This month’s top trends in digital: Mobile entertainmet | Hobbies Vs. Work time | DIY Boom | Real Time bidding | Customers’ ‘social value’ | Customer complaint response | Product info boosts sales | Small biz drive economy | Music powered social games | IT social media use | Online confidence | UK freelance demand in Europe
Mobile Entertainment Service Revenues to Reach $54 billion by 2015
A new report from Juniper Research has valued the Mobile Entertainment market at $33bn for last year, rising to $54bn in 2015 – driven by the continuing escalation in smartphone adoption and the attendant increase in downloads of consumer-oriented applications. Juniper’s latest Mobile Entertainment report observed that the combination of app stores and smartphones had created an unprecendented level of awareness and usage of services such as social media, games, video and streamed music. At the same time, the transition from the “walled garden” business model to an open mobile Internet had created greater opportunities for D2C players in niche areas such as gambling and adult services. In addition, the report noted that the rise in consumer adoption of rich media content had prompted unprecedented interest in mobile channels from major brands, which are allocating increasing proportions of digital budget to mobile. As a result, content providers in particular are benefitting from the additional revenue stream created through in-app advertising.
Other key findings from the report include:
• Despite the erosion of the ringtone market, mobile music will remain the largest single contributor to mobile entertainment content revenues over the next five years
• The fastest growing product sector will be mobile gambling, followed by social media
• On a regional basis, Far East & China will continue to account for the largest share of revenues, followed by Western Europe
www.JuniperResearch.com
Brits ‘would take pay cut to pursue hobbies’
In the face of economic doom and gloom, a quarter of Brits would consider taking a 25% pay cut in order to fulfil their dream of making their hobby a full or part time job. Research by Warner Leisure Hotels found that another third are so passionate about their hobby they would happily volunteer to share their interest with other people on a regular basis (38%). In response the hotel chain, supported by Joe Pasquale, its first Experiences Consultant, is introducing its first ever open-door recruitment campaign to search for over 500 ‘Experience Volunteers and Hosts’ who would like to share their passions with its guests. Determined to have a good year, Brits devote on average seven hours a week to their interests. Yet, currently only 12% of Brits have time to make money from their hobby earning on average £41.54 a month. The research also found over half of Brits dream about being able to commit more time to their hobby over the next year (58%). In addition, over half of Brits are planning to take up a new hobby or interest this year (56%)
www.warnerleisurehotels.co.uk
Britons spark DIY boom as property market slumps
UK consumers are rushing to buy home improvement items in an attempt to beat the property slump, according to new research. The surge of interest comes as people try to retain or boost the value of their houses and flats through DIY. Data from price comparison site, Idealo.co.uk, reveals that consumer interest in some home improvement goods is now up by almost 3,000 per cent on last February. Greenhouse searches are up 2,787 per cent, and tool boxes 2,750 per cent. This week, there was also a 236 per cent leap in enquiries for pressure washer products in comparison to a week earlier. Idealo.co.uk attributes the surge in interest for DIY and garden products to falling house prices. With the average UK home now worth at least £10,000 less than it was in February 2008, homeowners appear to be striving to maintain the value of their properties through home improvement.
The top eight most popular home improvement product categories on Idealo.co.uk are as follows:
• Greenhouses – up 2,787 per cent on February 2010
• Tool boxes – up 2,750 per cent
• Ladders – up 480 per cent
• Lamps and lighting – up 462 per cent
• Sinks – up 219 per cent
• Fireplaces and wood stoves – up 116 per cent
• Power drills – up 96 per cent
• Painting and decorating – up 81 per cent
Pressure washers have also seen big increases as consumers look to tidy up outside after wintry weather conditions late last year. Petrol pressure washers have seen a weekly increase of 439 per cent, while electric pressure washers are also doing well with the Karcher K3 and K5 proving particularly popular.
www.idealo.com
Real-time branding for real-time decision making: an emerging consumer trend
CITY – Global market research firm Synovate has just launched its Censydiam Consumer Trends 2011/12 – Global trends made personally meaningful publication, relating emerging global consumer trends to specific human motivations. One main emerging trend identified is more ‘real-time’ decision making by consumers. In the first release of this publication in 2008, it discussed that consumers were expecting enjoyment and pleasure in all aspects of their lives at some point during the day. In 2011 and beyond, consumers will take this one step further and expect this pleasure wherever they are and in ‘real-time’ / ‘in the moment’. According to Synovate Censydiam’s latest research, “This means real-time branding for brands because consumers are now expecting brands to respond to their needs as soon as the ‘send’ or ‘post’ key has been pressed. This implies a real challenge for brands. Are you ready to communicate with your consumers, right at that moment that they might be looking for you?” Examples of this emerging trend include vending machines that sell not just carbonated drinks and food but also umbrellas, mobile phones, hair straighteners, flat shoes, fragrances, board shorts – other items needed immediately. There is also ‘pop up retail’ in which companies offer an experiential area and service for customers to immerse themselves in a brand experience. Another example is online/mobile platforms such as Opinionaided, which allow users to get opinions in real-time from friends, family and the public.
