Get set for another online retail record-breaker: next Monday is
'Mega-Monday' when online stores hit meltdown in the shopping frenzy.
£6.4bn is the UK forecast for December, with over £20m/hr spent on
Monday. Recessionary 2009 saw a 25% leap on 2008 for total online sales
(here in the UK) so expect similar this year. Christmas retail triggered
a frenzy of last minute traffic grabbing with Search Ad Buys pushing bid
prices up and squeezing retail margins - left me thinking that smarter
SEO strategies in the summer could have saved a few million dollars on
paid ads. All too common to see firefighting rather than getting the
strategy in place at the start.
For 2011 we're encouraging consumer brands to evaluate greater roles for
marketing through gaming, so we've included video games and console
platform sales in the US. And this edition also covers top sites in
Russia, Mobile Phone Moms in the US, Finance and Retailer sites in the
UK because that's what brands asked us for.
Tell us what you'd like in the 2011 editions by updating your newsletter
choices, here:
www.digitalstrategyconsulting.com/updatemydetails
Enjoy the research and news roundup - full stories and data at the end of the jump.
Best from all @ Digital
Danny Meadows-Klue
Founder and Chief Executive
Digital Strategy Consulting |
Trends
www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence |
Top 15 websites in Russia
Top 15 web properties ranked by thousands of unique visitors (August 2010)
Two tier internet? Government mulls charging bandwidth-hogging sites
Popular streaming sites such as the BBC, Youtube and LoveFilm could be forced to pay for the data traffic they generate under plans floated by the Government culture minister yesterday. Ed Vaizey has given his support to controversial plans for broadband access to be subject to a "two-sided" system.
Keep reading...
18/11/2010
Many UK kids 'go without food or sleep to stay online'
Excessive use of the internet is very high among children in the UK with one in five admitting they have gone without food or sleep to stay online, according to a new survey. A study of online habits from the London School of Economics and Political Science also shows that more than half of young people confess they spend less time than they should on family, friends or schoolwork because of the internet.
Keep reading...
17/11/2010
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Social networking
www.digitaltrainingacademy.com/socialmedia |
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NHS caught sharing users' health concerns with Facebook
The popular NHS Choices health website has been exposed automatically 'tracking' all Facebook users that visit, according to new research. The study, from Garlik has lead the online identify theft and fraud firm experts to call for third party tracking to be banned from all Government websites, particularly those carrying information on personal and sensitive topics such as health and benefits.
Keep reading...
25/11/2010
Facebook upstart Diaspora offers 'privacy aware' social network
Open source social network Diaspora has launched, offering and more privacy-focussed' alternative to Facebook. The social network was founded earlier this year while Facebook was under fire for its privacy settings - in particular, the company's terms and conditions that give it complete rights over all your personal data and the inability to remove your user account completely from the site.
Keep reading...
25/11/2010
MySpace admits defeat? Former social media king syncs with Facebook Connect
MySpace, once the dominant online social network, has signed a 'mashup' agreement with Facebook to allow people to sign on to MySpace using their Facebook login. This means that the content they are engaging with on
MySpace will be automatically ported over to their Facebook profile page through Facebook Connect.
Keep reading...
22/11/2010
Brands need human face to avoid being 'foreigners' in social media
Consumers value brands being honest on social media sites, and prefer to deal with a human face rather than anonymous messages, according to a new study. The study, from market research company Firefly Millward Brown looks into consumers' general attitudes and behaviours towards brands in social media.
Keep reading...
19/11/2010
AOL lets UK parents monitor kids' social media use
AOL UK has launched SafeSocial, a bespoke social media monitoring tool, providing parents with an overview of their children's interactions across social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. SafeSocial works to protect younger users by alerting parents to any irregular or concerning behaviour arising whilst spending time on social networks.
Keep reading...
17/11/2010
LinkedIn debuts 'BrandYou' campaign across Europe
Professional social network LinkedIn has launched a pan-European campaign called BrandYou, to highlight the increasing importance of personal brand management. As job mobility increases across Europe and more Generation Y employees enter the workforce, the campaign will seek to help more people discover how managing a personal brand and reputation can play an important role in their career tool set alongside their experience and qualifications.
Keep reading...
17/11/2010
Facebook's new 'social inbox': Will it make email obsolete?
