According to Dayo Olopade who leads YouTube’s content partnerships on the continent, the Creator’s Conference was to give content creators the opportunity to learn, in a face-to-face situation, about how YouTube works and its future plans for the channel in Africa. 

At the end of 2019, HaveYouHeard curated and facilitated YouTube’s first-in-Africa creator’s conference AMPD Studios in Johannesburg. Aimed at South Africa’s biggest online stars – such as Loyiso Gola, Robert Murawa, J’Something and Kwesta – as well as aspiring Youtubers from around the country, the pop-up was the first time the world’s leading video platform has hosted a fully immersive creator’s conference on the continent.

‘YouTube is a largely unexplored opportunity in Africa for creators and brands,’ said Olopade. ‘But that is changing very quickly. For example, in South Africa two years ago, there were only 30 channels with 100 000 plus subscribers; today there’s 72. This will grow as people find the platform, find the tools to make their content successful and then grow their audience.’

Fueling this growth, she said, is an incredible, very human demand for information; and YouTube is a critical outlet for this information. One of the key sessions was called ‘Ask me Anything’, a robust and open discussion with the YouTube heads in the studio.

‘YouTube’s mission is to give everyone a voice, and we feel there is a particular urgency and relevance to that voice in Africa where, for too long, people have not been able to be at the centre of something. YouTube gives people the opportunity to tell their story, and I think it really important that YouTube empowers these people to do so,’ she said.

Chris Park-Kennedy who is YouTube’s Partner Technology Manager and works with media companies to help them with their effort to integrate with YouTube, added that the main challenge facing the channel in South Africa is the cost of data.

’84% of people in South Africa access YouTube, but at an incredibly high cost because of the cost of data. We’re trying to reduce that cost by, for example, partnering with telcos to offer bundles giving access to YouTube. What is incredibly exciting, however, is the relative newness of the channel. There’s a tremendous enthusiasm from brands and content creators to engage with it and, in the case of the content creators, to monetise the content they create. This two-day pop-up went, I believe, a long way to explaining how both brands and content creators can achieve their objectives,’ said Park-Kennedy. 

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HAVEYOUHEARD
+27112681331
 haveyouheard.co.za

Derek Cikes, Commercial Director at payment fintech Payflex, says South Africans have become obsessed with promotions, with 30% of the total volume of FMCG products in South Africa in 2018 sold at a discounted price, up from 27% in 2017.

A recent Nielsen survey shows that South Africans are the third most discount obsessed shoppers in the world. The tougher economy and its strain on consumers has resulted in cutting back on their discretionary spending, impacting on the volume of grocery baskets.

Add to this South Africa’s current credit crisis with 56% of borrowers (both unsecured and other credit) in default, as detailed in the Differential Capital report, and you have the perfect storm for consumers taking full advantage of discounted shopping opportunities such as Black Friday.

Weak economic growth in South Africa has forced consumers to become more cost-conscious across all purchase categories. This heightened attention to price has turned South Africans to search harder and longer for bargains, which in turn fuels the increased demand for discounted deals.

How price sensitivity is driving South Africa’s online retail environment:

1. Transition to online and mobile purchasing

As the millennial internet-savvy generation matures into the dominant segment of the consumer market, so the demand for online sales grows, with the convenience of the online space used as a platform for comparative shopping where discounted pricing plays a pivotal role. Additionally, growth in online sales is further enhanced by the much-improved logistics and customer experience of the pure-play online retailers, such as Superbalist and Takealot.  

2. Drivers of increased online spend (through Payflex)

A large selection of online stores contributes to increased online shopping and engagement. Payflex now has nearly 100 merchants who offer goods across most spend categories, including segment leaders like Superbalist (fashion), ePetstore (pets) and Raru (gadgets and games). Fashion is the key attraction, followed closely by gadgets and tech. 

3. Shopping activity

Discounted products impact on the length of online retail engagement as seen in the Black Friday spend of last year, which was more spread out than in previous years in response to retailers starting the discounts early in the week before Black Friday, resulting in shopper demand being spread across a few days during the Black Friday week. 

4. Discount motivated shopping: SA vs. US   

As the ultimate period of discounted shopping, Black Friday offers an interesting case study. The US online market is huge and showed online sale penetration of 16% in 2019, up from the initial 1% in 2000. The average online order value on Black Friday in the US rose 5.9% from 2018, setting a new record for Black Friday at R2433 ($168).    

This market is a lot more mature than SA, where online retail was 1.4% of total retail in 2018. Interestingly, the Payflex merchants reported a similar trend, with South Africa lagging a bit behind, indicating price sensitivity and the potential growth to come.

