Category Trend Tracker
Poll shows most users distrust Facebook
Facebook’s public offering will be the largest and perhaps most highly anticipated Internet deal in history. But faced with great expectations, Facebook is staring down some potentially unnerving obstacles when it comes to key areas of monetization and growth: public distrust and display advertising apathy.
According to a new AP-CNBC poll, 57 percent of Facebook users say they never click ads or other sponsored content when they use the site, with another 26 percent saying they hardly ever engage in such activity. Only 4 percent of users say they often click on ads — results that are only slightly better than the 2-3 percent clickthrough rate some experts consider the benchmark for effective banner ads.
While the company makes money, in part, simply by displaying sponsored content, user clicks are a critical part of an advertiser’s calculus when gauging how effective those ads are and how much they’re willing to pay for them. In the first quarter, Facebook generated 82 percent of its $1.06 billion in revenue from advertising sales. In the company’s online IPO pitch to retail investors, CFO David Ebersman says the company is working to make ads “more relevant, more social, and more engaging” as it looks to grow.
And while Facebook has been able to decrease its reliance on sponsored content (down from 98 percent of sales in 2009), the hopes of expanding the company’s e-commerce footprint also faces public resistance, the poll shows. A majority of participants (54 percent) said they wouldn’t feel safe using the platform for financial transactions like purchasing goods or services. Only 8 percent said they would feel extremely or very safe in doing so.
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Facebook, Trend Tracker on May 15th, 2012
What will the physical world look like when the need for stores is eliminated?
Clearly an ever increasing number of people shop online which means a decreasing number of people shop and buy at Brick & Mortar stores including Mom and Pop’s. Many people use B&M’s as a place to look and feel before buying online.
As Best Buy is discovering; being the showroom for Amazon is not a viable business model. In addition we’re seeing a greater number of sites that empower the end user to create their own jewelry and shoes at competitive prices with a 30 day return window just in case the consumer doesn’t like their creations.
Right now the consumer has to work from templates but I think we’ll eventually be able to communicate directly with the robots cutting the cloth, sewing the jeans, building the car.
What will the world look like in 50 years? What will be done with all of the buildings that used to house merchandise? Will they be turned into parks? Corn fields?
There will probably always be those who need to touch, see, smell, hear and feel merchandise before buying. Where will they go? Amazon Showrooms? SuperMalls where entertainment is the primary attraction with shopping secondary? The Vegasification of the shopping experience? Will B&M’s stay in business by cutting rev share deals with online entities?
What ever happens, in my opinion, humankind is in the process of making an evolutionary leap forward unlike any other before.
What do you think the world will look like in 50 years?
Posted by Tom Polanski in Trend Tracker on May 6th, 2012
Apple’s iPhone 5 with 4.6-inch screen, summer launch – Korean suppliers
The new iPhone 5 will have a much bigger 4.6-inch screen, and will launch this summer, according to sources in Korea.
The leak, reported in a business newspaper in Korea, would make the new iPhone the same size as its cult Android rival the Galaxy S2.
Korean sources are often reliable indicators of the likely form – and date – for upcoming devices, as Korean plants supply screens and processors for many hi-tech companies, including Apple.
Apple has decided on the bigger 4.6-inch display for its next iPhone and started placing orders to its suppliers, the Maeil Business Newspaper said, quoting an unnamed industry source.
Its major display suppliers LG Display and Samsung Electronics Co declined to comment.
Sales of the iPhone, first introduced in 2007 with the touch screen template now adopted by its rivals, account for around half Apple’s
Samsung, which is also the biggest challenger to Apple in smartphones, uses 4.6-inch OLED display for its flagship Galaxy S II smartphone, introduced in April last year.
The Yerba Buena centre in San Francisco where Apple launched the new iPad. The company is widely rumoured to launch the new iPhone this summer
The high-definition ‘REtina’ display–containing several times as many pixels within the same area– is used in the latest iPad released earlier this month.
The latest iPhone 4S was introduced in October last year.
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Trend Tracker on March 23rd, 2012
Turning the tables on Big Brother: Now internet users can watch who is spying on them in blow against Google’s new snooping policy
Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, has unveiled a new add-on for the popular web browser that gives web users an instant view of which companies are ‘watching’ them as they browse.
The move comes the same week that Google pushed ahead with its controversial new privacy policy, built to provide even more data for Google’s $28 billion advertising business – despite concerns that the massive harvesting of private data might be illegal in many countries.
The Collusion add-on will allow users to ‘pull back the curtain’ on web advertising firms and other third parties that track people’s online movements, says Mozilla CEO Gary Kovacs.
Watching the watchers: A demonstration of Collusion’s ‘real time’ view of advertisers watching – as web users browse popular sites such as IMDB (one of the grey dots), their movements are tracked by unwanted third party advertisers (the red dots)
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Customer Centric, Trend Tracker on March 2nd, 2012
Consumer outlook improving
The consumer’s outlook is improving, according to the January Consumer Reports Index, a measure of overall consumer financial health. The study reports that stress levels have diminished, financial difficulties have moderated compared to past months, and the strong retail performance of the holiday season is an important marker that Americans may be willing to engage and spend once again.
The Consumer Reports Index captures respondents’ attitudes, asking if they are feeling better or worse off than a year ago. When the index is greater than 50, more consumers are feeling positive about their situation. When it is below 50, more consumers are feeling worse. The Sentiment Index can vary from a high of 100 to a low of 0.
Posted by eBrand Media Research Department in Trend Tracker on January 23rd, 2012