Facebook has launched a next-generation online messaging service that gives the user a Facebook.com email addresses, in a move seen as a shot across the bow of Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg unveiled what he called a "convergent" modern messaging system that "handles messages seamlessly across all the ways you want to communicate."
Keep reading...
16/11/2010
Facebook overtakes eBay as third most valuable US web firm
Facebook is now worth more than eBay in terms of privately held stock, making it the third- largest US internet business, and
fuelling speculation that the social network could sell shares to the public in the not-to-distant future. Facebook's stock is trading at more than $16 on SecondMarket, an exchange for shares of privately held companies, said a person familiar with the latest pricing data.
Keep reading...
16/11/2010
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Mobile
www.DigitalTrainingAcademy.com/mobilemarketing |
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Mobile phone use by mothers: US
71% of mums using apps and over 50% using social networks.
Yahoo! adds GetJar Apps to mobile search
Yahoo! is testing integration of GetJar apps into Yahoo! mobile search queries, to make it easier for people to discover the apps they're looking for when on-the-go. Yahoo! is the first search engine to pursue this kind of integration. The search results for the apps - of which there are 75,000 - will work by keyword.
Keep reading...
23/11/2010
Apple faces "war" with operators over own-brand SIM card
Apple could risk a European operator revolt if it proceeds with plans to embed its own brand SIM card in its new iPhones, according to a news report. The Financial Times quoted an unnamed European telecoms executive as saying Apple risks a "war" over its reported plan to begin selling iPhones with embedded
SIM cards, with operators potentially refusing to offer subsidies for the device.
Keep reading...
22/11/2010
Google Googles: Mobile pics converted into web ads via product recognition
Google is running a test on its Google's photo recognition tool, that will display adverts to users based on pictures taken by their smartphone cameras. The 'offline marketing experiment' utilises visual search and optical character recognition [OCR] technologies to allow users to find out information about certain products.
Keep reading...
18/11/2010
Half of Brits 'would leave their mobile operator for a better handset'
Almost half of UK consumers (45%) would leave their current operator if they did not sell the handset they wanted, according to a new survey. The research, from ecommerce technology provider ATG give operators valuable insight into the types of services customers would like to see integrated into their brand experience.
Keep reading...
17/11/2010
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Accelerating Digital Brands: Could we help your team achieve more?
www.DigitalTrainingAcademy.com/skillsassessment |
It's never mattered more. The web, search,
email and social media have become the critical tools every firm has
to get right. Yet most digital strategies deliver less than half their
potential. Why?
We've spent ten years helping agencies, brands, business services and
governments find the right digital strategy for them. From building
new online entertainment sites to finding new ways to connect with
customers, we're front-line practitioners who share our knowledge and
skills with others.
Not only do we help companies get this right we also coach their teams
to build their knowledge and intuition. Email the trainers at
Admissions@DigitalTrainingAcademy.com. |
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Computer games
www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence |
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Top 10 video games to buy next: US
Video games ranked by what gamers are looking forward to buying next.
Games console rankings: US
Games consoles ranked by percentage of usage minutes (August 2010).
Top 10 PC games: US
World of Warcraft continues in top position: Top 10 PC games titles ranked by percentage of total minutes played, from the top 100 non-casual / pre-installed PC games measured.
PC games titles: US (minutes played)
Top 10 PC games titles ranked buy the average number of minutes played per week.
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Advertising
www.DigitalStrategyConsulting.com/intelligence |
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Search drives US online ad revenue up 17%
Online ad spend in the US continued to accelerate in the third quarter, as the market rebounds from a slowdown last year, according to new data. The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers found that marketers spent $6.4 billion in online ads, up 17% year-on-year and the highest quarterly total ever.
Keep reading...
19/11/2010
Clickthrough rates for standard banners 'stops declining'
In the past few years, CTR for Standard Banners has been steadily declining. The good news is that in 2010 it seems to have stabilized, according to new data. In its recently released Global Benchmark Report, MediaMind Research analysed billions of impressions to help advertisers make the most of their Standard Banner campaigns.
Keep reading...
17/11/2010
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Ecommerce
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Top financial websites: UK
Thousands of unique visitors per month to financial information and advice websites (September, 2010).
Financial display advertisers: UK top 10
Millions of online display advertising impressions (September, 2010).