5. Increase in online retail activity 

Online shopping increased, especially during the key discounted period of Black Friday. One of the reasons is that of convenience, rather than fighting it out at the malls with the crowds. Online shopping also offers an expansive choice at the click of the button, with the customer having more control in managing their experience with the added facility to easily return goods as well as the various payment options, making a compelling argument for shopping online. 

The South African Black Friday phenomenon of discounted pricing has only been around for 8 years, compared to the US version which started in the mid-1950s. However, despite its nascent state, Black Friday has grown exponentially in South Africa year-on- year from R2.9bn in card transactions on Black Friday 2018 to R6bn in 2019, increasing 106%, according to Bankserv, which records only a portion* of the entire sales figures.

Price sensitivity continues to underscore shopping activity in South Africa as shoppers increasingly take advantage of discounts as evidenced during the Black Friday discount period – an established retail day that will only continue to grow, particularly in the online arena as the South African ecommerce trend matures.

* BankservAfrica does not process interbank card transactions for all of the banks which means that our data shows part of a fuller picture. It is important to note that we do not see any ‘on-us’ transactions which are transactions that take place between accounts from the same bank.

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PAYFLEX
+27104440004
support@payflex.co.za
payflex.co.za

Martech firm Social Places released its first Annual Online Review Survey results, which show that South African consumers are well up to speed with their international counterparts regarding online reviews and local messaging.

The new report underscores how increasingly important it is for local businesses to engage effectively with the rapidly-growing number of consumers who leave online reviews on multiple social media platforms.

The inaugural report garnered 3338 respondents from the most economically representative parts of South Africa between 1 November 2019 and 10 January 2020. The new local benchmark will be issued annually. 

Social Places director, Ashleigh Wainstein said, ‘International surveys about online reviews have existed for some time, but we wanted to get confirmation on how things were progressing locally. The findings show that online reviews are growing exponentially but, more importantly, that consumers expect a more personal interaction from brands online. It is critical, therefore, that they refine their strategies and respond appropriately to online reviews which can seriously influence their business.’

Some of the top-level findings from the survey are:

• Local is relevant – 75% of people prefer to interact online with local businesses rather than brand head offices. Big brands have discovered that local messaging is key to engaging with consumers whose needs and expectations can vary between branches even in the same suburb.
• 87% of people trust online reviews as much as personal or word-of-mouth recommendations. 
• Online reviews carry clout – 82% of respondents said positive reviews make them more likely to engage with a local business while 30% indicated that negative reviews would steer them away from using that company.
• The more stars and reviews, the better – more than 90% of people simply won’t consider engaging with a business if the star rating is under 3 stars, while 49% of consumers won’t consider a business with less than 4 stars. 40% of people said they require at least ten reviews before they trust a star rating.
• Reviews mean business – about 46% of people will leave a review if asked to by a business. 74% of negative reviewers expect a response within 24 hours – and 21% of those within four hours, so companies have to be aware of and prepared for this – people want to know they’ve been heard. Responses don’t have to be as prompt if the review is positive, but 64% still said they would expect a response to their positive review within a 24 hour period.
• Online trumps telephonic reservations and bookings – 78% of respondents indicated that they prefer to make online reservations.

Read the full survey here.

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SOCIAL PLACES
+27215513170
letschat@socialplaces.co.za
www.socialplaces.co.za

According to Mzukisi Deliwe, Deputy CEO of Provantage Media Group, it is an exciting time for Africa, which is seen as one of the fastest-growing economic regions in the world and holds numerous opportunities for brands. There is no doubt that airport passenger numbers are increasing annually, bringing bigger revenue and foot traffic to destinations worldwide. This will spur massive growth in Out-of-Home (OOH) and Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) in the airport environment.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) projects Africa to be the fastest-growing region to 2036 at 5.9% per annum, for a total market of 400 million passengers annually. But what are the biggest trends that will affect OOH advertising within the airport environment on the African continent?

Increase in passenger numbers a plus for advertisers

The first major trend that will directly affect advertising and ROI is increase in passenger numbers and frequency of travel. While South Africa’s GDP – a key driver of traffic volume growth – has languished around 1% per annum, Airports Company South Africa’s Annual Report for 2019 shows that there has been a growth of 1.3% in departure numbers, up to 21 118 264 (FY2017/18: 20 836 852). International arrivals have increased by 0,8%. Also, Cape Town International Airport grew its international traffic by 7.7% and 1.8% domestically. This means that more people are passing through South Africa’s airports, providing brands with a bigger audience to influence. 

