Australia’s biggest buyout: Jack Dorsey’s Square buys Afterpay
Financial payments firm Square has bought Australian buy now, pay later; firm AfterPay for $29bn, as the company looks build out its global payments empire.
YouTube buys Indian video ecom platform Simsim
Indian social commerce firm Simsim helps small businesses ecommerce by introducing them to video and content creators. Simsim is only two years old and has 450m monthly active users. The deal is rumoured to be worth over $70m. Consolidation makes media planning and ecom easier.
AliExpress launches Tokyo Olympic games initiative
Chinese ecommerce giant AliExpress has launched of ONE FLAG, a global initiative which invites sports fans to submit photos to cheer for athletes during the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
IPA report: UK marketing budgets grow for the first time since start of pandemic
Total marketing budgets across the UK increased for the first time since Q4 2019, rising by a net balance of 6% across surveyed companies, according to new data.
Reddit ad expansion: Australia
Following Reddit’s successful market entries in Canada and the UK, account teams and a dedicated office launched in Australia as the social network expands. There’s locally-based Community and Engineering staff, too, as part of the push for local brand partnerships. Reddit communities are loyal and passionate – yet mostly overlooked by brands.
Global ad spend trends: 12.6% increase as countries recover from pandemic
Global advertising spend is on course for 12.6% growth this year to reach $665bn, an upgrade from 6.7% initially projected, as the global ad market rebounds strongly from the COVID-19 downturn of last year, according to new research.
European digital ad growth defies pandemic: Germany and Turkey lead growth as UK remains biggest spender
European countries had a combined digital advertising market value of €69bn, with only three countries seeing falls in growth for the year, despite lockdown disrupting business as usual, according to new research.
UK ecommerce growth at risk as 94% of online brands lose EU customers since December
Nearly all (94%) of UK brands selling online have lost EU customers in the six months since the Brexit transition period ended on 31 December 2020, with a third (66%) admitting they’ve lost a significant number, according to a new survey.
38% of Brits worried about their financial security with over a third less well off
People in the UK are more than twice as likely to be financially worse off since the pandemic than better off, with many looking to more carefully budget in the future, according to new research.
Amazon to overtake Tesco as UK’s largest retailer by 2025
Amazon is to overtake Tesco as the UK’s largest retailer within the next four years, with UK sales expected to reach £77.1 billion by 2025, according to a new report.
Revealed: Why San Francisco, London and Stockholm are among the top 5 of the World’s Tech Hotspots
San Francisco has been crowned top tech hotspot, thanks to its welcoming start-up environment, high Ease of Doing Business score, excellent tech salaries and great education scores, according to new research.
Mixed results for online sales in first month after non-essential retail reopens
One month on from non-essential retail reopening, early data shows online sales have declined by 6% against the previous month. Sales typically decline by just 3% at this time of year, indicating that customers are diversifying their spending.
Top 100 UK brands: NHS storms into charts after pandemic
The NHS now ranks higher than Google, Netflix and Apple in UK brands following the pandemic, while Amazon retains the top spot, according to a new survey.
boohoo launches new Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton websites
Global online clothing retailer boohoo has launched newly acquired brands Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton on its multi-brand ecommerce platform in less than three months in partnership with digital agency, Astound Commerce.
Online grocery growth slows as shoppers spend £8bn in-store at UK supermarkets
As the UK’s national lockdown eased in April, consumers grew more confident with shopping in-store, with online grocery growth slowing to 25%, down from 92% last month, according to new research.
WARC: UK ad market to soar above 2019 levels this year
Advertising spend in the UK is expected to increase by 15.2% to £27bn in 2021, driven by online advertising, according to the most recent quarterly expenditure report by the Advertising Association/WARC.
Pub app downloads soar as Brits mark the start of lockdown easing
There has been a surge in pub app downloads since the roadmap out of lockdown was announced, with Greene King, Harvester and Wetherspoon seeing considerable increases in downloads, according to new research.
Hair and beauty businesses ‘prioritise social media to drive growth’
Investment in social media tops hair and beauty business professionals’ priorities, as lockdown puts pressure on them to keep customers, according to new research.
IPA Bellwether: UK marketers optimistic ‘for first time since 2015’
Marketers have expressed overall optimism about the economy for the first time since 2015, according to the latest IPA Bellwether Report.
India’s deep-tech startups lead the way for British firms
Indian tech startups are enjoying a period of sustained success. The Pandemic, a tape-cutting Government budget, and record-levels of investment has spurred the subcontinent’s tech-heavy sectors to dizzying growth.