You've left us really enthused about the whole digital dimension and we're looking forward to developing our plan with your support. Simon Beardow - Deputy Director, British Council, Vietnam
Showing posts with label Business and Economy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business and Economy. Show all posts
Not good news for retailers. Nielsen Wire reports the re emergence of recessionary attitudes. Their key findings are:
58% of global online consumers said they are still in a recession – the most in the past year. More than half believe they will still be in a recession in a year’s time.
31% of U.S. consumers said they have no spare cash for discretionary spending, along with 25% of Middle East/Africa consumers and 22% of Europeans.
U.S. fell five index points to 78, two points lower than the 80 points recorded at the height of the recession in the first half of 2009.
Indian consumers, despite a five point quarterly decline, remained the most positive.
Largest confidence declines in Q2 were recorded in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which had enjoyed the biggest increases in Q1 2011.
Increasing utility bills and inflation again eclipsed the economy and job security as main concerns in Europe.
Latin America consumer confidence edges up one index point to 91.
Micro Payment Systems can revolutionise business in developing countries and is doing so according to an early report from InfoDev that provided an assessment of mobile-enabled financial services in the Philippines.
Their crystal ball gazing in 2006 has turned out to be a very accurate prediction.
Cash is king in the rural hinterlands of most developing countries but this is a far from secure arrangement. According to the report 3.5 million people in the Philippines were then using a service that allowed them to transfer money over the two major mobile networks.
The ability to make remote payments in this fashion is a win-win for the consumer, the operator and the retailer.
In 2010 major credit card companies such as Mastercard have opened their API to App. developers and companies such as Paypal are keen to remind everyone that they remain very much in the game. PayPalX has already been integrated into many applications and they have recently turned their attemtion to the possibilities of Google's Android.
Twitpay uses the power of micro blogging to make a micro payment and is also intregated with Paypal.
Another big mover in the micropayment market is Boku which does away with the need for any form of plastic card. They claim a 60% conversion rate as opposed to 7% using traditional credit cards on line.
Four key things to consider when selecting a provider:
who understands the current digital climate best and is adapting their product to meet the market?
who has the lowest fees? - per transaction, hidden costs?
which system provides the easiest integration with your current operation?
who has a proven track record and longevity? (there have been many micropayment providers that have failed in the past so my advice is to stick to the tried and true)
Most of the past debate around micro payments has been in paying for content in publications, with Mr Murdoch (not surprising) being a staunch advocate. The debate will rage until the case is commercially proven, either way.
The fact remains that people are prepared to make micro payments for the services that interest them and there is also an opportunity to capitalise upon impulse buying.
"I love the companies that have created a position called “Head of Social Media” or similar" Antonio Batanero, Sr Director Distribution & Digital Marketing, Sol Meliá - The Americas.
In this interview with Ritesh Gupta, Batareno states that the establishment of a corporate social media committee might be the best way to release its full potential.
If as he suggests we view social media as a mix between "word of mouth, customer satisfaction, email marketing, CRM, and loyalty" then it is really no surprise that the responsibility for this important marketing tool is often poorly defined within an enterprise.
This is precisely why building, maintaining and monitoring online reputation are such important strategies and the corporate structure for managing this needs to be clearly thought through.
Friends telling friends reveals the good, the bad and the downright ugly about an enterprise.
BP who are currently battling with a growing ecological disaster are using social media as a key part of its PR strategy.
In this way they can counteract some of the negative and satirical PR that is being generated on the Net. They are using the hashtag #oilspill on Twitter and judging from current trend mapping they seem to be maintaining the highest profile in the area most affected.
I suspect that there is a 'corporate committee' handling this and all of the emergency PR associated with the oil spill.
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