Expansion in airport infrastructure will boost passenger numbers and opportunities to engage

Worldwide, the areas around airports are becoming designated aerotropolises and airports on the continent are set to follow suit. The trend is for airports to scale towards better air travel and a better experience for travellers. Furthermore, advertising has become integral to airport revenue and as such media installations and products are strategically located to enhance, rather than detract from, the experience. 

For airports, this ensures that brands keep using the environment to meet their marketing and sales objectives. For passengers, brand experiences enhance the luxury aspect of travel and affiliation with that brand culture. For advertisers, it ensures that millions of consumers within a specific income bracket engage with their messaging in an environment that is captive and conducive to assimilation and purchase influence. It’s a win-win situation for all stakeholders.

DOOH in the airport environment elevates campaigns

Over the past few years, digital has been a significant game-changer in OOH. It has unlocked a plethora of opportunities for OOH to be more engaging and effective, adding to its value and importance within the marketing mix. Is it a growth sector in the airports’ environment? Most definitely. 

Airport Ads has made a significant investment in various international airports – including OR Tambo, King Shaka, Cape Town, Lanseria, Sharjah (UAE) and Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia) – in the development of DOOH solutions and experiences that integrate innovative ideas and executions. The aim is to elevate campaigns and passenger engagement to a whole new level. 

From the perspective of digital, data and technologies, this will expand the opportunities to connect. Strong social media connections via smart devices, geo-location, and other methods of instantly involving consumers within a brand campaign will drastically change DOOH. 

Intelligent campaigns engage all the senses

The airport environment offers the opportunity for brands to be bold in their campaign execution. Large format static creative is able to capture passengers from all sides. Combining moving graphics, 3D installations, as well as sound and smell, completely draws in consumers. Intelligent campaigns create a striking sensory impact, forging an immediate connection with brand messaging.

Intelligent, compelling creative has the ability to create strong relationships with consumers and start conversations that ultimately influence commerce. Brands that are open to and willing to be bold and different will make a big impact in 2020.

OOH advertising within the airport environment is undergoing huge change. It is an exciting time for innovation and opens up infinite opportunities for brands to talk to consumers. 

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PROVANTAGE MEDIA GROUP
+27861776826  
enquiries@provantage.co.za
www.provantage.co.za

You can now keep up to date with industry trends via the newly launched Modern Marketing News weekly top stories newsletter on WhatsApp. Start receiving the top five stories on WhatsApp in two easy steps with this free service.

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Nick Durrant, CEO at Bluegrass Digital, states that mobile apps are reshaping all industries and business leaders need to quickly adopt the latest mobile app trends in order to succeed in 2020. It is also critical for businesses to integrate the latest mobile app development technologies to reach a wider target audience and more importantly, to gain growth.

Mobile app development innovations will impact all online digital business products globally. But merely implementing the right strategy will not necessarily ensure a higher success rate because the mobile app industry is changing rapidly. So, to keep abreast with the ever-increasing customer demands, it is crucial for businesses to incorporate the latest mobile app trends.

According to Gartner, by 2023 more than 25% of the mobile apps, progressive web apps and conversational apps at large enterprises will be built or run through a multi-experience development platform. New technologies are gaining popularity, making it more efficient to build and maintain apps such as the growing popularity of Facebook’s React Native and Google’s Flutter.

Some key mobile app development trends to consider:

Artificial intelligence (AI)

AI has seen a significant breakthrough in new technology in mobile application development. AI has not only made the mobile apps smarter, but it saves the mobile app development company a huge amount of time, effort and money. According to International Data Corporation (IDC), the AI market will experience revenue growth of more than $47 billion by 2020.

Internet of Things (IoT)

By the end of 2019, global Internet of Things (IoT) sales were expected to reach $1.71 trillion, and by 2020, the total number of IoT devices should reach 20 billion. This convenience has already become a mobile app requirement, developers need to make apps IoT friendly.

Augmented Reality (AR)

In 2020, AR integration will be an essential step for the mobile app development industry. Google and Apple used AR platforms for adding AR capabilities to their apps. There are many apps like Ikea that are already using the technology to enhance the user experience. Snapchat and Instagram have already been using AR for some time already – the stickers and animations are only possible through the AR technology.

Blockchain technology

Blockchain technology is already being used by many payment apps for providing trustable and uncompromised safety during transactions. Blockchain has surprisingly entered the mobile payment market and is offering a more secured money transaction option for mobile users. Online banking and ecommerce has evolved enormously, but with the advent of Apple Pay and Google Wallet, customers are gradually shifting to m-commerce.

