Remember to check out the Internet Statistics Database, too. Now without further ado…
Alibaba aims to serve more than 1 billion annual active consumers by 2024
Chinese ecommerce giant, Alibaba, has announced a five-year plan to serve more than one billion annual active consumers through its China consumer business by 2024. Alongside this, it aims to generate in excess of RMB10 trillion in annual gross merchandise volume in the same period.
Alibaba had 730 million annual active consumers from its China consumer business during the 12 month period ending June 30th 2019. It also has approximately 130 million annual active consumers in its cross border and global retail commerce business. This means that overall, Alibaba has approximately 860 million annual active consumers globally.
Alibaba has also previously stated its longer-term, global aim to serve two billion customers, support 10 million profitable SMEs, and help to create 100 million jobs by 2036.
The biggest ecommerce sales events in Asia: From 9/9 to 12/12
Poor CX is not the most common reason for customers switching brands
According to the DMA’s ‘Customer Engagement: Acquisition and the Consumer Mindset’ report, 62% of customers who switched brands in the past 12 months did so because another brand successfully attracted them – not because a poor customer experience pushed them away.
Out of those surveyed, 61% of consumers stated that they have switched brands at least once in the last year. ‘Automotive’ and ‘Supermarkets’ saw the highest percentage of customers say they are willing to switch brands due to new opportunities, with 70% and 68% of customers stating this.
Interestingly, only the category of ‘Banking’ (specifically for current accounts) found previous poor customer experience to be an equally decisive factor for the switch, where it was a 50/50 split. This suggests that most switching customers are enticed into new relationships most of the time, rather than put off by a bad experience with their existing brand.
Elsewhere, the DMA’s report found that being ‘genuine’ is more important in encouraging consumers to try a start-up vs. an existing brand they haven’t tried before. Other factors of importance include ’innovativeness’ along with more emotional drivers such as ‘reflecting a consumer’s values’.
Facebook suspends 69,000 apps amid privacy concerns
Facebook announced last week that it has suspended ‘tens of thousands of apps’ as part of its ongoing review into user privacy, following on from the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018. This number suggests that the issue of data-misuse is bigger than previously assumed, as an internal audit last year led to the suspension of just 400 apps.
According to the New York Times, unsealed court documents – part of an investigation by the Massachusetts attorney general – showed that Facebook had suspended 69,000 apps. It states that the majority were terminated because the developers did not cooperate with Facebook’s investigation; 10,000 were flagged for potentially misappropriating personal data from Facebook users.
What’s going on at Facebook, and will it affect advertisers?
Card payments accounted for 80% of UK payments in 2018
The British Retail Consortium has revealed that card payments accounted for 80% of all payments in the UK in 2018, with debit cards remaining the most popular method of payment (accounting for almost three-in-five transactions).
Meanwhile, credit and charge cards exceeded cash, accounting for 21.5% of sales transactions. Cash use has dropped from 52.8% of all transactions in 2013 to 38.3% in 2018, while the value of those cash transactions fell from almost 28% to 20% over the same period.
Despite this, the BRC states that cash remains an important part of retail – particularly for vulnerable people – which is why it is working to ensure the long-term viability of ATMs and to reduce barriers that prevent many businesses from offering cashback to customers.
One third of internet users validate online search results elsewhere
Yext’s ‘Psychology of Search’ study has revealed that 63% of UK consumers start their online search journey when searching for products and services with search engines; however, just 18% actually trust the results all of the time.
The survey of 2,001 respondents also revealed that – despite the majority of consumers stating they’re often happy with the answer they’re looking for when searching online – one third will look to validate the search results elsewhere.
The reason for this mistrust could be because 35% of people find that the information they search for online is ‘often’ inaccurate. As a result, almost half of consumers have been left feeling ‘frustrated’, and a quarter feeling ‘dissatisfied’ when they have found incorrect information online.
Interestingly, only 36% of marketers ‘strongly agree’ that customers feel confident and trust in the brand information that they are getting from search engines. Meanwhile, only half of the marketers surveyed feel ‘somewhat’ in control of the facts about their product or brand online.
Rising digital expectations are a threat to B2Bs
Eighty-four percent of B2B decision-makers agree that the increasing digital expectations of customers is the top threat to their business. This is according to Episerver’s latest report, based on a survey of 700 global respondents.
The report suggests that it’s more than disparate systems and legacy software that is holding back B2Bs from becoming more customer centric in their digital experiences. In many cases, there’s also a support problem.
Fifty percent of B2B decision-makers say they lack funding from senior management to execute digital transformation programs, while 57% of B2Bs agree they have a culture resistant to change and adoption of digital technologies.
The good news is that 89% of B2B decision-makers expect their budgets for digital projects to increase in 2020. What’s more, businesses are on track to provide more personalised experiences, with 21% of respondents believing that delivering this through digital channels is a significant opportunity for their company.
Overcoming B2B Digital Marketing Challenges Best Practice Guide
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