Global Marketing News – 27th April
The EU Plans to Create a Single Digital Market in Europe
The European Commission is set to announce that it wants to create a single digital market across the EU.
Currently, all 28 member states have 28 different sets of digital laws. The European Commission wants to replace the 28 different sets of laws with a single law for the entire EU dealing with online data, copyright issues and VAT rules.
This new single market would then feasibly be able to challenge Silicon Valley companies such as Google and Facebook, which the EU considers to be too dominant.
The EU says that creating a single digital market will create almost 4 million jobs, bring in 340 billion Euros worth of GDP and reduce administrative costs by up to 20%.
Currently, only 15% of EU citizens buy from other EU countries online. The European Commission hopes that by unifying the laws it will reduce confusion and encourage more cross-border purchasing.
Ecommerce: India will be the next China
A key banker from Deutsche Bank’s Internet and New Media department has said that he thinks that “India will be the next China” in terms of ecommerce.
The Indian ecommerce market is currently very small, with online shopping accounting for only 0.4% of all retail shopping in India in 2014. Internet penetration stands at just 19%, with only 14% of Indian netizens buying online.
Experts expect this proportion to rise in the future, however, with the market expected to reach 16 billion US dollars by the end of the year.
The sheer amount of money being poured into India’s top consumer firms back up these predictions. The country’s top companies raised 250 trillion rupees in funding from investors last year, with the Deutsche Bank representative saying these figures show India’s huge potential.
Alibaba Partners with Shanghai General Motors To Enter Automotive Ecommerce
The leading China ecommerce giant Alibaba has announced that it is entering the automotive ecommerce sector with a partnership with Shanghai General Motors.
GM’s Buick, Cadillac and Chevrolet cars will be available to buy online through Alibaba’s Tmall ecommerce platform from May, and a mobile app is also being planned for release in June.
China has the biggest automotive market in the world and is growing even larger, with almost 25 million cars being sold in the country last year, an increase of 7% on the previous year.
Alibaba is not the only ecommerce giant to enter the automotive market, Amazon recently started selling electric cars on its Japanese site.
International Online Growth is Key to Success
A study by Forrester has revealed that many companies now consider international online growth to be a key part of their future.
The study surveyed financial decision makers from 150 US and UK companies with an international online presence.
Global online retail sales are expected to hit 2 trillion US dollars in the next 3 years, and the majority of that growth is predicted to be driven by countries in Asia and Latin America.
The businesses surveyed saw these markets as crucial to their future success, with over two-thirds of respondents saying they intended to enter a new country, and that they considered this move as being a high priority.
It appears that many of the businesses questioned are already reaping the rewards of having an online international presence, with ecommerce sales making up an average of 45% of revenue, with 40% of this being international.
Twitter Changes Privacy Rules – All Non-Americans Now Irish
All non-American Twitter accounts will now be classed as “Irish”, as Twitter has changed its privacy rules.
Non-US accounts are now being managed by Twitter International, which is based in Ireland.
The change means that non-US accounts will now be subjected to Irish data protection laws, which are stiffer than US laws and should place the accounts out of reach from the NSA.
75% of accounts on Twitter are based outside the US.
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.
Gemma Houghton
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