Cobone Vs Groupon: comparative analysis

In the last article we compared, Souq.com & Nahel.com. This one will be dedicated to compare two of the group discount websites- Cobone & Groupon UAE.  

Cobone: is considered as one of the hottest start up in the region.  It has been founded in July 2010, by Paul Kenny, an online media expert who has worked earlier with brands like Emirates, Jumeirah & EMAP etc. Part of Jabbar Internet company , Cobone offers daily deals on best things, to do, eat, see & buy across Middle Eastern cities- Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah etc. Every day it comes up with one exciting deal at discounted price. Individuals need to sign up for the deal by purchasing it. The deal can go live only when enough people have signed up. In case if enough individuals do not sign up, the deal does not go live and the amount gets refunded. According to its website, it has saved more than US $ 44 Million & sold 778,899 deals.

For instance on 11^th April (when the article is written), they have put a deal where by paying 40 AED, sunglasses & frames worth 400 AED could be bought from Maestro Optics. The deal is on, & will go live, only when sufficient number of individuals will buy it.

Groupon: is a global brand, which provides daily deals across the globe. Originated in 2008, it is spread across 48 countries.  Headquartered in Chicago, it got originated from a website called “The Point”. Presently the company is worth more than US $ 6 Billion with more than 3000 employees. In the MENA region, it is active in Dubai, Sharajah & Abu Dhabi. It has entered in the region in 2011, with the name Groupon UAE.

 Table 1: compares Cobone & Groupon UAE, across some general facts. Source: Cobone & Groupon websites

 Table 2: compares Cobon.com & Groupon.ae websites, in terms of traffic. Source: Google Double click ad planner. Data are for March 2012.

Table 3:  Shows the popularity of the two websites Cobone Dubai & Groupon UAE, for various demographic profiles, in comparison to general internet population (for instance: Relative to the general internet population, 25-24 year olds are over-represented at Groupon UAE).  Source: alexa.com

Table 4: compares the Face Book pages of Cobone Dubai & Groupon UAE for the last one month. Source: Allfacebookstats.com

Table 5: shows the distribution of “own updates” for the two Facebook pages in the last one month. Source: AllFacebookstats.com 

Analysis

Groupon is an international brand in daily deals, whereas Cobone is an emerging regional brand. Based on the better understanding of local dynamics as well as early mover advantage Cobone has a stronghold. Groupon still needs to put some extra effort in catching up with its rival from Jabbar group.

Cobone is a truly local player. There contents are available in Arabic. They have multiple payment options. They offer cash on delivery, which is very effective in a region marked by- low credit card penetration & cash & carry culture. Availability of cash on delivery option at the 1st place, eventually helps Cobone convert customers online, in their subsequent deals. 

Cobone’s strength gets well reflected in terms of popularity of its website. Almost across all the parameters, it is twice as popular as Groupon.

One area, where Groupon UAE, seems to have outplayed Cobone Dubai, is Facebook engagement in the last one month. Notwithstanding the lesser number of Facebook members, it has achieved more number of likes & comments. This may be due to more number of photos & videos than Cobone.

No matter what the present situation is; the future is expected to be quite competitive. While Cobone will leverage on its understanding of local markets; advantage Groupon lies in its global presence & deep pockets. It has recently acquired “FeeFighters”- comparison engine which enables small businesses to find the cheapest merchant account provider or credit card processor, and also offers other services like its own Samurai payment gateway. 


According to one of the senior executive from Cobone, products are becoming more & more important besides, experience & service. The company that is able to develop into a broader "discount eCommerce model" with the best deal sourcing will probably win.

Analysis of E-Commerce in MENA , Part 3- Nahel Vs Souq

                                                      

In the last two articles on E-commerce, we analyzed the internet statistics & consumption behavior in MENA region. The subsequent articles including this one will be dedicated to emerging e-commerce websites in the region. In recent past, few successful e-commerce websites- Nahel, Souq, Cobone, Sukar, and Emiratesavenue.com etc - have emerged in the digital media landscape of the region.

The following analysis will compare Souq & Nahel- two of the leading multiple goods online e-commerce sites active in the region. The scope of comparison will be general facts, web & social media analytics.

