photo credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

The success of online marketing was made even more apparent this week after new research revealed that online-only retail giant Amazon is Britain’s favourite brand among consumers.

Whereas only a few years ago, online marketing of retail sites suffered from the public perception that they were a mere adjunct to traditional retailers. But the European Best Retail Brand report, commissioned by shopping comparison site Kelkoo, found that far from being seen merely as “online operations” of existing stores, online-only businesses were at last being compared directly with their offline rivals. In the survey, Amazon beat Tesco, M&S and Asda when it came to customer satisfaction.

Kelkoo UK manager Mark Haupt commnented: “Consumers are starting to understand that Amazon are in themselves a retailing universe of possible opportunities and offers.”

“You probably don’t see Amazon advertising on TV as prolifically as others but they certainly have mastered the techniques and the ways in which online marketing works well these days.”

photo credit: ohchristopher.

A growing phenomenon in the wealthy oil states of the Middle East was revealed by the BBC this week – the online marketing trend known as social or group buying.

While group buying is big business in many other parts of the world, thanks to companies such as Groupon offering customers discounts on a wide range of products online, marketing efforts for the phenomenon are hotting up now in states such as Dubai.

Companies involved in group buying funnel customers to retailers in return for part of the revenue gained, and the growing levels of e-commerce in the Middle East are working hand-in-hand with the already high levels of credit card use and a love of retail.

Original Fitness Co is a company which offers “boot camp” exercise classes on Dubai’s beaches, and it owes much of its success to online marketing via group buying.

“Marketing can be expensive, but this is quite a cost effective way of doing it,” managing director Corey Oliver told the BBC.

“And once people try it, we hope they enjoy it and want to come back.”

photo credit: rockbadger

Businesses have been urged this week to start preparing their Christmas online marketing campaigns, as shoppers begin thinking about possible gifts and researching products.

Next month is the time that online businesses need to really start shaping up their paid search advertising in particular, experts advise, with Dzine IT vice-president Peter Crisafi noting that “internet search terms used to find products can be both specific and vague at the same time.”

To this end, SEO content needs to be calibrated for “both broad category-based terms as well as specific product names,” he added.

Other experts have urged firms to keep their online marketing campaigns simple and not to spread themselves too thinly, with a few good-quality promotions launched at intervals throughout the run-up to Christmas, rather than a new promotion each day in a paid search advert. Businesses also need to be constantly aware of the rise of mobile advertising, as more and more customers will be using mobile devices to do their online Christmas shopping.

photo credit: mikecogh

New research published this week by comScore has revealed a leap in the amount of online marketing campaigns using video.

The data showed that almost two thirds of people watching videos online saw adverts during the clips – equating to more than 21 million Britons. Among these, the key online marketing demographic of 15-24-year-olds were most likely to see video adverts, and 70 per cent viewed at least one a month.

Google sites are leading the way with video content in online marketing, according to comScore. In July, a massive 158.1 million internet users accessed video content on Google sites, the company said.

Its director of marketing solutions Mike Shaw commented: “This indicates an opportunity for advertisers looking for ways to efficiently target younger audiences. These audiences are likely to carry these behaviours with them as they mature, underscoring the future potential for video and mobile advertising.”

Mr Shaw predicted that penetration of this market was only likely to grow as “more advertisers incorporate video as an integral part of their marketing strategy.”