Over the last 18 months, the e-commerce sector has seen phenomenal growth and, despite tough conditions on the high street, sales online remain buoyant. In fact, research from Forrester has predicted that online retail across 17 of the largest EU markets in western Europe will hit €114 billion by 2014 and that 190 million Europeans will shop online by 2014 (up from 141 million today).  

Fuelling this growing marketplace is global broadband penetration, increasingly sophisticated online shopping experiences and the huge popularity of smartphones and other web-connected devices. 

For local and international marketers, the web and smartphone devices have transformed the business of communication, creating a 24/7 channel to consumers around the world and providing them with a wealth of information on shopping patterns. Today’s consumers engage with a wide variety of channels when coming to a decision about what to buy and where to buy it. A recent study by Shop.org, comScore and Social Shopping Labs revealed that 47 per cent of consumers check their mobiles for product reviews while shopping in stores. The boundaries between the online and offline worlds continue to blur and international retail borders have become less defined. In this new shopping environment, we see four trends international marketers should pay particular attention to: 

Borderless shopping communities

A survey by Rakuten in late 2011 revealed an international interest in purchasing from global merchants and marketplaces online. Results showed Brazil was leading the global e-shopping charge, reporting 81 per cent of consumers keen to shop in different markets online, followed by Indonesia (77 per cent), Thailand (74 per cent), China (69 per cent) and Spain (66 per cent). 

For the international marketing community, there is a huge opportunity to drive growth in new markets. Online marketplaces and affiliate marketing models offer marketers an opportunity to reach a global shopping audience. 

In 2012, international marketplace models will provide sellers of all sizes around the world with the opportunity to expand their operations internationally, without the cost intensive outlay traditionally associated with establishing local delivery models, storage facilities and establishing a business into new markets.  

Sellers will be able to dabble in international shopping communities and dedicate resources based on real world demand. This will open up opportunities with burgeoning markets, such as China, India and Brazil.

Making shopping more mobile

In 2011, web-enabled mobile devices transformed e-commerce, opening up a more immediate channel to the consumer than ever before and creating innovative new ways to engage them, from QR codes to location-based offers.  

But currently, while browsing on mobile devices is strong, sales conversion is lagging behind. Over the next 18 months, we expect to see a flurry of innovations in the mobile payment market, which will improve consumer confidence in mobile shopping.  

The next frontier, and one that marketers should pay special attention to, is tablet commerce. The rich functionality of the tablet shifts the traditionally transactional and bargain hunting online experience into a virtual store experience. 

Tablets offer a more tactile web experience and, to capitalise on this opportunity, marketers must optimise their web content for all platforms and make it accessible to all markets, as well as ensuring their mobile web offering is a media rich experience. 

Once again, marketplaces can support this effort, for example, Rakuten’s Buy TV in the US and Rakuten SuperTV in Japan bring video reviews to enrich the online shopping experience, particularly on mobile devices.  

Being more social 

Getting a second opinion before committing to a purchase is nothing new, but now, rather than taking a friend shopping, you can take your entire social network with you. 

Marketers should not underestimate the power of the ‘fan’, which will form an integral part of the evolution of e-commerce throughout 2012. Data released last July by Experian Hitwise indicated that one Facebook fan was equal to 20 additional visits to a retail website in the course of a year. Therefore, brands are increasingly using social not just for brand awareness, but for product development and customer service too. Rakuten’s ShopTogether feature lets all merchants capitalise on social service by enabling our marketplace users to invite friends to view products and live chat while looking at the product page.

Let’s get personal

The old adage, ‘Information is power’ takes on new impetus in 2012, as marketers seek to capture the fickle attention spans of information-savvy Internet shoppers.  

Gone are the days, when retailers tracked consumer behaviour based on loyalty points alone. Today’s online marketers can acquire huge volumes of data on both their potential and existing customers based on user browsing habits alone.  

In 2012, data exchange between brands and social networks will begin to provide solid business models for social platforms, as well as offering new insights into the psyche of the shopper.  

What matters most to retailers, however, is how their marketing teams translate this wealth of data into meaningful and timely communications with customers.  

The web generation is already jaded from a surfeit of push advertising – to truly engage consumers in 2012 and beyond, marketers must learn how to harness user specific data to provide timely, personalised and relevant communications. 

Last year, we barely scraped the surface of what is possible with online retail. We are on the cusp of creating an experience-rich, 24/7 international shopping community.  