Souq Vs Nahel

Table 1: compares Nahel & Souq across some general facts. Source: Nahel & Souq websites

                Table 2: compares Nahel & Souq websites. Source: Google Double click ad planner

Table 3:  Shows the popularity of the two websites, for various demographic profiles, in comparison to general internet population.  Source: alexa.com

Table 4: compares Nahel & Souq across basic social media parameters. (Note: the Facebook facts for Souq is only for Souq Uae)

Analysis

·         Souq has a much wider presence than Nahel, which is focused on UAE/Dubai only.

·         The high popularity of Souq could be attributed to- early mover advantage, offices across the region, options for selling as well, broader payment gateway options etc.

·         Nahel as a brand is more focused on working class educated females from UAE. Contrast to this Souq has a broader presence.

 

Jordan: Rising Star of a new Middle East ?

Jordan is a small Arab state, located on the cross roads of the famous holy land. Politically stable & peaceful, has maintained a low profile in a region- marked with Geopolitical Significance as well as Political Turmoil. It does not reflect the extravagance like UAE, nor does it try yield political influence like Qatar- Pygmy known for punching much more than its weight in the region, with the help of cash rich deep pockets & tactically used media apparatus. It’s neither the “Blue Eyed Boy” of the West like Egypt, nor can it exert economic influence like Saudi Arabia. Notwithstanding the low profile Jordan maintains, the Levant state has been upfront in introduction of political, social & economical reforms; coupled with encouragement of an entrepreneurial culture. Slowly but certainly Jordan is getting transformed as a champion of new Middle East. The given “Report” is focused on Jordan & will analyze it with various socio-economic dimensions; its current transformations & the wide future implications it holds for itself & the region.

Economical & Demographical parameters

Fig 1: Jordan’s gdp growth rate vis- a- vis world & mena gdp growth rate.  Source: World Bank

Table 1: shows key economical & demographic parameters for Jordan. Source: World Bank

Jordan: Tourism Statistics

Tourism is one of the key constituent of Jordan’s economy. Jordan has an arsenal of marvelous tourist sites to visit – some of the spellbinding archaeological & historical sites from Babylonian, Greek, Roman & Medieval Era; pristine ecotourism sites & exotic natural landscapes. Biggest attraction being Petra, one of the seven wonders of the world- a city carved out of mountains.    

Fig 2: annual international tourist arrival in millions & tourist receipts in Billions for Jordan, between 2004 & 2010. Source: Nation masters, Jordan Times & UNWTO

A bridgehead between the West & the East, Jordan is also emerging fast as a medical tourism destination. In 2008, 250,000 foreigners from 84 countries have been treated in Jordan. Major arrival comes from Iraq, Palestine, Sudan followed USA, UK & Canada. Jordan’s strength primarily lies in well trained English speaking medical staffs, better health facilities & cost effectiveness. It is estimated to be 25 percent of the cost of comparable treatments in USA, which includes airlines, lodging & sightseeing.

Fig 3: compares number of doctors, nurses, dentists & pharmacists per 10,000 people for- Jordan, Middle East & World. Source: Medical Tourism Magazine   

Jordan: Education System

Unlike its neighbors in the Gulf, Jordan is not blessed with oil reserves. Hence, education & human resource development has been the sole criteria to attain wide scale prosperity, social welfare & higher standard of living. Keeping this in mind, it has put education high up on its agenda. The education system in Jordan aims at providing high standard of learning, based on - universal access, equality & modern information technologies.

Strong steps have also been taken to consolidate Jordan’s excellence in the field of secondary & higher education as well. Some of the key salient features, related to Jordan’s education system are as follows (Source: UNICEF):

·         .Good education facilities have helped Jordan, conclusively transform from an agrarian society to an industrial & urbanized one.

·         Enormous strides have been taken in every level of education- primary, secondary as well as higher. 20.6% of govt. spending goes to education. This had paid off in terms of high, school as well as college enrollments.

·         Jordan has 2000 researchers per million, highest among the 57 OIC (Organization for Islamic Cooperation) countries. The average figure for OIC stands at 500 per million. 

·         In higher education, females outnumber their male counterparts. 42 % of the populations in tertiary age are in tertiary college.

Fig 4: shows R/M (researchers per million) & percentage of female in research for selected countries. Source: UNICEF

Fig 5: shows number of universities against population in millions, for some of the selected Middle East & Mediterranean countries.  

Jordan: Silicon Valley of Middle East?

