Tag Archives: nielsen online

Travel takes 47% of online dollars

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The latest Nielsen ‘Online Retail Monitor’ study has shown travel sector purchases account for 47% of all spending in a flourishing online retail market.

The study, which analysed spending across 16 major retail product categories, showed that around one third of online shoppers bought travel product or services, from flights to hotels to travel products, with an average purchase of $1,168 over the 30-day study period.

A travel retailer’s website was also found to be the biggest influence on a consumer’s brand choice, followed by search engines and comparison websites.

QANTAS led the way in website popularity, with a unique audience of nearly 1.9 million, with 12.76% of all Australian internet users visiting the site at least once in September. Virgin Travel followed with 1.247 million visitors, then wotif.com with 1.224 million.

Travel purchases that were ultimately made offline were also often influenced by online research. 68% of those purchasing accommodation offline and 62% of offline flight purchases were supported by online research.

Nielsen’s quarterly ‘online retail monitor’ uses an online survey of 1,131 Australian internet users aged 18 and over. It looks at online spending and purchase behaviour and intention, the degree to which online is supporting offline sales and conversions, and more online and mobile shopping behaviour patterns.

What are you doing about ecommerce?

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For Australian retailers now is the time to think about investment in an online store and an invigorated channel strategy.

2007 research predicts that in Australia, online sales will increase from 4.9% to 8.2% of total retail sales by 2010. A recent Nielsen Online survey indicated that 43% of Australias online spending in 2009 went to international etailers. This compares with just 14% in 2005.

Dozens of overseas fashion retailers have expanded their ecommerce presence in Australia, such as Topshop, Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie with some international etailers claiming that Australia is its third or fourth largest market. The choice for purchasing is now both international and virtual and no longer physical and domestic.

Etailing is complex and requires a sophisticated approach since it’s not just an online web interface and a shopping cart; it’s more than that. Etailing is about understanding and capturing consumer behavior data, analysis of that data, continuous communication points, customer service, follow up, integration points into CRM’s, financial and supply chain management systems, for instance.

So why are we not looking at international retailers as our role models? From my experience, the lack of wisdom in technology and the technical possibilities is where the gap lies. Let me give you an example:

Recently, we pitched to a retailer. The panel was made up of a marketing team and a researcher. The brief indicated no technical requirements except for a ‘sexy’ look and feel and some type of interactivity, yet they wanted an online store.

The questions raised by the panel had very little to do with their understanding of etailing and the complex nature of these systems. The focus for the researcher (on the panel) was, “What content management system (CMS) do you recommend and use?” Why on earth would you be focused on a CMS when the pitch was about ecommerce?

Unfortunately the panel couldn’t grasp the idea of what they actually required which was a product management system and numerous integration points. The CMS was the least of their requirements. Not one person on the panel had an understanding of their internal business systems and a flow of how they wanted to communicate to their customers. What was even scarier was that there was no IT person sitting in this meeting and not one person could answer any questions associated with ecommerce.

Small, medium or large retailers need to consider serious management systems behind their ‘website’ and invest in their online stores as they would in a bricks and mortar store. Perhaps taking the project more seriously and engaging professional experts who really understand how to build systems that both match their internal business model and have the ability to engage their customers virtually, is something that needs to be considered.

The international retailers are investing hugely in their online stores and have implemented sophisticated systems that really deliver a ROI but more importantly they are stealing market share from Australian retailers and will continue to do so. What are you doing about it?

Mobile net audience measurement tool introduced by Nielsen

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Nielsen’s online division has launched a mobile internet audience measurement tool, which the company claims is a world first.

Nielsen says that the The Mobile Market Intelligence service will provide consistent and transparent metrics for mobile advertisers and publishers.

Results from the new service data from April 2010 showing average daily unique browsers accessing the internet via mobiles at 138,574, with average time spent online via mobiles sitting at around four and a half minutes.

News.com.au topped the first month’s mobile internet rankings with average daily unique browsers of 48,090, followed closely by smh.com.au, TheAge.com.au, and ninemsn.com.au.

“Our clients have been telling us that the lack of independent, credible information on mobile sites has been holding back the growth of mobile advertising spend, and Nielsen’s launch of Mobile Market Intelligence is in direct response to this feedback,” explained Matt Bruce, managing director of Nielsen’s online business in Australia.

