The war between Interflora and Marks & Spencer has been on-going for some time now, here is a quick wrap up of the situation:

One hundred and fifty million European citizens shops over the internet. Thirty million of them shop cross border online in the EU. European cross border shoppers spend on average [...]]]> One hundred and fifty million European citizens shops over the internet. Thirty million of them shop cross border online in the EU. European cross border shoppers spend on average € 800 a year, i.e. a total of 24 billion €uro. What rights do European consumers have?
Thursday June 23rd, European delegates have deeply changed online European consumer rights adopting by 615 votes to 16, with 21 abstentions a new European Consumer directive.
This new law is to be enforced within two years in the 27 European member states.
What are the good news, what are the bad news?
The following are the 10 most important changes for consumers in the new Directive [text from the directive]:

• The proposal will eliminate hidden charges and costs on the Internet – no more getting caught into getting a free horoscope that you have to pay for in the end
• Increased price transparency – this means the online retailer will now have to tell you about all costs, for instance a UK online store shipping goods from Singapore will have to tell you about customs duties before you finalise your payment
• Banning pre-ticked boxes on websites – no more imposed insurance fees when booking a ticket an online, no more imposed newsletters, no more imposed extra warranty terms when buying a camera online, etc
• 14 Days to change your mind on a purchase, goods or services – a key point i will detail:
  • Extra protection for lack of information: if the buyer was not fully informed of the withdrawal rules pre-purchase, the buyer has up to a year to cancel his/her order
  • Consumers have a right of withdrawal for solicited visits, such as when a trader called beforehand and pressed the consumer to agree to a visit (no more foot in the door sales people!)
  • The right of withdrawal is extended to online auctions – such as eBay but the right is only applicable in the case of a professional seller (define professional seller?)
  • The withdrawal period will start from the moment the consumer receives the goods, vs. right now the sales contract date! – bad news for retailers, as it means a Greek buyer can receive the shoes he ordered online from an online irish retailer and will have 14 days to return the shoes from the date he received the shoes…
    • Very important fine print – The rules will apply to internet, phone and mail order sales, as well as to sales outside shops, for example on the consumer’s doorstep, in the street, at a Tupperware type of party or during an excursion organised by the trader.
• Better refund rights- retailers will refund consumers in full for the product within 14 days of the withdrawal. This includes the costs of delivery. In general, the trader will bear the risk for any damage to goods during transportation, until the consumer takes possession of the goods.
• Introduction of an EU-wide model withdrawal form – ease and speed to to withdraw, wherever you have concluded a contract in the EU.
• Eliminating surcharges for the use of credit cards and hotlines - no more extra charge if you book your flight ticket online paying with a Visa for instance… And no more Expensive hotlines when ringing your computer manufacturer tech support cente or when ringing your insurance company to follow up on a car accident claim!
• Clearer information on who pays for returning goods – the trader will have to pay for the returned goods transport costs unless the trader has clearly told the buyer and before the agreement of the sales contract, meaning before you pay for it. for bulk items, the seller must provide an estimated transport cost.
• Better consumer protection in relation to digital products- this means that a seller must tell its buyer about the limits of copying a music / video file for instance. The seller can withdrawal from that purchase solely up to the downloading process begins.
• Common rules for businesses will make it easier for them to trade all over Europe
  • A single set of rules for distance contracts (sales by phone, post or internet) and off-premises contracts (sales away from a company’s premises, such as in the street or the doorstep) in the European Union
  • Right of withdrawal standard forms
  • Specific rules will apply to small businesses and craftsmen, such as a plumber. There will be no right of withdrawal for urgent repairs and maintenance work. Member States may also decide to exempt traders who are requested by consumers to carry out repair and maintenance work in their home of a value below €200 from some of the information requirements

Good news all over for all of us really as we all are buyers…

But bad news for the online retailers…

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The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is finally coming to fruition with marketers and advertisers in Europe beginning to feel the effects of the partnership in early 2010.

In advance of his session at the International Search Summit Munich on [...]]]> The Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is finally coming to fruition with marketers and advertisers in Europe beginning to feel the effects of the partnership in early 2010.

In advance of his session at the International Search Summit Munich on April 4th, Microsoft’s Cedric Chambaz, gives an insight into the development of the alliance and what it means for search marketers around the world.

Can you just give us a brief overview of what the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is?

First it is critical to understand that the Yahoo! and Microsoft partnership is, as it says on the tin, a “Search Alliance”. Not a fusion, not an acquisition… An alliance, limited to search.

As a result of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance, Microsoft’s technology will power Yahoo!’s search and search advertising infrastructure, meaning that the search alliance covers algorithmic search (web, image and video through Bing algorithm) and search advertising. Microsoft and Yahoo! will unify their paid search marketplaces, and Microsoft’s search advertising platform, Microsoft Advertising adCenter, will be used for paid search advertising.