www.synovate.com/globaltrends
Organisations don’t understand their customers’ ‘social value’
Almost half of businesses across the world don’t understand how to manage and derive value from customer feedback generated by social media. These findings come from a recent global study of senior executives by SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, and the Economist Intelligence Unit. While 75% of respondents see customers as a critical source for innovative ideas, the inability to manage their feedback from social networks has left them unable to build a strategy that formally accounts for these insights. This means that customer feedback from social media is not playing a role in the development of new products and services. With Twitter growing at a rate of 17% a month, the need for organisations to track customer feedback online is more important than ever. Yet, only 6% of companies track the size of their customers’ social networks or referrals on social networks, and only 2% track the number of ‘retweets’ on social networks referencing their company. Nearly two thirds of companies (60%) are trying to redefine this type of ‘customer value’ to include social feedback but few have been able to redefine it at this stage. The value of the customer is increasingly being seen across the organisation with 55% of respondents recognising that social media has made customer service a universal responsibility. As a result, data needs to be shared and analysed more quickly so that appropriate action can be taken across the enterprise. Despite this, only 52% of respondents are confident that their companies are using the technology adequately to understand their customers, and only a quarter believe that their company can respond quickly to new business environments including the evolution of new social networks.
www.sas.com
UK Retailers ‘to lose £4m each through poor customer complaint response’
CDC Software Corporation (NASDAQ: CDCS), a hybrid enterprise software provider of on-premise and cloud deployments, announced today that individual retailers are set to lose £4 million each* this year if they fail to respond effectively to their customer complaints. Market intelligence collated and used by CDC Software and its customers has revealed that up to 96% of unhappy customers do not complain. This is largely because retailers do not make it easy to do so. According to the market intelligence, two thirds of customers that complain are dissatisfied by the process and / or outcome. As a result, 40% don’t return to the shop or service provider and take future custom to a competitor. Over half of customers that don’t bother to complain simply stop shopping with the offending retailer.
www.cdcsoftware.com
Consumers Call for Businesses to Offer More Product Information on Web and Mobile
Nearly half (47 percent) of consumers believe detailed product information is a critical factor of an ecommerce website in driving them to make a purchase, according to Stibo Systems, the independent market leader in master data management. The findings, which feature in a new Stibo Systems’ report launched today entitled ‘The Devil is in the Details’, highlight that while consumers are crying out for more detailed product information, they still believe more could be done by businesses to achieve this. 30 percent of consumers feel that more detailed product information is the best way to improve online shopping websites, ahead of all other factors including more personalized promotions (17 percent), better search capabilities (14 percent) and email or text alerts notifying consumers when sold out products are back in stock (12 percent). More detailed product information is also the biggest concern for some of Britain’s wealthiest individuals, with 45 percent of those earning an annual income of between £90,000 – £99,000 citing this as the most important improvement they would like made to the online shopping experience. Better product information is something that is also of most importance to the over 55s, with 37 percent in this age bracket citing this compared to only a quarter (25 percent) from the 16-34 category. As ecommerce on smartphones and tablets begins to mature, the research also explores which industries are in the firing line if product information is not detailed and regularly updated on their mobile site or app. Consumers who regularly shop using mobile apps are most likely to buy from entertainment and grocery apps, with 32 percent and 24 percent of mobile shoppers purchasing from these industries respectively. According to the findings over 37 percent of consumers who own a smartphone haven’t made purchases because of the lack of product details on an app or because of inconsistencies in information with other channels.
www.stibosystems.com
Small businesses driving UK economy
Online accounting firm Crunch.co.uk’s customers billed clients £52 million between January 2010 and January 2011 – highlighting the collective power of small businesses driving the UK economy. Crunch.co.uk’s research reflects David Cameron’s speech given at the recent Conservative Party Spring conference, where the Prime Minister stated that backing small UK firms will boost enterprise; creating jobs, wealth and opportunity. Small businesses are also being paid on time – with companies taking around 20 days to settle invoices, Crunch.co.uk found. This marks a change in a previous trend which showed that small businesses were essentially being used as banks, with companies delaying payments way past due dates. According to the Federation of Small Businesses’ statistics, 30% of small businesses say they are being paid late.* Almost half – 48% – of companies whose billings Crunch.co.uk analysed worked in the IT sector. 17% were design, marketing and project management businesses.