Nielsen indicates the service will be provided automatically to all of its agency clients, while participating publishers will need to follow a process of tagging their site in order to be included in the service.

“For agencies and media buyers, Nielsen’s Mobile Market Intelligence service makes available independent and timely mobile audience and engagement metrics which will support media planning and buying decisions, as well as providing a means for benchmarking campaign performance,” said Kerry Field, partner of innovation, Mindshare and chair of the Media Federation of Australia (MFA).

NineMSN, Yahoo7 rank in top 10 web brands

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Nielsen has released its quarterly rankings report of the top 10 online parent companies/divisions, the top 10 web brands and the latest Australian internet usage trends.

Google maintains its top position for both the parent and brand rankings, while Microsoft (including NineMSN) took out second place in parent companies ranking and NineMSN/MSN ranked second for online brands.

Facebook continues to dominate Australians’ time spent online, accounting for close to eight hours (7:53:32) of the average internet users’ time in March 2010.

YouTube’s time spent online was also on par with some of the major publishers, which Nielsen said demonstrated the level of consumer engagement with online video content.

“While Google and Facebook stand out in the Australian online market as the brands with the most reach and the biggest share of users’ time respectively, it is interesting to see that brands featuring a great deal of locally produced content like Ninemsn and Yahoo7, News Digital Media and Fairfax Media maintain their position amongst the Top 10 in terms of reaching Australians as they have for some time,” comments Matt Bruce, managing director of Nielsen’s online business in Australia.

Australian’s total monthly internet usage peaked at close to one full day in March – according to the report, the average Australian internet user is now spending a total of 23 hours and 58 minutes online per month.

Social media attracting more spend

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Nielsen has released a study suggesting that marketers are allocating more of their budget to digital than TV, radio or outdoor.

The Community Engine 2010 Social Media Business Benchmarking Study also found that 70% of all Australian businesses intend conducting some form of social media activity this year, compared with just 40% in 2008.

The study, commissioned by social networking technology company Community Engine, found that businesses are moving a significant percentage of marketing budgets out of traditional media into social media – the greatest shifts of budgets were out of print media (47%) and direct marketing (33%).

Unsurprisingly, of the 347 organisations surveyed, many struggled with how to measure return on investment (ROI) in social media, with 29% indicating they had either not measured ROI from their social media activity or did not know how to.

In the SME sector, growth in the uptake of social media has been even stronger – in 2008, just 32% of SMEs used social media, which has more than doubled to 67% in 2010.

More than half of large businesses had allocated funds away from traditional media to fund social media – an example the report points to includes Jetstar’s decision to redeploy 40% of its marketing budget to social media.

Although 26.5% of Australian businesses now have a Facebook presence (17% on Twitter, 10% on YouTube and 5% on MySpace), the study revealed a high level of concern about ownership and control issues around third party social media platforms and their impact on customer relationships.

More than a third of big businesses and 27% of SMEs said they would prefer to create their own social network as an extension of their own website.

Melanie Ingrey, research director of Nielsen’s online division, asserted that Australian organisations cannot afford to overlook social media as an effective means of engaging with their customers and stakeholders.

“In the past year, there has been substantial growth in the number of consumers engaging with companies via social media, up from 23% in 2008 to 38% in 2009,” explained Ingrey.

However, the difficulty of measuring ROI or uncertainty on how to establish KPIs for social media were perceived as barriers to entry by 34% of respondents.

Among big businesses, 42% also said the fact that senior management had not yet ‘bought into’ social media was a barrier to their organisation investing in it.

“The really smart companies are recognising that instead of putting all their social media budgets into the likes of Facebook and MySpace, they should be allocating funds to establishing their own proprietary social networks to provide them with the best possible insights, and a more connected environment with their customers and other stakeholders,” said Community Engine managing director, Piers Hogarth-Scott.

Australian social media usage hits nine million

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Online Australians are increasing their participation rate in social media at a rapid pace, with content sharing the most popular social media activity, according to a report from Nielsen.

The ‘2010 Social Media Report’ found that close to four in five Australian internet users (78%) sent or shared a photo in the past year and nearly three quarters (74%) sent or shared a link.

The biggest increases in social media usage were reading and posting on Twitter, reading wikis and engaging with brands and organisations via social media, including watching online video to support purchase decisions.