The search alliance however does not include any aspects of display advertising, vertical searches or Yahoo! site searches, such as queries on Flickr or Yahoo! News. In these fields, our two companies will continue to compete.

The search alliance offers brands and search agencies a new competitive alternative as the two best converting search engines consolidate their high quality audiences. Practically spoken, advertisers can now promote their business to a larger, highly converting audience of Bing and Yahoo! users, in less time and efforts. This improves productivity and budget efficiencies, especially for resource-constrained advertisers, by allowing them to manage their search campaigns at both search engines from a single platform.

What stage is the roll out at in North America? And what about Europe?

After the natural search algorithm was successfully  implemented in Yahoo!’s Search in Northern America in late-August, at end of October we completed another major milestone for the search alliance transition in the U.S. and Canada: Microsoft Advertising adCenter now powers all of the paid search advertisements on Yahoo!’s owned and operated properties and its publisher network. Advertisers operate a single account on adCenter that powers search advertising campaigns across the combined audience of Bing and Yahoo! currently reaching 164 million in the U.S. and 15 million in Canada.[1]

For Europe, we anticipate the organic search transitions for the UK, France, Ireland, Germany, Spain and Italy to begin in the first quarter of 2011, with other European markets following in mid-2011. We expect to begin the paid search transition in the UK, France and Ireland in the second quarter of 2011, with other European markets to start in late 2011 and early 2012. Our goal is to provide a quality transition experience for advertisers in Europe. If we feel that it would improve the overall experience, we may adjust the timing of the organic and paid search transitions.

Is the plan to eventually rollout in all markets? And what are the timescales for reaching Eastern Europe, and Asia?

In addition to the roll-out in Europe early 2011, we expect to start transitioning in further international markets also in early 2011 for selected markets in Asia as well as Latin America, with all global customers and partners expected to be transitioned by early 2012.

What does it mean for organisations that are currently advertising on Yahoo! and/or Bing in Europe? And how will it impact organic rankings in both search engines?

Search advertisers will need to transition their account to the Microsoft Advertising adCenter platform in order to continue showing their adverts on the Yahoo! sites and their partners. In case advertisers don’t have an adCenter account we’ll support them in creating one allowing them to reach Yahoo! traffic once the Yahoo! Search ad serving transition is completed. With a single platform with superior targeting capabilities, they will then save time and effort by managing only one global account for their search marketing campaigns across both search engines.

Once the algorithm for natural search is completed, the organic results displayed on both Yahoo! Search and Bing will be the same with the single difference that each company will continue to own and enrich its individual consumer experience. However, the current organic ranking in Yahoo’s search engine might possibly change once results are powered by Bing as the website ranking will be 100% based on how the Bing algorithm indexes and ranks the relevance of your site for a particular search query. Therefore, we recommend that webmasters ensure that their sites are properly referenced and indexed by the Bing algorithm by them time the transition will be completed. Webmasters can register their websites and sitemaps in the Bing Webmaster tool.

What about those not currently using Yahoo!/Bing – what does the alliance offer them? What benefits will it bring?

Firstly, advertisers will gain access to more highly converting customers in several markets through the combined traffic of Yahoo! Search and Bing. In the UK for instance, the combined Yahoo! Search and Bing audience is 36% more likely to buy online than the average user[2].  Additionally, the Search Alliance reaches users that advertisers won’t be able to reach elsewhere: 5 million unique users use Microsoft and Yahoo! Sites (including Yahoo! Search, Bing, and partners) that don’t use Google in the UK[3].

Secondly, the campaign setup and management will be easier and more time- and therefore cost-efficient as advertisers will have one sales force supporting them as well as a one set of campaigns and keyword structures on a single platform.

Third and primarily what we hear from advertisers: The Search Alliance offers a competitive choice in search, providing advertisers with greater value and efficiency by delivering a higher quality audience and a better conversation rate driving a greater ROI.

And finally, why should people attend the International Search Summit?

The International Search Summit, combined with SMX Munich, is a great opportunity for advertisers and publishers to get their head around the up and coming trends in global  search. The global deployment of the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance is obviously a major evolution in the advertising industry and it is important to get a good understanding of its impact and associated opportunities for your business.

Other speakers at the International Search Summit include Steffen Ehrhardt, Google; Evgeny Lomize, Yandex; Andy Atkins-Krüger, WebCertain; Florian Reisinger, BMW and Thomas de Buhr, YouTube.

View the full agenda and register for the Summit

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Today Monday November 29th is ‘Cyber Monday‘. The biggest shopping day of the year?

