Aggressive Advertising Techniques Ring in the Holiday Season
More aggressive advertising tactics are being employed by e-tailer's Web sites in the busy Christmas shopping season in an attempt to persuade consumers to purchase or stay on the site longer.
A study just released by Cyveilance found that 20 percent of the top European sites and 30 percent of the top U.S. sites are using the more aggressive technologies such as spawned pop-up ads and "mousetrapping" to entangle and divert holiday shoppers.
Mousetrapping is a technique where users find themselves unable to use the "Back" button or exit a site and pop-up ads have become almost commonplace despite the outcry from consumers about the annoyance of such ad techniques.
Brian Murray, senior director of client services for Cyveilance noted "Over 25 percent of top destination sites are now using one of these… tactics in an apparent attempt to divert and capture shoppers. There is undoubtedly a growing level of consumer frustration online that poses a threat to global brands".
Online Buying Through TV and Wireless Devices on the Rise
Currently, B2C e-commerce is almost strictly a PC-based activity. But GartnerG2 is predicting one in 10 online consumers will use their wireless device or TV to purchase goods by 2005.
TV purchases are predicted to account for nearly six percent of the total business to consumer e-commerce by 2005 and wireless or mobile devices will account for about four percent by that time.
Gartner expects that the use of these alternatives to the PC will be utilized "situationally" and that buying practices will become a hybrid of these platforms. The key to this migration will be a synergy between the platforms to enhance the shopper's experience.
Swedes Have More Mobile Phone Lines than Landlines
According to Mobile Commerce World, there are now fewer landline users than mobile-phone users in Sweden.
Sweden's mobile phone usage has enjoyed a 24 percent increase since last year, to bring the total of mobile phone users to 6.4 million, while the number of fixed-lines operating in that country stands at 5.8 million.
Although the difference may seem small at first glance, the numbers are accentuated by the fact that the country has seen the number of landline subscriptions shrink by 3 percent in the same time period.
Dutch Are Disappointed by Internet
One in six experienced Internet users in the Netherlands are not satisfied with the Internet this year.
The Belgian agency InSites reports that 17 percent of the total weekly Dutch Internet users are not only spending far less time online, but have also stopped looking for new sites entirely and have found the net increasingly unfriendly.
There are currently about 2.7 million Dutch online this year, which reflects nearly the same number of online users as of one year ago.
Across Canada, Gambling is Popular
The Leger Marketing poll recently performed in Canada has revealed that eight out of 10 Canadians like to place bets--whether it be on horses, lottery tickets or going to the casino.
The poll found 78.9 percent of respondents having gambled before and 61.7 percent of those as having gone gambling in the previous month as well. Only 2 percent of those surveyed indicated they had problems with their gambling behavior.
Geographic breakdowns in gambling habits revealed that 83.6 percent of Manitobans and Saskatchewans gamble, 82.7 percent gamble in Quebec, 79.6 percent of British Columbians gamble, 77.9 percent gamble in the Atlantic provinces, 76.8 gamble in Ontario and Alberta trails with 73.9 percent of respondents saying they gamble.
Another key finding in the poll is that, although only 2.2 percent made the admission that they had gambling addiction problems, the number when broken down by age groups is alarmingly skewed towards the younger population.
Control Leads to Trust for Online Shoppers
A report published recently by McKinsey &Co. found that online shoppers need to feel in control of their shopping experience to trust and become loyal to any particular e-commerce Web site.
The report found that a mere 4 percent of Internet users routinely register at Web sites, and the bulk of users refuse to register at any Web sites due to a lack of trust.
According to the report, the top Web merchants are those that "embed" trust into the shopping process such as Amazon and CDNow, who enjoy nearly half of their sales receipts coming from repeat customers.
McKinsey also said, "Building trust that leads to satisfied customers is complex--but essential--for marketing executives. Winning marketers move well beyond the basics with more subtle trust-builders that differentiate them from the also-rans."