Alibaba’s recent IPO is impressive. How will its expansion into the American market affect Amazon?
Like the river it’s named after, Amazon is one of the largest of its kind.
In North America, Amazon sells more online than its next 12 competitors combined. It has become one of the most recognizable brands in the world, and is a leader in the online shopping industry.
However, it has recently met its match, and its name is Alibaba.
It’s past the mid-November point now, so guess what that means?
Yes, it’s year-end list time! So prepare yourself for a constant rush of similar articles flooding in for your perusal, enjoyment and no small amount of fury, depending on how much you like to argue with expert opinion and cold hard facts.
I’ve already compiled my ‘Top 107 cotton-bud techniques’ and ’28 cute puppies that are emotionally detached from their overbearing owners’ lists, which I’ll publish here in the forthcoming weeks.
79% of UK companies implemented inbound marketing strategies in 2014. This is a year-over-year growth of 25%.
That one stat highlights how fast inbound marketing has grown in the U.K and is comparable to the U.S adoption rate of 85%
Since Google announced that it is considering HTTPS protocols as a ranking signal, SEOs have speculated on the real impact of having a secure connection to your page.
Our analysis shows that HTTPS could be making a significant impact.
Argos launched its Christmas gift finder this week, with a swipe to like app for mobile and desktop.
The app has been soft-launched, and received more than 300,000 visits, three quarters of those from mobile devices.
I’ve been trying the app out.
Almost one in five online users share videos with their social networks more than once a week.
This is according to new research published by Unruly, which also reveals that the video ecosystem is becoming increasingly fragmented.
The majority of video shares may occur on Facebook (59%), for the remainder there is a fairly even split across multiple platforms.
Let’s take a quick look at the research…
Last week, thousands of marketers attended our Festival of Marketing at the Tobacco Dock in London.
It was a two-day celebration of the modern marketing industry, featuring speakers from brands including LEGO, Marks and Spencer, Coca-Cola, Buzzfeed, KLM and many more industry experts sparking discussions in a unique mix of Q&As, debates, case studies and workshops.
Although it would be impossible to condense one session into a single quote, or even cover every single session in each strand (there were 10 stages featuring approximately 120 sessions plus five keynote speeches), here’s a quick round-up some of the key takeaways from our event.
Google is ditching its carousel integration for the hotel vertical in favour of a new (more profitable) ‘three-pack’ SERP rendering and some new secondary page experiences.
What does this mean for marketers?
The old rules don’t apply anymore. 24 hour news, social media and the rise of consumer and user created content has meant that PR people have to manage brands in real-time.
If you ask younger people if they read a newspaper chances are they’ll say no. They get their news online, via social media. The only television they watch is on-demand, they’re certainly not watching mainstream TV that we’re traditionally used to.
They have their own laptops, mobiles and tablets. They watch Netflix or iPlayer. They love YouTube.
Last week at our Festival of Marketing Asda’s senior director of marketing innovation Dominic Burch talked about how PR delivered YouTube success for the UK based supermarket.
As a digital marketer, you’re doing all the right things for your brand, including investing in content marketing, right? Of course you are.
And the difference between brands that are doing content marketing well and those who do it brilliantly boils down to one question: is your content being shared, commented on and discussed?
And apologies for the tired old phrase, but has content you’ve produced gone viral?
At Wednesday’s Festival of Marketing, the CMA explored the issue during a session on shareable content: how to make your content travel further.
I was joined on the stage by Kim Townend, formerly of Gov.UK, and Bob Fear from Virgin to discuss the recipe for share-worthy content.
Velocity’s Doug Kessler spoke at the Festival of Marketing today on the topic of ‘Insane Honesty in Content Marketing’.
As Doug explained, mere honesty is something that should be a given in marketing, for ethical reasons, but insane honesty is a choice.
Essentially, it means sharing your weaknesses and showing them openly. Putting your worst foot first.
Sharing weaknesses and minus points makes the rest of the marketing much more believable.
Coutts is a fascinating organisation. 325 years old, sometimes secretive, often philanthropic.
Coutts’ head of products, services and marketing, Ian Ewart, spoke at the Festival of Marketing 2014. He gave the lowdown on exactly how such a venerable institution goes about remaining relevant and delighting demanding customers.
Take a peek into the world of those with at least £1m of investable lolly.