Twitter’s audience levels grew by more than 400% in 2009 and nearly one quarter of online Australians (23%) read ‘tweets’ in the past year, 14% ‘followed’ companies or organisations via Twitter (up from 5% in 2008) and 13% posted ‘tweets’ (up from 4% in 2008). Wikis continued to grow as a popular form of online content – close to three quarters of Australian internet users (73%) read a wiki in the past year compared to 61% in 2008 and just 37% in 2007.

Melanie Ingrey, research director for Nielsen’s online business, indicates that nearly nine in 10 Australian internet users (86%) are looking to fellow users for opinions and information about products, services and brands.

“Australians’ engagement with online word of mouth communication is going to increase in coming years as social media plays an increasingly important role in consumer decision making. For now, the battle of the social networking sites has clearly been won, and Facebook has proven its dominance by providing valuable and compelling content that has users spending more than eight hours a month on the site,” said Ingrey.

Social networking on sites such as Facebook was a key driver in Australians’ trial and uptake of social media. Close to three in four online Australians (73%) have looked at others’ profiles on social networks and well over one third (37%) of these report to be interacting with others via social networking sites on a daily basis.

Facebook dominates the online social networking space, with three quarters of Australian internet users (75%) reporting to have visited Facebook, 59% have a Facebook profile and the average time spent on Facebook in a given month is eight hours – seven and a half hours more than its closest rival site, YouTube.

Moreover, 83% of social networkers name Facebook as their main social networking platform, up from 72% in 2008 and 34% in 2007.

Nielsen’s report found that over one quarter of social networkers (26%) participated in mobile social networking in the past year, with younger consumers the most likely to participate in social networking via mobile – 66% of mobile social networkers are under 35 years.

Facebook is the most popular social networking site accessed via mobile (92% of mobile social networkers have visited Facebook), followed by YouTube and Twitter (18%) and MySpace (9%).

However, Twitter sees the most frequent mobile usage, with half of its mobile users visiting the site daily. In comparison, Facebook saw 36% of its mobile users visit the site daily, while 22% of MySpace users and 16% of YouTube users were making daily visits.

iPad set to break product launch buzz record

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While the iPad has been received with a mixture of joy, trepidation and scepticism by fanbois throughout Australia, Nielsen has released numbers off the back of Apple’s new product launch.

According to Nielsen, iPad generated a potential record for amount of online discussion, reaching peaks of around 40,000 comments in the space of less than an hour on Twitter.

A large percentage of iPad comments were also flowing through Facebook, setting the stage for the iPad to break the all-time record for new product launch buzz.

Online discussion in Australia around iPad started off small in early January before peaking with the launch, with Apple’s website being one of the major vehicles of message spread – a significant percentage of social media commentary is linking directly to the content on the website.

Google search results are rapidly shifting around this product, embracing more reviews and CGM/social media sources.

Deanie Sultana, director of marketing and communications at Nielsen, indicated to Marketingmag.com.au that iPad buzz is significantly surpassing any levels of online discussion around Toyota, demonstrating that social media channels are not just an avenue for frustrated customers to vent but also a forum for positive comments.

Global recession nearly over says consumer report

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Consumer confidence is on the rebound as they start thinking beyond the recession, says a report from Nielsen.

According to the ‘Nielsen Consumer Confidence, Concerns and Spending’ report the global consumer confidence index increased nine points in the 3rd quarter.

In October 2009, 66% of global consumers said their economy is in recession compared to 77% in April.

Among Chinese, 87% said their nation is out of recession, while over 60% of citizens in Hong Kong, Norway and Australia said the same.

Meanwhile, half of Brazilians, Indians and Chileans also believed that the recession has ended. For many consumers in Asia Pacific and Latin America, the recession is becoming past tense.

Among consumers who say they are still in recession, one in five (26%) expect that their country will be out of recession within 12 months.

“The surge in consumer confidence signifies return to positive territory, showing that in the last six months, a majority of consumer sentiment across the globe has shifted gears from recession to recovery. In this economic climate, sentiment is closely correlated to actual sales,” said the report.

One key indicator of business confidence, explained the report, is the prevalence of increased Asia Pacific ad spending, which rebounded much faster than expected by many analysts, with a year-on-year increase of 9% and an estimated US$111.94 billion spent in the region during the second quarter.