In the year ahead, innovative mobile devices, worldwide mobile and broadband penetration and innovative social shopping services will open up global markets, providing huge growth opportunities for merchants large and small and unparalleled consumer choice. 

Adam Stewart is marketing director, Rakuten’s Play.com

To help with the transition, Kimmel will continue as President Emeritus of the DMA and will serve in a senior advisory capacity.  

DMA executive vice-president of Washington Operations, Linda Woolley, will become the organisation’s acting president and CEO.  

Linda Woolley has been the head of the DMA’s Washington DC office and advocacy programmes since joining the organisation in 2008.  

Woolley is a recognised leader in Washington DC and the direct marketing industry with a background that includes more than 30 years of extensive leadership experience in corporate public affairs, government relations and corporate and trade association management. 

More here.

McKinsey’s session, Find Big Growth in Big Data, will share global perspectives on how to make sense of the phenomenal amount and type of customer data now available, and use it to capture marketing and sales opportunities. The session will also report on findings from newly published book: Sales Growth: Five Proven Strategies from the World’s Sales Leaders.

Debbie Williams, IDM B2B Council chairman and chairman of next week’s conference, said: “We’re delighted to add such a respected authority to our expert speaker line up. As an advisor to many leading businesses, governments and institutions worldwide, McKinsey is not only in the perfect position to give conference delegates invaluable business insights and advice but, given the potential impact of ‘big data’ on businesses today, the session is sure to be one of the most eagerly anticipated of the event “

The topical issue of ‘big data’ sits under the conference’s umbrella theme of ‘New world, new values, new order’, as the event explores, examines and addresses the fundamental shifts that B2B marketing must make in today’s new B2B marketing world. The programme includes speakers from IBM, KLM, Psion, Euro RSCG, Reed Business Information, Pitney Bowes and more and highlights include:

• Good business is better business: why transparency and authenticity are the new rules of modern business
• Think global, grow faster: what smaller companies can learn from the ‘big boys’ (and vice versa)
• Understanding today’s digital exhaust: big data
• Automated lead nurturing: this time it’s personal! Strategies that really do fine-tune the needs and demands of today’s B2B buyer
• How to become a socially-enabled business: taking the virtual world to the next level and putting it at the heart of your strategy
• Trust in the Cloud: compliance and security issues plus a five-point guide to the new cookie legislation

The IDM B2B Marketing Conference takes place on Thursday May 24 at the Commonwealth Club, London WC2. Full programme, speaker and booking details, including a three for two offer for delegates going with colleagues, are available by clicking here. 

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the world’s largest celebration of creativity in communications. Each year, it presents the Media Person of the Year Award to a prominent personality who is an influential figure in the development of today’s media landscape. 

Originally from St Louis in Missouri, USA, Jack Dorsey’s early fascination for mass-transit and how cities function led him to New York’s Manhattan and programming real-time messaging systems for couriers, taxis and emergency vehicles. Throughout this time, he witnessed thousands of workers in the field constantly updating where they were and what they were doing. This gave him the idea for a site that would combine the broad reach of dispatch software with the ease of instant messaging. Within a short space of time, he had built a simple site, Twitter, where users could instantly post short messages of 140 characters or less, known as Tweets. On March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey posted the world’s first Tweet: "just setting up my twttr." 

Since then, Twitter has become a communication platform that instantly connects people everywhere to what’s most meaningful to them. Twitter is accessible to anyone, via the web, on smartphones and on simple feature phones. And, with 340 million Tweets per day and more than 140 million active monthly users, there is something for everyone on Twitter, no matter what you’re interested in or where you are in the world. 

As part of Jack Dorsey’s continued devotion to simplifying the complex and making technology accessible to everyone, everywhere, he co-founded Square in 2009. Square enables anyone to accept credit card payments on their mobile device and has empowered hundreds of thousands of individuals and businesses to start and grow a business. 

Philip Thomas, CEO of Cannes Lions, said: "Since inventing Twitter in 2006, Jack Dorsey has, in an incredibly short space of time, brought to the world an entirely new way for people to communicate, share ideas and learn new things. It has become, in the meantime, a powerful social and political force and is now part of the everyday global media language. The power and simplicity of what he has created has made Twitter a social phenomenon, and we are delighted to honour Jack with this award."

Dorsey said: "Brands have always used Twitter in creative ways to engage directly with customers. This award celebrates those brands and customers alike." He will be honoured during the Press, Design, Radio and Cyber Lions awards ceremony on the evening of Wednesday 20 June in the Palais des Festivals, Cannes, France.

