Chris Averill, managing director of we are:london will be presenting as a keynote speaker at the Vignette Middle East Web Convention in Dubai on Monday 27 April.
Chris will be presenting the latest findings from their Middle East research consortium study, that will present the latest view of the Internet landscape
Social networking and it’s potential impact on Middle Eastern culture and business will also be covered as Chris demystifies what the West think they know and what Arabic and Muslim cultures actually want.
Further details can be found at Vignette’s website
arabic research, customer insight
future, Internet, Twitter
$236m spent on retail online trading in 2008
Oman’s internet users spent $236 million (Dh866 million) in 2008 on retail e-commerce, according to a latest report by Arab Advisors Group.
About 40.2 per cent of adult internet users in Oman have used e-commerce.
The report estimates the number of those using e-commerce to be more than 158,000 - which is around 5.62 per cent - of the population in Oman.
The new survey was conducted by the Arab Advisors Group in January. It covered internet usage in areas of e-commerce, cellular and Pay TV as well as habits of the online community in Oman.
About 20.7 per cent of the total 696 respondents use special software packages like Skype and GoogleTalk to make calls through the internet, the report shows.
(source - Gulfnews.com)
arabic research, customer insight, e-commerce
e-commerce
CADinteractive has just completed a detailed research study into the online behavior of internet users across the Gulf and Levant regions.
The research involved Arabic and English users through surveys and telephone interviews, with over 1,200 respondents in total.
What drives the Middle East?
A wide range of trends were revealed and insights discovered with both local and expatriate web users. Of particular interest were the cultural sensitivities displayed for and against censorship. Whilst the uptake of key online services, that we in the West take for granted, is very low; often due to availability or lack of these services.
Whilst iTunes is the Standard in the West, it’s lack of presence and difficulty of licensing rights for music has left the Middle East without any alternatives, therefore online music usage is low; not for a lack of want.
Social networking also came in for a rough ride, with a strong cultural emphasis on such services being seen as time wasting. Although a great deal of comment was made on how these services could gainer more use through better understanding of the culture.
All in, we here at CAD have been impressed with what we have learnt and are eager to apply it to the future work of our clients in the Middle East.
To find out more about our global research services please contact Laura Farrant.
arabic research, internet research, market research