The report also found that:

  • Global consumer confidence index rose from 77 in April to 86 points
  • Hong Kong (+14 points) South Korea (+13 points) and Brazil (+12 points) saw strongest growth in confidence
  • Consumer confidence fell in only two countries in the third quarter: Spain (-4 points) and Japan (-2 points)
  • The US posted first consumer confidence increase since 2007 (+4 points)
  • Biggest concerns are economy (18%), job security (14%), work/life balance (12%)
  • Spending still restrained but consumers opening up their wallets, and
  • 66% of consumers globally say their country is in a recession now, and 26% say they’ll be out of a recession within 12 months.

Askmen.com launched in Oz with male net use study

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Research from men’s website AskMen.com has revealed that 92% of Australian men said that online is their first port of call when looking for information on topics such as cars, gadgets, travel, money, fashion, dating and sex.

The survey, put together to celebrate the launch of the AskMen.com site in Australia, reviewed the opinions of around 700 Australian men revealing some key insights into brand and media consumption habits.

Of the men surveyed, 93% said they felt that websites offered them more up-to-date information than magazines or newspapers and that it was important to have access to both local and global information on men’s trends and issues.

Traditional media targeting the male segment has taken a fare battering over the past six months, with Audit Bureau of Circulations figures for the three months to December 2008 showing that of the 16 weekly audited men’s titles, 11 have experienced year-on-year declines of over 10%.

“With traditional print media failing to connect with men, and the financial pressure within organisations seeing many advertisers look to digital, the Australian launch of AskMen.com comes at an optimum time,” said Andrew Cordwell, national sales director, Fox Interactive Media.

In the US in November 2008, Nielsen Online recorded an average of 60 PC sessions per male net user compared with an average of 54 sessions for female users. Average time spent online was 4.4 hours longer for males than females.

Similarly, a Gallup poll found 53% of males spent more than one hour per day online, compared with just 42% of females.

Lisa E. Phillips, eMarketer, senior analyst and author of the US report, Men Online explained, “Gender, even more than race or ethnicity, is a distinguishing factor of internet use, informing online behaviour and attitudes. Men spend more time online, conduct more searches on a daily basis and do not mind seeing ads. They are as engaged in social media as women are, and most are not put off by the companies and brands they find there.”

Key findings, in which participants could select up to three preferences, included:

  • The top three fashion brands for Aussie men were Bonds (26%), Levis (24%) and Hugo Boss (23%)
  • The three brands voted as making the best gadgets were Sony (68%), Apple (66%) and Nokia (41%)
  • The most popular beer brands for Aussie men were Corona (30%), Pure Blonde (20%), Heineken (17%), Carlton Draught (16%) and Tooheys (15%)
  • Aussie men’s three favourite car brands were BMW (30%), Audi (25%) and Porsche (23%)
  • The three cars Australian men most desire are; the Aston Martin DB9 (52%) the Audi R8 (34%) and the Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 (33%)
  • The iPhone (61%), Motion Flow 200hz (42%) and the 3D TV (30%) were voted as the best gadgets of 2009
  • The three top travel destinations nominated by Australian men were New York (47%) London (33%) and Paris (24%)
  • 77% of Australian men don’t think pick-up lines are an effective way of breaking the ice with women, and
  • Save for a rainy day’ was nominated the top piece of financial advice with 50% of Australian men in favour of this policy.

Logies critiqued by social media users

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Viewers of the 2009 Australian Logie Awards appeared online to post their opinions of the event via blogs, Twitter and even uploading skits to YouTube.

According to web measurement company, Nielsen Online, posts related to the Logies were being uploaded almost as soon as the event kicked off, including posts from individuals who weren’t watching the awards ceremony on television, but were keeping informed via Twitter alerts sent to their PCs and mobiles.

One blogger commented, “I don’t normally watch them (the Logies), but thank god for technology. In particular, Twitter. Wil Anderson was doing a running commentary of the night while he was there (via Twitter), and Marc Fennell was doing the same, though from his couch at home. Nevertheless, still very funny. I think the Logies were actually more entertaining via Twitter than they were actually on the TV.”

Nielsen’s BuzzMetrics service, which tracks online social media activity and trends, picked up over 300 posts made relating to the Logies, with the majority of post-event comments taking a negative slant (there were around 10 negative comments to every one positive post).

The Nielsen analysis indicated the majority of comments posted online were about the event’s host, Gretel Killeen looking like a “12-year-old boy”, as well as red-carpet fashion successes and disasters.