Cannes Lions delegates will have the opportunity to attend the Twitter seminar Harnessing the Power of Real-Time Connections, presented by Dick Costolo, CEO of Twitter, on Wednesday June 20, 4.30-5.15 pm.

Previous recipients of the Media Person of the Year Award include: Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google; Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook; Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft Corporation; Sir Anthony O’Reilly, CEO of Independent News & Media; Tsuneo Watanabe, chairman and editor-in-chief of The Yomiuri Shimbun Holdings; Sumner Redstone, chairman and CEO of Viacom and Gerald Levin, CEO of AOL Time Warner. 

To register to attend the 59th Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, click here. 

The UK Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) have collaborated on the guide, which establishes the principle of transparent communication when informing consumers about the kind of technologies used in email campaigns to monitor response rates.  

The DMA and IAB guidance covers approaches to clearly explain to consumers how their data will be used if they agree to receive emails and sets out good practice guidelines on what constitutes acceptable use of cookies and other technologies. 

It recommends ensuring that this information is easy to access when consumers agree to receive emails, and is clear and simple to understand. The paper advises on the viability of a number of ways to give consumers informed choices. 

Tim Roe, email marketing representative on the DMA’s Cookie Compliance Working Party and director of data segmentation and email deliverability for RedEye, said the guidelines are essential reading for email marketers:

“The DMA has produced separate guides on the ePrivacy Directive for website owners and email marketers because of the differences in between each of the media. 

“Unlike website visitors, email recipients have already given their permission to use their data for marketing purposes. However, marketers cannot assume that this gives them carte blanche to use their data for all forms of use.   

“Trust needs to be at the heart of marketing. Email marketers following our guidance will give their customers the confidence that they understand how their data will be used when they agree to receive emails.”

Clare O’Brien, IAB Industry Programmes consultant, added: “Clear and transparent communication will help develop consumers’ understanding of the mechanics of email marketing and its benefits. The IAB’s approach to guidance is to strongly encourage all digital marketers to explain clearly what data is collected from consumers and how this is used. 

“This joint initiative with the DMA underlines the strategy and will continue to help develop consumer trust in digital communication methods.” 

The DMA-IAB ePrivacy guidance for email marketing can be downloaded free from the DMA website and the IAB website. 

• With 901 million members, if Facebook were a country it would have the third largest population in the world
• Facebook has more ‘members’ than there are people in Europe – nearly 400 million more, based on Eurostat census information 
• Mirroring global investment trends to BRIC countries, the fastest moving market for brands is Brazil, which has four of the top five fastest rising global brands –  Halls (157 fold growth), Trident (61x), L’Oreal (19x) and Chicklets. 
• The Coca-Cola brand alone has nearly 100 million more fans on Facebook than there are people in the United States.

Kraft Tops the List of Fastest Moving Brands

Three of the top five Fastest Moving Global Brands come from the Kraft family. The company’s Halls, Trident and Chiclets lines made major gains over the past year, boosted by strong audience engagement in Brazil (the second-largest Facebook audience). L’Oreal Paris Brazil and AXE Indonesia (Unilever) round out the Top Five.

Consumer Goods Win Big Around the World

Consumer Packaged Goods (CPGs) have emerged as industry leaders on the global scale, with half of the Top 10 Fastest Movers falling into this category. CPGs also dominate in key growth markets. In Brazil, the most engaged brands are CPGs, and in the United Kingdom, Cadbury Crème Egg and Cadbury Wispa rank in the top two. In France, M&Ms boasts the highest engagement rate of any brand in the nation. 

Socialbakers CEO, Jan Rezab (pictured), said: “CPGs have historically been early adopters of social media in well-saturated markets, so it makes sense they leverage this strategy to dominate in these high-growth markets as well.” 

Mobile/Telecom Move the Needle in Emerging Markets

Mobile brands have also made big moves among the top ten countries, as well as in some smaller, yet highly engaged markets. As the proliferation of mobile devices continues to permeate virtually every corner of the globe, carriers and device manufacturers are leveraging this momentum to engage audiences and expand their reach.

BlackBerry, which has fallen behind the pack in the US mobile market, is among the top three brands in Mexico and Indonesia. Samsung and Nokia top the leaderboard in Turkey and Mexico, while regional player Vodafone has by far more fans and higher engagement than any other brand in India. 