Or is it Monday December 6th 2010 referred as ‘Mega Monday‘ where sales are expected to hit over €uro 1million per minute…

October 2010, IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales [...]]]> Today Monday November 29th is ‘Cyber Monday‘. The biggest shopping day of the year?

Or is it Monday December 6th 2010 referred as ‘Mega Monday‘ where sales are expected to hit over €uro 1million per minute…

October 2010, IMRG Capgemini e-Retail Sales Index is expected to increase by 16 per cent in 2010 vs. 2009 for online Christmas sales, reaching £6.4billion.

Different forecasts come from various sources. For instance, Hi Media expect the European online Christmas sales to represent over 10 per cent of the European overall Christmas sales, representing respectively €uro 32 billion of the overall €uro 313 billion.

The UK, Germany and France will represent the highest total spend for the Christmas 2010 season, accounting for 65 per cent of the overall European Christmas spend:

1. UK – €uro 77.2 billion
2. Germany – €uro 64.5 billion
3. France – €uro 62.5 billion
4. Spain – €uro 31.2 billion

Denmark, Norway and Sweden are forecasted to spend the least overall at €5.4bn, €6.1bn and €9.6bn respectively.

How strong is online Christmas shopping in Europe?

1. UK – highest in Europe with €uro 13 billion – i.e 17% of the overall 2010 UK retail Christmas sales
2. Germany – €uro 8.2 billion – i.e 13% of the overall 2010 Germany retail Christmas sales
3. France – €uro 6.3 billion – i.e 10% of the overall 2010 France retail Christmas sales
4. Spain – €uro 624 million- i.e 2% of the overall 2010 Spain retail Christmas sales

Norway will spend €uro 0.73 billion online and Denmark €uro 0.61 billion.

Pierpaolo Zollo, from Kelkoo says: “Internet sales across Europe are set to be more important than ever this Christmas, with consumers spending record amounts online, and online commerce acting as the primary driving force for overall retail growth during the festive season.”

Don’t forget to track your online audience thanks to free simple tools such as Google Analytics and make sure you run an online reputation management program.

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The Official Google Blog has been restating the policy of Google at handling government interference in its products noting that Google products from search and Blogger to YouTube and Google Docs have been blocked in 25 of the 100 [...]]]> The Official Google Blog has been restating the policy of Google at handling government interference in its products noting that Google products from search and Blogger to YouTube and Google Docs have been blocked in 25 of the 100 countries where Google offers its services.

The post explains that there are differences between how content is treated that is either linked to by Google search or hosted on a platform such as Blogger. Search is apparently the least restricted because Google is not taking responsibility for hosting the content. It also implies that censorship from democratically elected governments is more acceptable than that from undemocratically elected governments.

The post’s author, Rachel Whetstone, the Vice President of Global Communications and Public Affairs is concerned about the impact of censorship in various countries around the world. In restating the Google policy, she writes, “We have a bias in favor of people’s right to free expression. We are driven by a belief that more information means more choice, more freedom and ultimately more power for the individual.”

Stirring stuff indeed and these are indeed difficult waters to navigate, but freedom of expression comes with a certain responsbility. This is especially true when you are the doorway to people’s access to information in many languages and many cultures with many different histories around the globe.

For instance, the post actually gives examples of where Google is willingly censoring content in order to comply with local legislation. These include:

• Child pornography
• Links to certain copyrighted material
• Spam
• Malware
• Sensitive personal information such as credit card numbers

Says Google further, “This is especially true in countries such as China and Vietnam that do not have democratic processes through which citizens can challenge censorship mandates.”

Examples where Google is co-operating with governments to comply with local legislation are included but there is note of “We do this but we’re not happy with it” in the tone of the post because the point is highlighted that this only applies to the local version of Google search – not Google.com.

The examples that are given where censorship is exercised on the local search engine include pro-nazism content which it is illegal to publish in Germany and France (and actually Austria but that’s not mentioned) and for YouTube Google does not allow videos which are insulting to Mustafa Ataturk – the legendary founder of modern Turkey – to be displayed in Turkey.

Google’s policy, however, has holes. Pro-nazi material can be found on Google.com – because that is uncensored – but not on Google.de because that is considered local and is therefore censored. But this doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. Content from both is hosted and served typically from outside Germany and is available within Germany which means that if you go to Google.com within Germany you can access pro-nazi material. Equally, Google has the capability and routinely filters the sites it selects to show locally within the ‘web’ search of Google.com. so does this stance really respect local laws – noting that in this example Germany most certainly is a democratic country.

Google itself censors material it defines as ’spam’ – which is difficult to define at the best of times -so is Google’s stance not really a political statement of itself. I fear Google will not be able to sustain this rather ‘holier than thou’ position and its commercial strength – as in China – may suffer in the long run.

