French Ecommerce, Japanese Ads, and a Grass Mud Horse

It’s been a little while since I wrote about some of the latest news in international Internet marketing.  Emarketer has released some great information this week about the expected growth of ecommerce in France; the growth of mobile Internet in the UK; and the Japanese perception of search advertising.  There’s also some new insight from the NY Times into the growth of broadband technology abroad and why the US is losing out on this race.

French Ecommerce is ‘Upbeat’
Ecommerce sales rose in Frace by 30% in 2008, to a total of €20 billion (US$25 billion).  Although just over half the retailers polled by Le Journal du Net has lowered their 2009 expectations (due to the economic crisis), most expect that they will still see gains in online retail in the coming year.  In many cases they expect that total € value per order will decline some, but that the overal number of orders will make up for this.  The total number of conusmers bying online in France is now ‘just over 22 million.’

Other figures that came from the poll concerning marketing and design:

• 62% said they would spend more in marketing and communication
• 59% said they would spend more in search engine optimization
• 43% said they would improve the images on their websites
• 57% plan to boost investment in customer loyalty programs and relationship management

The UK Mobile Market
The mobile Internet market in the UK is slowly, but surely, beginning to take off. With the release of the 3G iPhone there last summer, it is now becoming more accessible to larger numbers of people. The iPhone still makes up only a small percentage of mobile Internet users, but other handsets are coming into the market that could encourage more browsing from these devices. The number of estimated mobile users ranges between 7-14 million, but if cellular and data plans become more transparent and affordable, that number is very likely to grow. Many users may also be waiting for more content from providers that can quickly and easily be accessed from a phone. Until then, growth of mobile advertising has yet to truly take off.

Contextual Ads and Search Behavior in Japan
A new study shows that many searchers in Japan don’t feel that contextual ads in search results are useful – most don’t care if they’re there or not or only think they’re useful to ‘some degree.’  Although 70% of respondents to the poll said they had clicked on contextual ads, only 20% of people said they had ever purchased goods or services as a result.  That means only one in seven Japanese searchers have made a purchase after clicking on a contextual ad.  Although online shopping is a very popular activity (second only to accessing email), it seems Japan is still unlikely to become a ‘search-and-purchase online culture.’

There are likely many factors contributing to this phenomenon – from cultural to the technology involved. Are users satisfied with the layout and presentation of the ads, as well as their relevancy to their searches?  They might also find that clicking from an ad doesn’t provide them a landing page with the level of information or ease of purchase they’re looking for.  This study also doesn’t differentiate between computer and mobile searchers.  Those two groups could behave in very different ways, especially given Japan’s very advanced mobile Internet culture.

The Great Broadband Divide
Although the US may be number one in putting its Internet connectivity to use, it’s still lagging behind countries like the UK, Sweden, Japan, and South Korea in terms of affordability, speed, and availability of high speed connections.  Even countries like Argentina that have been lagging in connectivity are now acting quickly to catch up.  The New York Times’ series of articles is a great read on how broadband has been furthered abroad by both government and private corporations.  Check it out if you’re looking for some insight into this topic.

One last thing…
Internet censors in China are finding themselves overwhelmed by the Grass Mud Horse, one of the 10 Legendary Beasts of Baidu. Each beast’s name is a pun that sounds very much like an obscene word or phrase in Chinese (Grass Mud Horse [草泥马] sounds like 操你妈, a common curse ['F*ck your mother' if you're the editors of Language Log and not afraid to use profanity online - as opposed to the NY Times]).  There’s also the Stork-Cat Ape, which poked fun at Baidu’s encyclopedia editors who ‘continually spar with the online pranksters and who ultimately deleted all of these entries.’  The Grass Mud Horse has taken off though, and is now featured in several videos online.  You can even get your own Grass Mud Horse plushie (which looks suspiciously like an alpaca).