Fan Engagement Highest Among Emerging Markets

It’s no surprise that, among the top ten brands, the overwhelming majority of Facebook fans hail from the US. However, fans in emerging markets are much more actively engaged—a metric that proves to be very valuable in gaining international traction. Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines rank in the top three in Engagement Rate. Meanwhile, four of the top five Fastest Moving Brands saw their biggest gains in the booming market of Brazil. 

In its exclusive look at global Facebook brand engagement data, Socialbakers’ analysis not only highlights the social network’s exploding international reach but also how the world’s biggest brands are tapping into the social economy to build international momentum. The data examines the Engagement Rate of brands—a clear measure of brand engagement—in the top ten countries with the largest Facebook user base. The full analysis is available here. 

Rezab said: “Facebook is clearly giving social-savvy companies unprecedented access to build dynamic relationships and grow revenue in key markets. It can be incredibly time-consuming and difficult to go to market in new regions with a localised website or microsite, even for some of the world’s biggest companies. And even then, you’ve still got a static presence that fails to truly engage your target audience. Facebook eliminates that barrier to entry by providing a well-entrenched and steadily-growing platform.

“Engagement is the core of the social economy—people buy what their friends buy and recommend,” Rezab said. “Simply having a lot of fans isn’t the answer to building a strong social economy presence—they must be active. Growing that engagement and viral reach is the key to success, especially in international markets.”

In the UK currently, now is the quiet before the storm of a summer of great events which will take over media and public interest very soon: the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, the Euro 2012 football tournament with both England and the Republic of Ireland featuring – and the Olympics, which we can’t forget even if we try.

Despite coming last in this sequence chronologically, the London Olympics is, not surprisingly, generating greater awareness and interest than the others – so far. 

That is reflected in marketing activity, notably in promotions. Even though strict LOCOG regulation has meant it is virtually only the official sponsors who can capitalise on the Olympics, a recent supermarket check showed that promotions to win Olympic tickets are dominating on-pack offers on the shelves – there are very few others at all.

A review of press and TV advertising of promotions backs this up and a recent article in Metro newspaper about sport fans – desperate to win Olympic tickets, buying products to enter every relevant promotion they can – is a superb endorsement for on-pack offers.

But many millions of people do not want to win Olympic tickets. They would like to win money or something else. So why not give them the chance?

What was not predictable was how few Euro 2012 promotions have yet appeared.

Promotions around Euro 2008 and especially the 2010 World Cup were a resounding success for many brands, a fact reflected by Currys PC World currently repeating their 2010 offer of ‘Win £10 for each goal England score’.

This month, media and public attention surrounding Euro 2012 will erupt and take over into June as the headline-maker and subject of bar and office chat. It’s a great opportunity and it is not too late to set up and run offers to make the most of this interest.

With Sir Geoff Hurst predicting England to be semi-finalists and the appointment of Roy Hodgson as England manager set to revive not only the team but also England’s chances, here are seven potential ways a brand can seize on Euro 2012 as a promotional opportunity:

1. Win all your money back if England win the competition – run a promotion based on England actually winning the tournament linked to purchasing a particular product. The odds may be stacked against the England squad but optimism is never far away, so many consumers would be attracted to respond.   
2. Or get to the quarter-finals/semi-finals – even more attractive to the consumer and the costs to the promoter could still make it very profitable.  
3. Predict the finalists – a rematch of the World Cup in 2010? Or could this be the year that England again face Germany? An Instant Win or cash-back promotion would be an ideally suitable promotional mechanic on this occasion.  
4. Predict the time of the first goal in a particular game – pinpoint the exact time when the first goal will accurately hit the back of the net and instantly win a major prize.   
5. Predict the top goal scorer – who will walk away with one of the most coveted crowns throughout the championships? Will Ronaldo reign supreme or will Van Persie, Gomez or Rooney be likely to walk away with the title? 
6. The total goals scored in the tournament or final – instantly win a cash prize by accurately predicting how many goals will be scored.
7. Any combination of these – promotions can combine of any of these ideas or they can be individually targeted to match a brand’s exact requirements, depending on whether they want to offer a series of prizes or one larger prize or whether they are offering a cash-back deal or money off a next purchase…the ideas are extensive. 

There are many creative and affordable approaches and I believe Euro 2012 will very soon capture the attention of millions. 

