|
Archive for the ‘Information Technology’ CategoryOnline On The UpTuesday, March 8th, 2011
 Yet more statistics that point to the ever growing importance of the internet for marketers: A new report released by eMarketer reveals online advertising spend will grow by as much as 13.9% this year, to reach a record $25.8 billion. This double-digit trend is expected to continue until at least 2014, by which time total spend will have broken the $40 billion barrier and online will have become the most important advertising medium. Standard & Poor’s Financial Services also predicts strong – albeit slightly reduced – growth, estimating that US online advertising revenue will rise by 10% this year. Record High for U.S. Internet MarketingMonday, June 14th, 2010  Yet more indication that the internet is the future for much of our marketing spend: in the first quarter of 2010, internet advertising revenues in the United States reached $5.9 billion, a 7.5% year-on-year increase. The new figures, from the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers, show the highest ever first-quarter revenue levels for the online media industry, indicating that interactive advertising campaigns continue to prove their value and effectiveness – or at the very least their measurability. These figures seem to tie in with recent Bellwether Report statistics, showing that UK digital budgets were revised upwards in the first quarter of 2010 for the third quarter in succession, with digital the fastest growing of all advertising mediums. Meanwhile, eMarketer has revised upward to 10.8% (from 5.5% in December) its forecast for US internet advertising spend this year compared with 2009. It predicts that internet ad spending will total $25.1 billion in 2010, after declining 3.4% last year. In more specific terms, search spending is expected to increase 15.7%, banner ad spending 8.2%, and video spending a massive 48.1%. Business SuperbrandsMonday, March 1st, 2010 
The survey, compiled by The Centre for Brand Analysis (TCBA), takes an initial list of 1,200 brands, of which 500 are shortlisted by a panel of 25 branding and marketing experts. More than 1,700 business professionals then rate each of the 500 shortlisted brands before results are combined and a final ranking is assigned. Rolls-Royce maintained its second place ranking, and Blackberry (42nd place in 2009) and Virgin Atlantic were strong climbers to complete the top 5 Superbrands this year. Hotel chain Premier Inn was the biggest grower overall, moving up from number 437 to 240. Insurance company Aviva also rose impressively, from 315 to 144. The full Top Ten is shown below:
I.T. Sector InsightMonday, January 11th, 2010 
Because Information Technology is one of the sectors we specialise in researching, we always keep an eye on the latest news and industry trends. Marketing Magazine has recently published a sector update, which we thought might of interest to some of our readers: These are tough times for PC and laptop retailers. Technological development may mean that manufacturers are constantly introducing products, but pressure on prices has been fierce. As a result, many sellers rely on sales of peripherals and accessories to make a profit. Specialist shops have faced competition on several fronts: online retailers; manufacturers such as Dell selling direct to consumers; and mixed goods retailers, including Tesco and Argos. Spending on PCs was down 8.8% in the first quarter of 2009, according to Mintel, but the fall is expected to be 5.7% for the year, with information-processing equipment sales as whole worth a total of £5.3bn. As well as price deflation, the market has been hit by the wider economic climate, with many shoppers cutting back on unnecessary expenditure or delaying bigger-price purchases. However, with laptops available for as little as £300, the market has been opened up to those who might have been deterred by the cost in previous years. Online retailers have an advantage over bricks-and-mortar stores because they can carry much bigger inventories. In the face of undercutting by generalist stores, specialists must differentiate themselves through their service and expertise. Apple’s stores show how the retail environment can become an experience in itself with the right investment in interiors and staff. PC World, owned by DSGi, dominates the specialist sector and has a market share of about 26% through its 160 stores and website. It has adopted a cross-channel operation and has invested in advertising support, explaining to shoppers that they can buy online and collect in store if they choose. Apple has expanded its retail operation significantly so that, with 24 stores in the UK, it has doubled its market share in the past two years to 5.7%. Dell, the PC manufacturer that broke ranks by selling direct to consumers, has also widened its distribution network, and in 2008 began to sell through third-party retailers such as Tesco and Currys. The arrival of the US market-leading electrical products retailer, Best Buy, into the UK next year is expected to shake up the sector. While it will bring economies of scale, Best Buy’s investment in Carphone Warehouse means it will also have the benefit of the mobile-phone retailer’s customer insight. Mikro Anvika remains the biggest of the independents with 10 stores, most of them in the London area, but its turnover has recently been declining. Notable online stores include Dabs and Ebuyer, but they are not focused solely on computing, also selling other equipment such as cameras. The products offered by retailers affect the market and the introduction of netbooks – smaller, stripped-down laptops – has lowered the entry point for consumers. Thus, while these products have offered a boost to the market in terms of volume, they also represent down-trading. Industry estimates put netbook sales at 15% of the market in 2008 and some ISPs have started to give them away as a means of extending their reach. Netbooks are also easier for non-specialist retailers to sell, as their reduced functionality requires less expert knowledge among sales staff. Recovery in this market is going to take some time. It will not be until 2014 that the market will return to near 2008 levels, according to Mintel. Between 2010 and 2014, growth is predicted to be 4.9%, which means that value will reach £5.6bn in 2014. If PC specialists can find a way to address the requirements of the older generation, this growing demographic may help their position.