Jordan is fast emerging as an entrepreneurial hub in the Middle East. Some of the major entrepreneurial success sagas from the region- Maktoob, Jeeran, and Al Bawa etc, all have its origin in Jordan. Touted as “Silicon Valley” of Middle East, Jordan’s emergence as a start-up hub could be attributed to multitudinous factors- vast data & IT infrastructure, skilled & economical work force, open source communities, Govt. initiatives & support, decent internet & high mobile penetration etc. With negligible natural resources in its disposal, an entrepreneurial culture has also some sort of a necessity for Jordan.

Fig 6: country wise number of start- ups registered with yalla start-ups- most comprehensive data base for start-ups in the region.

·         Maktoob:  founded in Jordan in 1998, it was the 1^st Arabic E-mail service provider in the region. Acquired by Yahoo in 2009 at US $ 80 millions, it’s presently the official arm of Yahoo in the Middle East region.

·         Jeeran: an internet service company founded in 2000. Commands 650,000 websites, 120,000 blogs & 6 million monthly visitors.

·         Al- Bawaba: is news & media website focused on Middle East.

·         Edufina: a website dedicated to provide updates on universities in Middle East. The website aims at becoming a one- stop shop for all the university related information in the region.

·          Istikana: launched in March 2011, it is an on demand video site. Within 135 days of its inception, it racked up a million visits. Its core competence lies in provision of some old Arab classic videos.  

·          MarkaVip: is an upcoming e-commerce website focused on luxury products. The start- up has successfully pulled in an investment of US $ 2 millions in recently concluded Oasis 500, (a start-up accelerator based in Jordan), angel investments event. 

Successful start-ups also require successful incubators to provide investment & consultation support. Jordan has been upfront in taking initiatives in this direction. One such attempt is Oasis 500, aimed at bringing start-ups & investors on the same platform. Another is Queen Raina Center for Entrepreneurship (QRCE). Established in 2004, so far has incubated more than 25 technology start-ups in Jordan & benefitted around 25,000 people with- boot camps, workshops & networking activities.  

Other than being a pioneer in digital start-ups, Jordan also has vast potential to morph into an outsourcing hub par excellence. It has a vast pool of English speaking work force salaried 75 % lower than UAE & just little bit higher than India- the global outsourcing giant.

Fig 7: shows Jordan’s outsourcing index Vis a Vis, some of the major outsourcing destinations across the world.  Sourcingline.com

Export

In the recent pass Jordan’s trade sector is growing rapidly. In 2011, its overall export is estimated at US $ 8.067 billion with major export partners- USA, Iraq, India, Saudi Arabia etc. Major area of export includes- clothing, fertilizers, chemicals etc. According to “Economy Watch”, an independent think tank, it has signed highest number of free trade agreements across entire Arab world. It has put in place “free trade zones” in partnership with USA & Israel. Qualified Industrial Zones or QIC, as they are known as are aimed to take advantage of free trade agreements between Israel & USA. Produce from these QICs have direct access to American markets, provided they fulfill certain predefined conditions. In 2010, the total textile export to USA, from these free trade zones, jumped to US $ 1.01 billion from a humble US $ 447 million in 2009.

Challenges & the way ahead

Jordan has come a long way from a country once dependent on foreign aids & tourism, to an emerging centre for technology & trade in the region. But it has its own challenges. One of them is high rates of unemployment among youths. Jordan has a very young demographic. It has made commendable progress in higher education, but is running short of jobs to accommodate its college pass outs. Its problems are very much in line with the problems faced by Eastern Europe in the 90s.  In order to contain economical & social problems, stemming out of high rate of unemployment, it needs to hasten up employment opportunities for youth.  

There are other challenges as well. Its neo liberal policies have so far been counterproductive in bridging up the gap between rich & poor. The manifestations of such policies have clashed with the interests of Trans Jordanian- tribes living in the rural parts of the country & often employed in the public sectors. Its policy frameworks, though a step forward, is still not very impressive. In most of the “Ease of doing business” parameters, it shows a very sub-standard performance.

Fig 7: shows Jordan’s rank in various “ease of doing business parameters” for 2012. Source: doingbusiness.com

Jordan is nation, deprived of natural resources. But this has been a blessing in disguise. With lesser natural wealth at its disposable, its focus has been more on intellectual wealth. So far it has made rapid progress in this direction. But the story is still in its making, a lot more needs to be done. Jordan needs to uplift its intellectual wealth to unprecedented heights to transform into a technology, trade & innovation hub of international repute. It should look beyond the obvious- observe some of the biggest success sagas from the East- Singapore, Hong-Kong, Japan etc. Jordan shares a lot of similarities with them- small population, lesser natural resources, political stability & big dreams. It needs to seek inspiration for them.