www.Crunch.co.uk
Demand seen for music powered social games
MXP4’s new Facebook research showed that despite the demand, music gaming is not yet a leading category on Facebook. While 67% of Facebook users surveyed said they play games and music content ranks of the top of popular Facebook content, 22% of those questioned said that they had never played music related games. The survey also showed that despite the popularity of games like Zynga’s Farmville, social Facebook gaming apps have plenty of room to grow. While at present only 23% compete against their friend, of those surveyed, given the chance, 96% said they would like to be able to challenge their friends and compete against each other on a regular basis. MXP4’s Facebook research shows people are willing to pay for the improved experience. While today only 6% buy extra items on the existing games, the research shows that nearly 12% would pay extra to have access to their favorite artist’s latest tracks in interactive music games.
www.mpx4.com
IT buyers ‘use social media without knowing it’
Only 12 percent of IT decision makers across Europe believe they use social media to inform their decisions. That is the key finding from a six-country study conducted by NetMediaEurope, publisher of eWEEK Europe UK. However, on close questioning, more than treble the amount of respondents (38 percent) claimed to react to social media discussions at least once per week. And 23 percent are heavy users of social media, employing it in ways which support their IT decisions. The research, the first of its kind from NetMediaEurope’s new research unit, questioned IT buyers across Europe, and looked into how people use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, when selecting office and technical equipment. When it came to how IT decision makers use social media, one third (33 percent) admitted to being moderate users – going onto social networks to keep informed. 12 percent of respondents claimed to be high profile users – being very active, and adding their own content to relevant sites.
And, when gauging opinion on how IT related information is exchanged on social networking sites, one third of respondents said they could live without these sites, one third were neutral, and the remaining one third admitted to relying heavily on them.
Key findings:
– A high proportion use Facebook for business purposes (51 percent is the European average, rising to 73 percent when it comes to corporations). Twitter and Linkedin are rated less highly (in corporations, 45 percent used Linkedin, and less than 40 percent said they used Twitter).
– 51 percent said they use social media for networking; 47 percent as a useful information tool and 46 percent for marketing purposes.
Country findings:
– The UK remains the heaviest user of social media, or the European capital of Twitter (54 percent, compared to 13 percent for Italy). IT pros invest time and presence on social media.
– German IT professionals invest time in social media, and consider it a reliable support of IT purchase. They mix traditional and modern through highly skilled marketing knowledge, and rely heavily on Facebook (76 percent).
– Spanish IT managers consider themselves very active with regards to social media tools, even if they also remain loyal to traditional market models.
– French IT professionals declare themselves more passive then their European fellows with regards social media.
– Italian IT pros seem to be the least interested in social media tools and their market model is more top-down.
www.eweekeurope.co.uk
Online Confidence Survey Reveals Positive Outlook despite Fears over CRD Amendments
The results of IMRG’s Online Confidence Survey* for Q1 has revealed a positive outlook for the market, with 71% confident that the excellent performance so far will continue and even potentially improve throughout the remaining quarters of the year. A further 51% expect to record strong sales growth this year. The proposed amendments to the EC’s Consumer Rights Directive (CRD) are a major cause of concern however, with 69% believing that the proposals will have a negative impact on e-retail. With the increasing popularity of mobile internet access and some estimating that it will overtake desktop access within a few years, 48% of e-retailers said that they are confident with the mobile-commerce channel. However, 51% of suppliers responding to the survey believe that there is still a knowledge-gap with regard to retailers’ understanding of mobile-commerce. Social media channels are becoming increasingly important as their usage is so widespread, and the survey found that online businesses are aware of the importance of communicating through them. 49% of respondents said that they are confident using these channels, with only 5% saying they are not at all confident.
http://www.imrg.org/
New figures prove Britain’s got (tech) talent
It has been the busiest quarter on record for overseas companies posting jobs specifically for UK-based digital freelancers. The most sought-after digital skills include web and software development, search engine optimization and experts in social medias like Twitter. In the first three months of 2011, job postings for UK-based digital freelancers from the US were up 714% on the same three months of the previous year. There were dramatic increases from BRIC economies too, with India (771%) and Brazil (250%) showing particularly large appetites for UK tech talent. According to PeoplePerHour.com founder and CEO Xenios Thrasyvoulou these latest figures reflect a growing trend for ‘reverse offshoring’, in which emerging economies outsource digital projects to the UK. With rising unemployment and diminishing opportunities for digital workers to find permanent full-time employment in the UK, increasing numbers of Brits are successfully marketing their skills as freelancers.
http://www.peopleperhour.com