Home and recreational goods sales by value (£m)
Source: National Statistics/Mintel
Types of computer bought by price
Base: 2000 internet users aged 16+, June 2009 Source: GMI/Mintel
Computer retailers by sales and number of outlets
To find out more about our I.T. market research capabilities, please click here. 2009: The Year Of The AppleTuesday, December 15th, 2009 
Many friends and colleagues swear by their Apple laptop. What is it about Apple that infects these otherwise sane folks? The 21st Century started as much with a bang as a whimper, all the fears about the Y2K bug were quickly forgotten as people discovered that their electronic gadgets had survived the big leap into a new century, only then to be confronted with the bursting of the dot.com bubble, followed by the first recession in 2001 and 2002. No sooner had we recovered our euphoria through the growth years of 2003 – 2007 when the second, much bigger and much more cataclysmic bubble burst, as the bloated global financial sector went into meltdown, taking pretty much everything else along with it and causing all non-essential consumer demand to come to a grinding halt. We have effectively lost one year of consumer demand for discretionary spending. So what is it that makes Apple so different from everyone else? A sick technology company at the beginning of the century, Apple has been revived by Steve Jobs, whilst all around them have boomed and busted. In that revival Apple has radically re-invented the music business, turned the movie world upside-down and transformed the telecommunications industry as well as winning more and more of my friends and colleagues over to their increasingly ubiquitous MacBooks. Apple keeps changing the way we all behave! Apple influences GLOBAL culture. Their multitude of gadgets are much more than just gadgets, they are behaviour-changing technologies, which have challenged their competitors around the world and have changed the behaviour of people around the world in the way they access information, buy and listen to music and communicate with one another. Apples products are not only brilliant designs they are inventive and creative going beyond today’s way of doing things and they impact the designs of other products and services with which they interact, interface and compete. That’s quite an achievement, which cannot be claimed by many other companies! In the final analysis, it is not just about the company, it is also about the man – Steve Jobs. Without him Apple became a sick company, since his return Apple has been revived. Jobs is variously described as stubborn, arrogant, infuriating and also incredibly smart, inspired, inspiring, perfectionist; whatever you think about him and his products, you have to admire the track record, especially in the last decade, the achievements, the financial and operational strength of the company and most of all you have to admire the impact he and his company have had on culture and behaviour of people all over the world in their private and professional lives. This is second to none. The third incarnation of Steve Jobs in his company, Apple, has probably been the most spectacular of all. In the past 10 years, Steve Jobs has had a lasting impact in transforming the markets for music, movies and mobile telecommunications in addition to maintaining a leading influence on personal computing. Steve Jobs is surely a visionary, nevertheless his direction is not so far away from what people need and value, because we buy what he produces and we pay significant premiums to get our hands on his great ideas. Through both the 2001/2002 and the 2008/2009 recessions Apple has launched new products and succeeded in seeing continued growth in their established product-markets, against all the odds and against all the trends. Apple trends to dominate high-end, high-value segments of their product markets, leading to higher prices and higher margins for their products with less competition. For example, in computers, Apple has a 9% market share in the US, and dominates the high-end segment, accounting for 90% of the dollars spent on computers with >$1,000 price tags. Apple’s cheapest notebook starts at $999. By 2009, the just two-year old iPhone accounted for 18.5% of Apple’s revenue; 60% came from Macs and iPods. Apple has sold around 220million iPods globally since the launch in 2001. So what is the basis for Apple’s and Steve Jobs’ success in the market? Apple apply very sound marketing principles to their business: their differentiation is not just based on product innovation; it is based on amazing and attractive design, an intangible item that competitors cannot even define, never mind come close to matching. They do not stand in awe of their competitors; they make sure they are ahead of them and/or inside them (e.g. iTunes compatibility with the pc). Steve Jobs personally manages and oversees external communications about Apple, its customer value propositions, products and ideas, ensuring always that the right message is delivered to the right target audiences in the right way. Apple is a continuous and rapid innovator unabashed by the rigours of the external economic environment we have faced in 2009. Let’s see what 2010 brings! Original article from www.gems-europe.com |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