 

Comparative Analysis of FaceBook Pages of Dubai & Singapore Tourism

In the present “Social Era”, social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter & Google Plus play pivotal roles in building individual brands. Previously we compared the “Twitter” page of “I Love Dubai” & “YourSingapore”. In this blog post, we will compare their “Facebook” page. Twitter, though an effective marketing tool is still way behind Facebook. Facebook enjoys a user base of 800 million worldwide. It’s the sheer volume of Facebook, which has helped it metamorphosed from a pure play social networking site to one of the biggest digital marketing platform. The tool used will be “AllFacebookStats” & “Simply Measured”& period of analysis will be one month & one week respectively.  

                          Fig 2: shows the count of fans of both the pages.  Source: allfacebookstats

Fig 3: compares the number of fans added for both the pages in the last one month (Selected dates). Source: Allfacebookstats.

Table 1: compares both the pages across various interaction parameters, for last one month. Source: AllFacebook Facts

Fig 4: shows number of weekly own post for the pages, in the last one month (Here Ws means weeks, starting from 3^rd week of Jan; since the analysis covers only one month, 3^rd week of jan & last week of feb are  not  fully covered). Source: Allfacebookstats 

Fig 5: shows average interactions (Likes + Comments) per “own posts” on a weekly basis, for both the pages in one last month. Source: AllFacebook Stats

Fig 6: shows the comments & likes on photos & videos in last one week for “I Love Dubai”. Source: simply measured

Fig 7: shows some of the popular posts of “I love Dubai” in terms of likes. Source: Simply Measured

Conclusion & Suggestion

·         In the last section we did an analysis of twitter accounts of “YourSingapore” & “I Love Dubai”. The former had an insurmountable lead over the later. But in case of Facebook, it went spectacularly off the mark. “I Love Dubai” has outplayed “YourSingapore” across all the parameters- post, links, likes, comments, rate of adding fans etc.  

·         The “I Love Dubai” page suggests- videos are more interactive than photos.

·         YourSingapore has bigger fan base than “I Love Dubai. In spite of this, it’s taking a beating is lack of regular updates coupled with lower degree engagement per updates.

·         YourSingapore needs to ramp up the number of updates. Moreover updates need to be effective in engaging the users. It can take guidance from its Dubai counterpart. Some of most engaging updates as indicated in fig 7 are related to celebrities, cars & world famous buildings. It calls on “YourSingapore” to do something on similar lines to ramp up, its likes & comments.    

Comparative Analysis: Twitter Pages of Singapore & Dubai Tourism

Singapore and Dubai are two of the “top 10” tourist designations, across the globej. Singapore was 4^th most visited city in the world while Dubai was 7^th, in 2010. (enjoyourholidya.com, 2011)  With such a statistics, stating that they are not tourism hubs par excellence will be an understatement. Dubai is world famous for “an arsenal of spellbinding real estate constructions”; while Singapore’s strength lies in its, cosmopolitan culture and status as a world class business hub.

Notwithstanding the geographical and cultural imparity, they share lot of similarities across various cultural, social & economical parameters. One of them is- they have visionary leaderships which emphasize on robust marketing of their respective states. Both Singapore & Dubai are among the most well marketed destinations, across the globe. 

   

 Twitter: an effective destination marketing tool

The advertisement & brand building across various industry verticals is being transformed, with digital / social media encroaching vigorously onto the space, so far dominated by traditional media. (Print, Outdoors, TV, Radio etc). The tourism industry has also not escaped from this new digital revolution lead by Social Media. These days Social Media plays a crucial role in various areas related to tourism, one of them being branding in the form of- showcase information, handle queries, contain negative perception etc. All the Social Medias, Facebook, Blogs, You Tube, Twitter etc play a pivotal role towards constructing the Brand Identity of a tourist destination.

One such platform is Twitter. As much 2011, it has 200 million users, with 100 million active & 50 million daily users (jeffbullas.com, 2011). It is this sheer number of users that makes this micro-blogging site a great digital marketing platform for tourist destinations. The following blog post will do a comparative analysis of Twitter account of two of the leading tourist destination- I Love Dubai (Dubai) & YourSingapore (Singapore). The tool used will be Tweet Stats & Klout.