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Six out of thirteen SEMPO board members are now none-US so SEMPO is turning truly International. SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization annouced earlier this month the results of its 2010 Board of Directors election which begin their [...]]]> Six out of thirteen SEMPO board members are now none-US so SEMPO is turning truly International. SEMPO, the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization annouced earlier this month the results of its 2010 Board of Directors election which begin their two-year term on March 18, 2010.

SEMPO’s 2010 Board of Directors is:

• Chris Boggs, Director, Search Engine Optimization, ROSETTA.
• Massimo Burgio, Founder, Chief Strategist, Global Search Interactive.
• Bruce Clay, President, Bruce Clay, Inc.
• Dave Fall, SVP Product and Operations, Clickable, Inc.
• Rob Garner, Strategy Director, iCrossing.
• Mike Grehan, VP and Global Content Director, Incisive Media.
• Motoko Hunt, President, Japanese Search Strategist, AJPR.
• Kevin Lee, CEO, Didit.
• Dmitriy Minenko, Online Specialist, Search Engine Marketing, Tourism British Columbia.
• Jeffrey Pruitt, CEO, Acendant.
• Margaret Willette, Search Marketing Manager, Intuit.
• Kristjan Mar Hauksson, Director Search, Nordic eMarketing.

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Voting is now open for the 2010 SEMMY awards, which recognise the excellent content created by search marketers. There are 17 categories including SEO, PPC, Social Media and Link Building and the nominees in each have now been reduced to [...]]]> Voting is now open for the 2010 SEMMY awards, which recognise the excellent content created by search marketers. There are 17 categories including SEO, PPC, Social Media and Link Building and the nominees in each have now been reduced to 5 or 6 finalists.

The SEO category is featuring an international SEO post for the first time – The Top 10 Pitfalls of International SEO by Andy Atkins-Krüger has made the final.

Voting is open until 29th January – visit www.semmys.org to choose your favourites.

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Google’s recent sales performance are generally regarded as ’slightly down’ or static depending on your point of view. However, as the “Use International Search Marketing – Just Like Google” article I published on Search Engine Watch shows, a [...]]]> Google’s recent sales performance are generally regarded as ’slightly down’ or static depending on your point of view. However, as the “Use International Search Marketing – Just Like Google” article I published on Search Engine Watch shows, a deeper look at the figures reveals that, whilst somewhat moderated, the scale of Google’s sales in international markets has only increased relative to the US. Meanwhile, the UK is sadly flagging. These figures are taken directly from Google’s own – all I’ve done is break them down, analyse and graphically compare year on year.

The moral of the story is there are still big opportunities internationally – and they are relatively MORE important than they were before the arrival of the credit crunch.

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Google’s has reported turnover for the first quarter of 2009 at 3% down on the previous quarter globally – but international revenues actually grew by 0.49% from $2,850 billion to $2,864 billion disguising a significant 7.23% fall in US [...]]]> Google’s has reported turnover for the first quarter of 2009 at 3% down on the previous quarter globally – but international revenues actually grew by 0.49% from $2,850 billion to $2,864 billion disguising a significant 7.23% fall in US turnover. UK turnover was $733 million compared with $684 million in the previous quarter – an increase of 7.16%. The fluctuation compared with the previous quarter – see chart below – is partly due to a 2.79% or $154 million benefit in the total turnover resulting from currency management – which probably relates largely to the performance of sterling during this period and partly explains the UK figure. However, that does not change the US performance figures.


What is clear is that these figures demonstrate how important international success really is to Google – and why many companies are looking to globalisation as a route to shore up their balance sheets.

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Google’s earnings data, released a few weeks ago, reveal some interesting facts about search marketing beyond the normal headline figures – including that international revenues have fallen relative to their total turnover – see chart below. (Note that this [...]]]> Google’s earnings data, released a few weeks ago, reveal some interesting facts about search marketing beyond the normal headline figures – including that international revenues have fallen relative to their total turnover – see chart below. (Note that this chart was produced by analysts at WebCertain.com and is provided as a guide only.) From a turning point at the beginning of 2007, when US revenues flattened, international revenues became greater than US revenues. The credit crunch has clearly changed the pattern of revenue so that non-US has dropped back to match the levels of the US once more. Of course, exchange rates also affected these figures.

Google’s net income (profit) in the fourth quarter of last year was $382m which was a 68% fall over the equivalent quarter in the previous year where profits were $1,206m. Turnover was 22% up on the previous year.

Intriguingly Google clicks increased from quarter 3 in 2008 by 18% but revenues were only 3% up which suggests a significant average reduction in click costs.

Google’s international v US revenue Q4 08

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