Application Performance Management (APM)

APM helps boost the overall app performance and has become a preferred tool of quality assurance testers for the app testing process.

Enterprise Mobile Management (EMM)

EMM helps streamline the mobile computing business processes, it’s a platform that enables businesses to securely authorise mobile devices that are being used by employees on the company network. It not only strengthens the security structure but also helps staff to be more productive by enabling the exchange of applications and data over mobile devices.

Beacon technology

Beacon technology is one of the biggest mobile app trends, it is being embraced by many industries for its location technology and proximity marketing functionality. Beacons are wireless transmitters that make use of Bluetooth technology to send signals.

5G technology

With speeds nearly 100 times faster than 4G, 5G technology will most likely be one of the top trends in mobile app development in 2020. Mobile companies like Samsung and Verizon are already launching their dedicated 5G-capable chips and LG is also planning to fuse 5G services into its devices. With such an array of 5G services, mobile app developers need to design apps to take advantage of faster network speeds with enhanced performance.

Wearable devices

Wearable devices such as smartwatches, fitness bands and trackers have been around for some time already. They are changing the way people interact with smart devices. In a report by Statista, it claims staggering revenue of $33 billion generated by wearable devices by 2019. Surprisingly, many apps still don’t integrate with wearable devices.

Mobile app developers must keep an option to integrate apps with wearable devices. They require a set platform to run e.g. Apple Watch requires WatchOS and Android smartwatches sync with WearOS. Wearable devices will also be less dependent on the smartphone – currently it still needs to be kept close to the smartphone to function.

Chatbots

With nearly 5 million apps available, there are very few that have incorporated chatbots to facilitate a better user experience. Businesses need to integrated this trend in their apps to ensure future growth as chatbots are crucial and welcomed by the users. Mobile apps that offer online shopping and food delivery services are integrating chatbots to help consumers get common queries answered without having to contact customer support.

According to Gartner, chatbots will be saving $8 billion for companies between 2018 and 2020. Apple’s Siri and Google Assistant are already much smarter and have many new features that help simplify people’s lives by assisting them in their day to day tasks.

Cloud technologies

To make the app function seamless across multiple platforms, businesses need to ensure that their apps integrate cloud technology in their app development strategy. Cloud technology will also ensure streamlined operations, reduced hosting and equipment costs and enhanced storage capacity.

Cloud computing integration also helps mobile apps store large amounts of data more efficiently to carry out complex tasks. Cloud storage platforms like AWS, Dropbox and SlideRocket have made it possible to run an app directly in the cloud, they help in increasing the reliability, speed, processing power and security of the apps and enable apps to deal with a large amounts of data.

Payment gateways

Businesses need to integrate these into their apps. Mobile giants like Samsung are working on enhanced scan and pay techniques to make mobile payments more convenient. Apple is also working on a peer-to-peer money payment system called Apple Pay.

Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP)

Developed by Google in collaboration with Twitter, AMP is a lean version of HTML to accelerate the speed of mobile pages. AMP enables mobile app developers to create complex websites with fast loading speeds and high performance across all mobile devices.

Google has integrated AMP listings into its mobile search results, which has helped developers reduce web page loading time. With a good AMP score, businesses can now achieve a better conversion rate, reduce the bounce rate and increase user retention. It will also boost the user experience. Google will also soon be providing a mobile search box that will help users find mobile-friendly websites.

Cybersecurity

Cybersecurity is a key aspect of all mobile app developments and will continue to dominate this space. Business leaders should explore deception technologies to catch the staff that have defiled the company’s network. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) has also increased the risk of mobile apps being attacked. It means mobile app developers need to work on the app security from the beginning and use a different approach.

Also, with more apps including a payment or money transaction feature, it means a more robust security infrastructure. Developers now need to embed code encryptions, secure backend and API, and also include trusted payment gateways to ensure user safety over the app.

Predictive analytics

Predictive analytics can be used to make future predictions by analysing existing data. It uses techniques from data mining, machine learning, AI, statistics and modelling. Tech giants like Google, Apple and Facebook have already enhanced the customer experience by integrating AI to use predictive analytics.

The mobile app industry will continue to expand at a rapid pace and the competition will grow exponentially, especially amongst mobile app developers. It is therefore critical to understand the trends before developing a new app. One also needs to understand the benefits and limitations of every new technology in mobile app development.

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BLUEGRASS DIGITAL
hello@bluegrassdigital.com
bluegrassdigital.com