Alex Baar | International Digital Marketing | E-commerce

Some short headlines on digital marketing news from Asia that got my attention the past few days. Online video is increasingly popular in China. With more mobile phones and computers then TV's and skyrocketing tv advertising prices, the attention is shifting to online video. Chinese online video market This video from Pepsi had 100 million views in 2 weeks time! Order and pay your mcdonalds menu in Japan via your car navigation system Meanwhile in Japan it is now possible to order your mcdonalds menu via your car navigation system, before you arrive. You can pay via creditcard also through your navigation system. Next step is targeted ads via your car navigation system. Also in Japan, it is no longer necessary to remember all these Japanese emoticons , just scan your face and it will be automatically be translated in the correct emoticon. In Japan TV sets can be operated by the use of twitter hashtags. South Korean e-commerce has reached an all time high  in...

Airports and Airlines have so many contactmoments that they still not use. Booking confirmations is one example..It would be great to work on that, and to know that you please people with information and help the airline with additional customer information.. This is a booking confirmation from Cathay Pacific. One that I received after flying to Hong Kong last summer. I still do not understand why airlines make this booking confirmation not more fun. Add value to it, create new contact moments. Do something more then just the flight details. It is so boring. So many chances. Most airlines have boring booking confirmations by the way. Itinerary Example CX The e-mail itself is probably one of the best read and opened e-mails ever. Ask people if it is a leisure or business flight and use targeted relevant content to get contact moments. Of course the booking process at the website must be as easy as possible, but after the booking is finished so many chances! Social shari...

It is nice to watch trends and to extrapolate that to other branches or just to get inspiration. Good to see that almost every trend can be combined with social media. This once again shows the importance of social media. Trendhunter's annual trend video is always nice to watch: Some highlights of their video: Digital eating Trend to order via ipads or digital devices build in tables or other digital devices that make into restaurants. Related idea's: Custom build apps to order, to get details from people who order in your restaurant, so you can do follow up communication and stay engaged with your customers. Show them interactive offers while they are sitting at your tables. Cross and upsell while they sit. If they ordered something spicey, they probably like to have something to cool as well..if it is 30 degrees outside, show them an ice cream offer...etc. Add value by let people use internet at the table Let people sent messages to other tables (flirt tabl...

The social conference 2012 Last thursday, I was in the happy position to visit the social conference 2012. It was better then expected. Really a lot of international speakers and case study's. Exactly my interest. Only negative point, but there were (with so many online people) not enough free power plugs to charge devices. The day started with a presentation from Fons Trompenaars . I found this really interesting. Fons know a lot about trans cultural communication. He told a lot of things I recognized, but explained also with great humour a lot of things, I did not knew. But is was nice to hear the examples from Korea, Japan, Germany etc. All very recognizable, if I think back about my travels. I realized I have to learn a lot more quickly at this trans cultural area, so many interesting things, that can help build success in this global world. Luckily Fons gave a few tips for books to read on which : co-opetition  (others to be added) Fons Trompenaars kicki...

Book review/summary: The end of traditional retail stores : www.eindevandewinkel.nl  by Cor Molenaar. I found this book (although most is obvious for me) interesting and easy to read. Especially because many improvements that Mr Molenaar suggests, already are common in many other countries (e.g. Asia or the USA). I have seen a lot of examples Cor Molenaar describes in his book, during my recent travels. It seems like we (in Holland) are running behind. What are the dangers for traditional retailing? Internet: is a threat to traditional retail because, traditional retail has to compete against unknown competitors and competitors who have less limitations like shop opening hours and location. Wholesalers/suppliers who are going to sell at the web: for example big brands are starting their own webshops to get into contact with customers. Customers: have a new way of buying and internet is integrated in this shopping process. Grocery's are still b...

Simple, but still a good idea. The first time I get one in my snail mail box. Nice example, how to work cross channel. And in the near future, they can probably connect to facebook social graph and see I am single (or not) and then personalise even better. Example bol.com: collecting email adresses

I just finished reading the " The Executive's Guide to Enterprise Social Media Strategy " by David B. Thomas and Mike Barlow. Below I wrote a short summary of this book. I only described the chapters and passages that I found interesting. The book can help managers and people who are interested in social media for both small, big and enterprise companies. The book has a lot of "aha" moments, things you have in your memory, but when they are described in the book, you recognize it and see it slightly different. I summarized the chapters that I think are interesting or give nice examples. Chapter 1: The book (chapter 1) starts with telling that there is no "social media" revolution, but an e-social revolution going on. Social media are just the tools, but all electronic commerce and information is going social. It is a different philosofy. A nice example is given from a big hotel in NYC, where a line of people is waiting to check in the h...