“Our reasearch shows that the total Muslim Population
is 1.82 billion in year 2009.” – islamicpopulation.com
Overview:
Muslim population has the fastest annual growth rate of 2.9%. This specific target market will comprise 30% of the world population by 2025.
Global halal food market is worth USD 580 billion (AED 2.1 trillion) annually.
Total Islamic finance assets are currently worth USD 500-750 billion and is expected to reach USD 1 trillion by 2010.
The global market for female Islamic clothing is estimated at USD 250 million.
Internet access in the Middle East and North Africa has expanded rapidly since 2003, reaching 85.5 million users in 2008.
Digital Production Middle East
Middle East adds 500,000 internet users a month
The number of internet users in the Middle East has grown by almost 3 million in the past six months, according to the latest figures from the Internet World Stats marketing research group.
By the end of June, the region was estimated to have 48 million internet users compared to 45.1 million at the turn of the year.
Internet penetration rose to 23.7% compared to the global average of 24.7%.
The U.A.E. has the highest national internet penetration at 59.6% with Qatar second on 52.3%.
Of the 48 million users in the region, 23 million of them are based in Iran which has three times the number of residents accessing the internet than the next largest market in Saudi Arabia (7.2 million users).
The National
Young, brand-savvy and online
About 30% of the Middle East population are between the ages of 15 and 19, according to the World Bank – the largest proportion in the region’s history. In Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, the under-30 figure is more than 50 per cent.
With those sorts of demographics, it is clear why young Arab consumers are becoming an increasingly important segment to marketing executives. But do companies really understand today’s teenagers and what they want? Not really, says Hermann Behrens, the Middle East chief executive of the global branding consultancy, The Brand Union.
“I think that generally there’s a need to completely drop all the paradigms and to rethink the youth market and how we tackle it,” he says. “You need to completely reinvestigate and get much closer to your consumers to develop the insight that you need.”
And that means going online. Young people across the globe are increasingly turning away from traditional forms of media – such as print and television – in favour of the internet.
ITP
Experiment shows cultural differences online
“Tourism sites will see the uplift in conversions by creating sites specifically designed towards individual cultures’ preferences. By not optimising for and catering to international users of the internet, official destination sites are not only losing valuable traffic to their sites, they are also inadvertently sending those searchers to other sites which may not offer valuable, impartial advice.”
Forbes Insights / Google (eMarketer)
Executives go online for business intelligence
According to the “Rise of the Digital C-Suite” study from Forbes Insights and Google, the internet has become the most valuable information resource for US executives.
The most important information executives searched for online was competitor analysis (53%), followed by customer trends (41%), corporate developments (39%), technology trends (38%) and compliance and legal issues (26%). Surprisingly, 53% of executives preferred to gather information themselves rather than delegate research tasks to employees.
Download the study (Registration required)
The National
Students in developing economies lead the way in use of social media
Top students in emerging economies have overtaken those in more-established markets when it comes to adopting some of the newest technologies, according to the first global Digital Generation survey.
The study, conducted by Career Innovation in partnership with the global student-run organisation AIESEC, found that weblogging is much more common in Asia than elsewhere, with 73 per cent of Asian students, excluding India, writing their own weblogs. It also found that students in the US, western Europe and Australia were much lower users of technologies such as podcasts and mobile e-mail than their peers in less-developed markets.
“In the Europe and US, you can have many opportunities to connect to people, such as travelling,” said Youssef Zafri, the president of AIESEC’s Morocco chapter. “We don’t have many opportunities like that. That’s one of the reasons that people are using the internet and other technologies as an easy tool to get what they want.”
eMarketer
Generation X marks a sweet spot
Generation Xers — Americans between the ages of 32 and 43 — are plugged in and glued to their PCs. They can be a dream target for digital marketers, as long as those marketers understand Gen Xers’ quirks.
According to a December 2008 study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 88% of these 83.4 million people use the Internet. In August 2008, Forrester Research reported that Gen Xers spent at least 8 hours of personal time online per week.
They are both cost-conscious and interested in niche products sold in a “real” and straightforward way, making online comparison shopping a popular pastime. The BlogHer and Compass Partners “2008 Social Media Study” found that 74% of Gen X female Internet users buy products online, while 80% use the Internet to research products and services.
But, researchers say, this demographic is skeptical of traditional advertising.
How can online marketers be heard?
“For Gen X, the Internet is a resource,” said Lisa E. Phillips, senior analyst at eMarketer, who focuses on demographics. “Effective marketing is marketing that helps them research. It’s relevant and has a value proposition up front.“
eMarketer / Ruder Finn
Why people go online
According to Ruder Finn, 100% of U.S. internet users surveyed in Q2 2009 went online to pass the time. Other popular reasons were education, connecting with others, researching and sharing. The least common intentions when logging on were to make purchases, manage finances, comparison shop and join causes.
“Intent is the new demographic,” said Kathy Bloomgarden, Ruder Finn co-CEO. “Delving deeper into the underlying motivations of online behavior is critical to developing proactive strategies.”
Overall, Ruder Finn divided online activities into seven categories, listed from most common to least:
01. Learn
02. Have fun
03. Socialize
04. Express oneself
05. Advocate
06. Do business
07. Shop
Men were more likely than women to go online for business, entertainment and to keep informed on news and current events.
Women, in turn, were more likely to use the Internet to advocate for a cause or issue, express themselves and socialize.
More than two-thirds (69%) of young adults ages 18 to 29 posted comments on social networking sites, 55% played games and 50% went online “specifically to rage against a person or organization. Seniors were nearly twice as likely as young people to manage their finances, and 65% of seniors went online to be part of a community“
Allied Media
SocialVibe