Global Marketing News – 5th July 2016
EU data privacy rules could impact UK companies after Brexit
Companies may face legal problems storing data about EU residents on British servers following the country’s decision to leave the European Union.
The EU states that in order for a non-EU country to store information about EU citizens on its servers, it must have data privacy safeguards in place that are at least as strict as EU standards.
In order for the UK to keep EU data, it will therefore need to undergo a review of its data privacy and online surveillance practices.
If the UK fails to meet EU standards, it will not be allowed to store data from the EU within its borders, which could cause problems for British companies and also make the UK a less appealing location for international companies.
Spanish police raid Google’s Madrid offices
Spanish police have raided Google’s offices in Madrid.
The search engine giant is under investigation in the country for alleged tax avoidance.
Local media sources have revealed that Spanish police believe that Google has not been disclosing all of its economic activity, with the police investigation looking closely at the company’s VAT payments.
The news comes just a few weeks after French police raided Google’s Paris offices, also in connection with alleged tax avoidance practices.
A Google spokesperson has denied that the company has broken the law, saying: “We comply with Spanish tax laws just as we do in all countries where we operate. We are co-operating with the authorities in Spain in order to answer all their questions.”
Research reveals global social commerce trends
Research by Pepper.com has uncovered global social commerce trends.
It found that electronics and fashion were the two most popular categories of items, with home and furniture items coming in third place, and entertainment products coming in fourth.
It also found that around 56% of social commerce sales are done on a mobile device, with the majority of these being run by Android.
The most popular day for social commerce was Tuesday, with the most popular time being between 7pm and 9pm. Sunday was the least popular day for social commerce.
There were regional differences, however.
The UK bucked the trend for the most popular items, with home and fashion being the most popular product categories there. It also went against the trend for the most popular mobile operating system for social commerce, with most sales being done on iOS devices.
Furthermore, mainland Europe saw lower than average levels of people buying from mobile devices, with France seeing particularly low levels of mobile buyers.
There were also differences in the most popular day for engaging in social commerce. Whilst Tuesday was most popular globally, Wednesday came top in Brazil.
Yandex Android browser opens up to ad blocking extensions
Yandex has waded into the ad blocking debate by opening up its Android browser to third-party ad blocking extensions.
It has released an API for ad blocker Android developers, and has said it is considering doing the same on iOS in the future.
Ad blocker developers who want to check the compatibility of their extensions with Yandex’s Android browser are advised to use the “Content Blocker API”.
Yandex is one of the most popular internet companies in Russia and its Android browser has around 5 million daily active users.
Ad blocking has become extremely popular in recent years. Users install them for a variety of reasons, for example because they find adverts annoying or because they are worried about their data being collected.
Top factors that annoy German online shoppers
And finally, a study by JDA and Centiro has uncovered the key factors that put off German online shoppers.
A negative experience when attempting to resolve a customer issue, or when returning an item, were ranked as the joint top reasons that would cause a German online shopper to switch to a different retailer, cited by 62% of respondents.
Poor home delivery options are also off-putting for consumers, with 59% saying it would prompt them to switch retailers.
The German ecommerce market is one of the most mature in the world, with a digital buyer penetration of 82%.
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