By 2020 Cisco predicts that there will be 2 billion ‘things’ connected to the net.
John Batistich, Director of Marketing for Westfield told of a smart washing machine in the US that identifies a mechanical problem, searches the web, checks for recommendations and then prompts the owner to confirm a booking with a repair technician it’s shortlisted.
Today, according to Google studies, 70% of mobile searches result in a purchase within the hour and that 75% of these occur within a 15 mile radius.
Mobile phone penetration in Australia is now 114% mobile penetration which means that we have more phones than people. Of this audience 60% now take their phone to bed.
The retail space has shifted and so has the behavior of the consumer. UK department store, C&A now displays Facebook ‘likes’ on their garments and
others are changing their in-store theming around Twitter trends in real time instead of seasonal or six months in advance.
One third of Amazon sales come from personal recommendations and in New York, fashion chain Bonobos won’t let you buy anything in the store.
Instead, the staff assist you to create a profile and then they send product to you.
In the UK Burberry’s new flagship store in Regent St, London posted a 9% growth in revenue whilst other retailers struggled and CEO Angela Ahrendts said of the new store: “We are bringing the digital world to life in a physical space”.
Chris Riddell, Chief Digital Officer for Mars (ANZ) continued with some impressive stats around the new digital world.
“Radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users, Facebook took just 5 months,” he said. “A new member joins LinkedIn every second and those on Twitter are three times more likely to follow brands than Facebook”.
Businesses are turning to Google en mass because of their 99.9% uptime guarantee – what other online platform can promise this?
He urged businesses to monitor their ‘internal clock’ to make sure that it is keeping time with the external clock of technology or fear being left behind.
Although some presenters claimed that email was dead when it came to promoting a business – others argued that 70% of emails are now opened on a mobile.
Although e-newsletters may not work as well, general e-marketing campaigns were producing the biggest ROI – on average a $44 return for a $1 investment according to Lyris Inc from the US.
Over 30,000 people visit the CeBIT exhibition each year. There are more than 450 exhibitors, from startups to global companies, that showcase their innovations and technologies.
