Global Marketing News – 27th April 2016
Indian ecommerce market to break $100 billion mark
The Indian e-commerce market is expected to be worth over 102 billion US dollars by 2020, an increase from just 16 billion in 2015.
Figures from a Deliotte report show that the amount of online shoppers in India has increased from 20 million people spending an average of $147 in 2013, to over ten times that number of people seven years later in 2020 who will be spending an average of $464.
This extreme rate of growth has been put down the nations increase in internet penetration and the way it has recently embraced smartphones.
The report claimed that the “rise of middle class consumers and changing shopping habits” were altering the face of online shopping, especially in remote areas of the country where delivery is now more available for shoppers.
Number of ecommerce sites in Vietnam doubles in 1 year
According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, twice the number of e-commerce websites were registered in 2015 than in 2014.
With 10,000 new websites opened, their combined sales grew 37% to reach over 4 billion US dollars.
With e-commerce growing everywhere around the country, the report also said that 62% of internet users bought something online last year up from 58% the year before.
With an estimated 45% of the country using the internet, online sales are forecast to hit 10 billion dollars within the next five years.
However, despite an increase in internet usage, e-commerce sales and with average amount spent up from $145 to $160, 91% of Vietnam’s online shoppers still use cash to pay for their order on delivery.
Global iPhone shipments predicted to drop by 18%
A respected analyst has predicted that global shipments of Apple’s iPhone could be 18% lower this year than they were in 2014.
Equating to a decrease of up to three million iPhone’s, if this prediction were to materialise it would mean that Apple would become the worst performing of the top five smartphone brands this year.
It is also noted that whilst this is the worst case scenario, even the best case scenario would still see a drop of 11.6% and see a relatively low 205 million units shipped.
It is thought that potentially the lack of new selling points on the iPhone 7 could be the reason behind the forecasted drop in sales and that for Apple to sustain its past level of growth it needs to be more innovative with its product development.
FreedomPop to launch free mobile service in Spain
FreedomPop has announced plans to launch Spain’s first 100% free mobile service starting this summer.
Using a SIM card, users will be able to have completely unlimited texting and calling for no charge, domestically and in 31 countries around the world including the UK and the US.
With WhatsApp accounting for around 90% of texting in Spain, FreedomPop’s SIM card will subsidise any data used by WhatsApp which it says will allow users to communicate 100% free.
Following its success in the UK and the US, they hope to target 500,000 to 1 million Spanish customers in two years, by utilising its connection with WhatsApp in the country.
Pirate version of Jack Ma biography found on Alibaba
And finally, Alibaba founder Jack Ma is currently receiving a more than awkward reminder regarding the pirating issues that plague the company’s ecommerce marketplace, Taobao by news that his own biography is being pirated.
‘Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built’ by author Duncan Clarke came out earlier this month and tells the story of how Ma started Alibaba and turned it into a 200 billion US dollar empire.
Whilst the hardback will cost a buyer around $18 on Amazon and around $15 for the kindle version, the critically acclaimed book can now be found for as little as 43 US cents on Taobao from some merchants.
However, Ma says that even though Taobao faces issues as it is made up of small independent merchants, it is winning the fight against pirating by “annihilating the environment” the pirates need to succeed.
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Cal O'Connell
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