GOOGLE NAMED 5 RETAIL TRENDS EVERY MARKETER SHOULD KNOW FOR THE YEAR AHEAD
Google analysed thousands of retail Search trends and insights from 23 markets across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa on Google Trends to identify five key consumer trends that are expected to sustain in 2021 — or even longer.
Here they are:
- Consumers are taking window shopping online.
- Consumers are carefully considering who they buy from.
- Consumers expect better value than ever.
- Consumers expect extensive delivery options for everything.
- Consumer demand will remain dynamic.
CHINA LAYS PLANS TO TAME TECH GIANT ALIBABA
Chinese regulators will take measures as part of an antitrust investigation - the company is accused of not allowing its vendors to cooperate with other platforms.
The fine, unlike other measures, could be the lesser of evils for the company - for the last year Alibaba has received almost $20 billion in net profits and can safely pay it.
LARGE UNCONFIRMED GOOGLE LOCAL SEARCH ALGORITHM UPDATE YESTERDAY
The BrightLocal tool picked up one of the biggest updates seen in a long time. It normally runs at the 2.x in terms of local pack changes but on March 11th, it showed 6.78 out of 10 in terms of fluctuations in the local search results.
TOP APPS WORLDWIDE FOR FEBRUARY 2021 BY DOWNLOADS
TikTok was the most downloaded non-gaming app worldwide for February 2021 with more than 56 million installs. The countries with the largest number of TikTok installs were from Douyin in China at 18 percent, followed by the United States at 11 percent.
Facebook was the second most installed non-gaming app worldwide last month with more than 45 million installs. Instagram, WhatsApp, and Telegram rounded out the top five most installed non-gaming apps worldwide for the month.
The full top 10 ranking of non-gaming apps worldwide by downloads for February 2021 could be found via the link.
INDIA'S NPCI AND SBI PAYMENTS LAUNCH NFC-BASED SOFTPOS SYSTEM
National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has teamed up with a State Bank of India unit to launch a tool that turns NFC-enabled phones into merchant point-of-sale terminals.
RuPay SoftPoS will let merchants accept payments of up to INR 5000 (about $68) through a tap on their Android handsets.
NPCI says that the nominal cost to retailers means that RuPay SoftPoS will revolutionise the way micro and small merchants receive payments, bringing them into the digital age.
GSMA PLANS CONFERENCE FOR 50,000 PEOPLE IN JUNE
The global wireless industry is planning to allow tens of thousands of international visitors to congregate for its flagship event in Barcelona in June, more than a year after it was axed due to the pandemic. MWC Barcelona is industry body’s main source of revenue.
The GSMA trade body said everyone present will have to show a negative Covid-19 result to access the Fira Gran Via venue and repeat the test every 72 hours. Rapid testing centers will be made available on site and organizers are considering using hotels for more.
REPORT REVEALS WHY THE U.S. BLACKLISTED XIAOMI IN JANUARY
Back in January, just before the new administration moved into the White House, the U.S. blacklisted Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi. The company is red hot and is now the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, taking advantage of Huawei's fall from grace.
Award given to Xiaomi founder Lei Jun caused the U.S. Defense Department to blacklist the company. U.S. investors are now prohibited from investing in the company and those who already have an investment in Xiaomi must divest themselves of these holdings by November 11th.