UK Internet sales up 25% to £408bn
The value of UK ecommerce transactions hit £408bn in 2009, excluding non-financial transactions, marking a rise of 25% on 2008, according to new research. The study, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said this £409bn figure represented 16.7% of all UK sales outside the financial sector.
Keep reading...
29/11/2010
Online retailers reveal their big-seller predictions for Xmas
This Christmas is set to be another big success for online retailers, with IMRG estimating that £6.4bn will be spent throughout December. In this article, six of the UK's biggest online retailers make their predictions for the best-selling gifts during the festive season.
Keep reading...
26/11/2010
Mega Monday (6 Dec) to trump Cyber Monday (29 Nov) for Xmas sales
Christmas is fast approaching and retailers are preparing themselves for the busy festive season. There will be several days where sales will be high, but Mega Monday this year will fall on 6 December according to IMRG, the UK's industry association for e-retail, when figures from Retail Decisions (ReD) suggest that hourly online retail sales between 12:00 and 13:00 will peak at £23.2m.
Keep reading...
25/11/2010
Top 50 UK online retailers
The latest Hot shops list, compiled by the IMRG and Hitwise, reveals the top 50 online retailers in the
UK in the run up to
Christmas. The big news is the dramatic rise of Ticketmaster UK which broke into the top 10 for the first time in Hot Shops history.
Keep reading...
24/11/2010
15% of royal wedding merchandise 'to be sold online'
The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton could result in a £515.5m spending bonanza in the UK, with 6.5m Brits likely to mark the occasion in some way, according to new
research. The study, from shopping comparison site Kelkoo, found that £76.9m (14.9%) of the total spend will be carried out online.
Keep reading...
22/11/2010
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Broadcasting
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SeeSaw offers ad-free viewing for 99p
Online video service SeeSaw has launched a new "NonStop" feature, giving viewers the choice to either watch their programmes free with adverts or pay a small fee to enjoy uninterrupted viewing. The service will launch for an introductory price of 99p until 31st of December, going up to its standard price of £2.99 per month thereafter.
Keep reading...
29/11/2010
Sony takes VOD service to Europe, but PS3 users miss out
Sony has launched its video-on-demand service Qriocity in Europe, making its catalogue of movies available via its internet connected TVs, but not its popular PS3 console. Sony, which competes in Hollywood with the likes of MGM, Universal, Disney and Warner, has successfully signed up its rivals to the store for distribution and will make their films equally available on Qriocity.
Keep reading...
26/11/2010
SeeSaw 'Ad Selector' lets viewers choose preferred advert from brands
Online video site SeeSaw has launched a new ad tool Ad Selector, that lets users choose which video ad they want to watch prior to streaming
programmes. The move comes as a result of a partnership with technology company Brainient.
Keep reading...
25/11/2010
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Companies making the news
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Qype gets €6.5m funding boost from Vodafone and VCs
User-generated local review site Qype has raised €3.5 million from Vodafone Ventures and a further €3.0 million from its existing three investors, Advent Venture Partners, Partech International and Wellington Partners.
Keep reading...
24/11/2010
Moneysupermarket.com buys rival for £9m
Price comparison service Moneysupermarket.com has acquired rival company Financial Services Net in a £9million deal. The Welsh company will pay an initial £4.6m, rising to up to £9m depending on performance, for the Coventry-based operator of Financialservices.co.uk.
Keep reading...
18/11/2010
No more bootleg Beatles: iTunes finally seals Beatles deal with EMI
Apple and music group EMI have agreed to sell The Beatles' back catalogue on iTunes, after a decade of legal wrangling. The Beatles were one of the few big names in music still not available through iTunes.
Keep reading...
17/11/2010
Google hikes pay to stop staff defections to Facebook
Google has given all of its 23,000 employees a pay hike, in a bid to stem defections to rival technology companies such as Facebook, according to a report. The raise will become effective in January, according to The Wall Street Journal, quoting 'people familiar with the matter'.
Keep reading...
16/11/2010
AOL's test new email service 'Project Phoenix'
AOL is testing a new version of its email system, dubbed 'Project phoenix', which aims to bring together a number of communication formats, including social media, texts and emails, into a one-stop media platform.
Keep reading...
16/11/2010
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