Philip Penlington is director of Fotorama. Email: enquiries@fotorama.co.uk

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the foundation of Grupo ABC, the largest communications group in Latin America, he will take to the stage in the Palais des Festivals in Cannes on Thursday evening, June 21, and deliver a keynote speech titled, How Advertising Can Help Build a Better World. 

President Clinton established the William J Clinton Foundation with the mission to improve global health, strengthen economies, promote healthier childhoods and protect the environment by fostering partnerships among governments, businesses, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and private citizens to turn good intentions into measurable results. 

Grupo ABC, which uses social activism as one of its strongest pillars of action, has sponsored the Clinton Global Initiative, which convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges, since 2009. 

Nizan Guanaes, chairman of Grupo ABC, said: "President Clinton and his foundation show how we can all act in a thorough and efficient way to improve our lives on the planet. He has a very clear view on how new communication tools are essential to provide well-being and fight the greatest deficiencies in the world today. I’m sure that his address at such a fundamental forum as the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity will help provide numerous new ideas and social actions." 

Terry Savage, chairman of Cannes Lions, said: "As has been proven by the superb response to the Cannes Chimera partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, our industry is passionate about uniting together and using its unique skills to make the world a better place. President Clinton’s presence at Cannes Lions reinforces the enormous power this industry has to do good. We are honoured to welcome him to the event."

President Clinton’s speech will take place 6.45pm-7.45pm in the Grand Auditorium. To register to attend the festival, visit the website. 

• Charities with annual income of £10 million or more – bursary value £50,000
• Charities with an annual income of less than £10 million – bursary value £10,000

For more information and to enter, applicants should visit the The REaD Group’s dedicated charity page, here. 

Judging criteria:

• Quality of the response
• The likely value to the charity in terms of fundraising
• The charity need
• The size of the database and current status of its data management activity
• The infrastructure within the charity – and whether it has the ability and senior management buy-in and existing resource to successfully implement a project of this nature

The closing date for entries is Friday June 22, 2012.

Mark Roy (pictured), CEO of The REaD Group plc and chairman of the UK Direct Marketing Association’s Data Council, said: “British charities lead the world when it comes to effective fundraising. However, current economic and environmental pressures mean that charities and voluntary organisations need to be even more efficient.

“At The REaD Group, we want to invest in helping the UK’s leading charities to implement effective, sensitive and responsible direct marketing campaigns through our Charity Data Bursary.” 

That’s the finding of a study for data asset management specialist The REaD Group, which was looking for ways for charities to increase their fundraising. 

Consumer perception of how charities market their services and the way they use and manage supporter data has changed and there is a decline in supporter donations. 

The research indicates that 53 per cent of UK adults would stop donating to a charity if it contacted them too frequently and 47 per cent would cease donations to a charity that sent them badly targeted direct mail – a figure which has risen 18 per cent since a previous study, conducted less than two years ago. 

Although charities experienced higher levels of consumer trust than financial institutions, government and commercial organisations when it came to the way they manage their customer data, the research showed that dissatisfied supporters still don’t like complaining to charities and may withdraw their support or cease making financial donations if the situation does not improve.  

This gives charities little scope to rectify problems and suggests that consumers might not be sure of how best to address a complaint against a charity’s marketing, or perhaps they feel their complaints are being ignored.  

When asked if the current economic climate had changed their expectations of charities, a third of UK adults said charities should be more innovative and cost effective when it came to their communications. 

Although 55 per cent of consumers said they would prefer to receive no communication at all from a charity they didn’t have an existing relationship with, email was their preferred channel for unsolicited marketing. When there was a prior relationship with a charity, supporters preferred receiving direct mail from their charity, which was closely followed by email and social media.  

Simon Morrison (pictured), director of Marketing and Communications at the Institute of Fundraising, said: “If donors receive frequent communications from a charity that are unplanned, not joined up or contradictory in nature, this can really alienate them. However, if potential supporters are contacted as part of a properly thought-out supporter strategy that recognises the individual’s interests and preferences, there aren’t the same levels of dissatisfaction.” 

Glenn Cook (pictured below), Group Solutions & Charity specialist at The REaD Group, added:, “During my tenure at Macmillan Cancer Support we realised we were asking the wrong people too often and for the wrong things. At the same time, we were not asking other supporters often enough. The strategy we developed was to ask more often but to ask the right people at the right time and, most importantly, we asked them for the right thing. 

“This way, you develop a far richer customer experience that engages rather than causes the customer to ignore your communication.”