Twitter statistics analysis

Fig 2: shows no. of Tweets for I love Dubai & YourSingapore over the period of last 19 months. Source: Tweet Stats

 Table 1: Compares the two pages across various twitter engagement parameters. Source: Tweet Stats

                 Fig 2: shows the aggregate daily tweets for both the pages. Source: tweet stats

                   Fig 3: shows the aggregate hourly tweets for both the pages. Source: Tweet Stats

Klout Score: measure of twitter account influence

Every social media channel has its influence. The social media platforms exercise its influence by motivating target audience to Retweet, Share, Like, Comment etc. The more the target audience engages in such activities, the more is the likelihood of influence. Klout is an analytical tool that helps, estimating the degree of influence for various social media platforms. It will be used in the given analysis, to compare the influence of the both the Twitter pages.

Table 2: compares the Klout scores, no. of people & topic influenced; for both the pages. Klout Score: measures the ability to drive action with the help of retweet and replies.

  Analysis

·         Over all “YourSingapore” has a much better “Twitter Presence”, marked by a very high number of tweets in comparison with “I Love Dubai”.

·         “YourSingapore” also receives a much higher engagement from the audience. This is reflected with the high percentages of Retweet & Responses.  

·         Notwithstanding, the zoom in mid 2010; the number of tweets has gradually dwindled henceforth for “YourSingapore”.

·         In the past few months, both the pages have similar “Twitter Presence”. In fact it’s slightly favored towards the “I Love Dubai” page.

·         When it comes to the “Klout Parameters”, there is high parity across the two pages.

Reference

1>     Enjoyourholiday.com, 2011, available at <http://www.enjoyourholiday.com/2011/04/18/top-10-most-visited-cities-in-the-world / >

2>     Jeffbullas.com, 2011, 11 new Twitter facts, available at http://goo.gl/FEsAo >

Analysis of E-Commerce in Middle East and North Africa - Part 2

The last article dealt with the fundamentals of e-commerce activities in the Middle East and North Africa Region (MENA). The given article is next in the series, which will primarily deal with the degree of e-commerce activities across various demographic profiles in the MENA region. The segments, where the average percentage of e-commerce activities is more than 5, will be considered as key segment.      

Table 1: shows the percentage of online purchase among the population (includes internet users as well as non users) for the region as well as individual economies across various age groups. Source: Insights MENA

Table 2: shows the percentage of online purchase among the MEN population (includes internet users as well as non users) for the region as well as individual economies, across various age groups. Source: Insights MENA

Table 3: shows the percentage of online purchase among the Women population (includes internet users as well as non users) for the region as well as individual economies, across various age groups. Source: Insights MENA

Key  Insights

Most of the key market segments are concentrated in UAE & Saudi Arabia. It is somehow even higher in UAE, which not only benefits from high, per capita GDP & internet penetration but also cosmopolitan culture. (UAE houses people from 206 nationalities) Some of the key points pertaining to the e-commerce behavior for various demographic segments in the MENA region, are as follows-

·         Key market segments (irrespective of gender): UAE (all the age group), Saudi Arabia (25-34, 35-44)

·         Key market segments (men): UAE (all the age group), Saudi Arabia (25-34, 35-44), Jordan (25-34)

·         Key market segments (women): UAE (15-24, 25-34, 35-44), Saudi Arabia (25-34)

·         Jordan’s women segment’s spectacularly off the mark performance: Jordan is one of the Middle Eastern countries, which has run a decent show, when it comes to digital media. It’s “MEN” segment has been quite active in terms of e-commerce activities. But the same does not hold true for “WOMEN” segment. The “WOMEN” segment’s performance has been spectacularly off the mark with almost zero e-commerce activities across all the age group.

·         Morocco (15-24) & Saudi Arabia (25-34) women segment outperforms their male counterparts:  In the MENA region, where the women still needs some time to catch up with their male counterparts, it is very unlikely that they can outperform them in terms of e-commerce activities. Yet, there are couples of section where the “WOMEN” have outperformed their “MEN” counterparts- Morocco (15-24) and Saudi Arabia (25-34), where in terms of % of average e-commerce activities; they have outperformed their male counterparts. This diversion from the general trend is indicative of slow but certain change in the gender dynamics in the region.  

·         Abysmally low e-commerce penetration in the 45+ segment: All across the MENA, excluding UAE, the 45 + segments appears to be dysfunctional in terms of e-commerce activities.