Monthly Archives: February 2018

Venture capitalist Bill Gurley is bullish on bitcoin because he views it as a more secure place to keep money in areas of the world with political and economic dysfunction. "I think of it as an incredible store of value in the rest of the world," said Gurley, in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Alley" on Friday. "I don't think it's irrational." The price of bitcoin is up almost eight-fold this year to $7,877. The total value of the bitcoin currency in circulation is close to $132 billion. Bankers and institutional investors ranging from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon to Allianz's Mohamed El-Erian have questioned the value and utility of cryptocurrencies, with Dimon going so far as to call it a "fraud" that's bound to blow up. Gurley said bitcoin is not a fraud and said Benchmark, his Silicon Valley firm, has a very small position in the currency. Bitcoin is particularly useful in parts of the world where governments often change the value of their currency overnight and where there are few if any trustworthy institutions to keep your cash and savings.

Que les as du marketing, du commerce et de la distribution se réjouissent et se rassurent : « I like shopping ! Millennials et magasins : la fracture est loin d’être consommée », l’Observatoire Cetelem de la consommation 2018 * -l'entité étude de BNP Paribas Personnal Finance- mené dans 17 pays européens**, nous livre deux...

Le système Amazon Key fonctionne ainsi : un livreur donné se rend à l'endroit qui lui est indiqué et signale à Amazon sa présence sur le lieu de livraison. Amazon lui envoie alors une clé unique, lui permettant d'ouvrir la porte de la maison grâce à la serrure connectée. Une fois la porte refermée, en...

Fashion brand Oasis is one of them – and speaking to Marketing Week at an RSA conference on Tuesday (6 February), the business’s head of digital, Helena Theakstone, says while it is currently working to ensure it has a process in place that complies with the new laws, there are challenges that she doesn’t yet...

Right from when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was first floated there were warnings from the marketing industry that it could have a big impact on marketers ability to do their job. And just three months from the regulation coming into force, there is still plenty of debate about the implications and how marketing...

But today’s intense focus on GDPR is potentially overshadowing another, perhaps equally important, debate bubbling up in Brussels. One that could have just as much of an impact on marketers: ePrivacy. The current ePrivacy directive, which came into force in 2012, is responsible for all those annoying banners you get whenever you visit a website for the first time. Typical cookie banners read as follows: “By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our cookie policy. You can change your cookie settings at any time.” However, the rules are now regarded as pretty ineffective, even by the European Commission – as many countries have simply required websites to run cookie banners. As part of the process of revision, three different bodies will publish draft versions of what they would like the updated ePrivacy regulation to look like before trying to reach a compromise. So far, two draft texts have been published: the European Commission’s and the European Parliament’s. National governments in all 28 European countries (including the UK) are currently in discussions to agree what their draft text should say, although this could take another six months. However, the drafts that have currently been published – if unchanged – could have a significant impact on the use of cookies and other tracking technologies that are widely used to target and deliver online advertising.

Americans continue to reward companies that get service right. US consumers say they’re willing to spend 17% more to do business with companies that deliver excellent service, up from 14% in 2014. As a group, Millennials are willing to spend the most for great care (21% additional), followed by men (19%). But there’s another side to that coin, too: poor service is costing companies. More than half of Americans have scrapped a planned purchase or transaction because of bad service, and 33% say they’ll consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service. The stakes remain high for getting service right. Millennials are particularly happy with the service they’re receiving from businesses—84% of respondents say that businesses are “meeting” or “exceeding” their service expectations, significantly more than older Americans (79%). Millennials are also the only generation that tells more friends and family about instances of good service than bad ones, bucking an established trend in how Americans talk about service.