesses. This trend was found in both countries.
When looking at the proportion of turnover that typically came from e-commerce, both countries were below the EU average of 17%; Slovenia came in at 16%, while Croatia came in at 14%.
Travel company KKday raises $4.5 million in funding
And finally, the Taiwanese travel e-commerce company KKday has raised 4.5 million US dollars’ worth of funding.
It has said that it will use the money to expand across Asia.
The international tourism market is growing steadily, and the number of people taking holidays abroad is expected to grow by 43 million people every year, hitting 1.8 billion people by 2030.
Asia is set to benefit the most, with the continent expected to attract over half a billion tourists by 2030.
KKday hopes to capitalise on this predicted increase. The company connects travellers with local tour operators.
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