“As a medium, social networking platforms are empowering individuals – be they television viewers, consumers, or celebrities – to share their opinions with the masses in real time. For corporations, television executives, brand managers and business leaders, it’s vital to understand that empowerment and learn to work with it,” says Mark Higginson, director of analytics for Nielsen Online.

Qantas most discussed airline brand online

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Qantas is the most-blogged airline by online Australians, with more than one third of consumer discussion online around airlines focusing on it according analysis by online measurement company Nielsen Online released today.

The analysis looked at consumer-generated media (CGM) relating to the top airline carriers in the Australian market.

The data revealed that online discussion relating to Qantas was more than double that of any other carrier, followed by Virgin with a 17% share of chat and Jetstar which accounted for 15% (see Chart 1).

Looking at the most discussed topics online relating to airline travel, airline crew drew the most comments, particularly for Air New Zealand, whose in-flight team was discussed more than any other airlines’. Maintenance was also a hot CGM topic, with Qantas the most talked about airline in terms of maintenance – 4.1% of online discussion around Qantas was on the topic of maintenance.

Singapore Airlines also generated much discussion around maintenance (2.4% of online discussion).

In the area of customer service, Virgin topped the list with 2.2% of online discussion around its brand attributed to customer service, while Jetstar had around 1.9% of online discussion focused on customer service.

Online sentiment pointed to a lingering fear amongst travellers as a result of recent airline incidents.

In particular, concerns around Qantas following two mid air incidents in 2008 generated a spike in online discussion, which carried on well into 2009, with consumers attributing the incidents to outsourcing of maintenance.

Nielsen BuzzMetrics found that Emirates received the most positive discussion online – 19% of consumer sentiment relating to the airline was positive, with consumers touting service, in-flight staff, check-in and in-flight meals as the most satisfying aspects of their experiences. However, the volume of discussion relating to Emirates was one of the lowest of the airlines analysed. Similarly, although

Singapore Airlines and Air New Zealand had relatively low volumes of online discussion, the percentage of positive discussion making up that volume saw them ranked second and third respectively behind Emirates for online sentiment.

Bloggers have rank Emirates best in the air, followed by Singapore
Airlines and Air NZ. Recent airline incidents raising travellers’
concerns around air safety.

Verbatim comments sourced by Nielsen BuzzMetrics:

“On an entertainment point of view emirates and singapore airlines generally offer better in seat entertain than qantas as they allow more movies starting at any time etc.” members.essentialbaby.com.au, 27/08/2008

“Having done 4 long haul flights in the last 7 months Emirates are outstanding-from online check in till receivng baggage at end they were faultless-could teach BA/QANTAS a lot of things…” au.messages.yahoo.com, 17/06/2008

“We travel extensively internationally and domesticly – Jetstar is now our last choice for flights as they are very unreliable, we are also unlikely to use qantas again as they slipping – inflight service on international runs are very poor.” www.frequentflyer.com.au, 14/12/2008

“No one has ever said every Qantas flight is a disaster. Only that they appear to be having way too many serious issues.” aus.aviation, 01/12/2008

“I decided long ago never to fly with Qantas again due to their rude & unhelpful staff.” au.messages.yahoo.com, 21/11/2008

“But, that said, if I was on a plane like that Qantas one that had the major problems recently (where quite a lot of passengers got injured etc), I think I would find it very hard to get back on a plane again.” forums.tn.com.au, 06/11/2008

“So as far as Virgin as a carrier in general I think theyre great – good rates and great customer service (from my experience).” forums.whirlpool.net.au, 26/6/2008

1,600 jobs shed by Nielsen

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Global market research giant Nielsen has announced staff cuts of 1,600 in 2009, or less than 5% of its workforce, disclosed by company officials in a conference call with investors and analysts.

A report from AdAge.com suggests chief financial officer, Brian West, declined on the call to detail the timing or precise areas of the reductions, which are in addition to the 4,100 announced shortly after the company was taken private in 2006.

West asserts that the moves are part of the continuing integration of Nielsen’s operations and efforts to grow earnings ahead of revenue.

“Were very focused on integration productivity. Weve shown an ability to deliver it, and as we head into 09 we need it now more than ever,” explains West.

A Nielsen spokesman has indicated that the majority of notifications regarding the new round of job cuts have already been made and that the cuts are being made globally.

Nielsen operates Nielsen Media Research, the Nielsen retail-tracking and consumer-panel business, Nielsen Online and Nielsen Business Media.