| Online Ads Gain Popularity as Internet Users Double in Georgia |
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31/08/2009 13:08 (894 Day 21:50 minutes ago) | |||||
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The FINANCIAL -- The rapid growth of internet users and flexible tariffs on cyber ads are attracting more and more advertisers. According to Georgian National Communication Commission the number of internet users in the country in July 2009 was 1,370,000, while in July 2008 it was just 627,000.
Though internet advertising and e-commerce is not yet of significant proportions, local experts predict that rapid development will change these markets soon.
According to The FINANCIAL’s study more than 70% of teenagers in Georgia’s capital have daily access to the internet. 80% of middle and top level managers said they get access to news online. Social networks facebook.com, Odnoklasniki.ru, youtube.com and free communication service skype are still dominating in the popularity stakes.
“Very soon TV will move to second place,” says Levan Kasradze, Marketing Manager of JSC Iberia Refreshments. “The internet is the best way to make money,” David Zgudadze, Head of the E-Commerce Division of Cartu Bank believes.
The perspectives of 3W raise serious challenges for website makers.
“In Georgia, we do not have a wide range of qualified web pages for launching ads. For serious companies it is important to advertise products on web pages which will not harm their image. There are many so called pirate sites that are very popular among customers but which are no place for a bank’s or other large company’s ads,” Zgudadze says.
Still, Zgudadze says if an advertiser can find his target audience, even on a pirate website, then he can launch a commercial. As online piracy is not forbidden by Georgian law, Zgudadze explains. “It is not the place of banks or any other organizations to fight against pirate sites. It should be regulated by Georgian law,” he says.
“Presently most banks, including Cartu Bank, are advertising their products on informational sites. Such sites are very popular among customers. Recently we have offered two types of new plastic cards. Cartu Bank advertised them on sites of interpressnews, presa.ge and internet.ge,” Zgudadze says.
He notes that after the beginning of the global recession most of the companies started reducing expenses. Meanwhile online ads are cheaper than advertising on TV or even Radio and the effect is almost the same. The number of internet users is rising daily. The market of online ads has started improving. “Banner groups have appeared on different sites offering online advertisements.”
Recently GEO + company started offering online ads on odnoklasniki. According to the website’s information 1 million appearances costs USD 450. Despite anti-odnoklasniki.ru propaganda used by Georgian competitors ads of Sena auto, Airzena and some other Georgian companies appear on the website constantly.
MyCareer.ge local online social network focused on business community had offered online advertising to its customers. Company says advertisers are reaching more than 1600 C and A category users thought MyCareer.ge network. “Our clients are banks, hotels, business schools, those who want to target their market audience. We restrict anonymous registration. Our network members are real people working for different companies. So our clients know exactly who will see their ads on MyCaree.ge”, says lali Javakhia, marketing specialist.
Beside of selling online ad space, MyCareer.ge offers distribution of press-releases, text ads on new offerings, products or vacancy. Such ads are delivered directly to the private page of each user. “Advertisers can choose the audience by category. You don’t need to scatter your commercial ads like spam. High spending audience is the main advantage of MyCareer”, says Javakhia.
Company is planning to introduce new features for local and international recruiters in September. New services will be available for premium account holders only. “This paid service is essential for HR managers. All leading companies looking for experienced senior category managers or regular workers use our network. Soon we will offer them additional features that will help to save time and get optimal results”.
HSBC Bank Georgia offers Commercial Banking Services to businesses in the country and to investors wishing to invest in Georgia.
“Online advertising as all other types of advertising should be planned to guarantee an accurate reach and relevance of message to the target audience. When considering our target audience we prefer news and B2B websites for online campaigns,” notes Maka Gvritishvili, Marketing, Communications and Corporate Sustainability Manager of HSBC Bank Georgia.
As we offer commercial banking services the target audience of HSBC Bank is the business community.
Gvritishvili cannot name the concrete audience numbers they require from web publishers while launching ads. She says that it depends on the campaign and target audience.
“The volume of traffic does not always guarantee the success of the campaign but accurate targeting and relevance of the visitors does,” Gvritishvili mentions.
Gvritishvili underlines the different ways in which online advertising is purchased in developed countries: like CPM (Cost per Mille), CPC (Cost per Click), CPA (Cost per Action) etc.
She says that the Georgian market is not that sophisticated yet in this regard, “But hopefully it will develop quickly as online users are growing year by year and online advertising is becoming more and more interesting and cost effective for companies”.
Presently HSBC Bank Georgia is advertising their services on the AmCham website.
“This website was chosen considering its visitor profile and target audience,” Gvritishvili notes.
When considering a target audience KOR Standard Bank prefers news websites and social networks. As for demographics and status, the Bank considers all types of audiences, except for teens.
Gvantsa Gusharashvili, PR and Media Specialist of KOR Standard Bank says that the Bank was advertising their commercial service on Georgian websites: Sarke.com, Rustavi2.com, Ipn.ge and GHN.ge. However at the moment the Bank is not advertising their services on any websites.
“Incidentally President of the USA Barack Obama, won his elections with the help of the internet,” declares Kasradze, JSC Iberia Refreshments.
“He focused on online customers and involved youngsters. Usually the people most interested in politics are over 45. However by assimilating the younger generations Obama gained a big percentage of voters. They had lots of promo activities and commercials that were spread via internet only,” Kasradze says.
As Kasradze notes, at the moment Pepsi has interrupted some of its commercial activity, but to realize the advantages of being online the company will focus on it more in the future.
The E-Commerce Department of Cartu Bank introduced the bestpay.ge project recently. This is a simplified web catalogue presenting Georgian internet shops. Zgudadze says that the annual turnover of online shops associated with bestpay.ge reached USD 100,000.
It has already been four years since Cartu Bank first received its license from Visa and later, from MasterCard , to serve international customers with an online payment system. Since that period Cartu Bank has been trying to encourage the popularization of e-commerce.
Zgudadze says that the internet is the best way to make money.
“It is possible to start an online shop for free. The most important thing is to have a creative idea. Presently the turnover of an internet shop, in the case of good management, can be the same as that of an actual shop. Today the sales of all shops that are presented in bestpay.ge are 50/50 only online sales. Some of them are also selling their products abroad.
On the website bestpay.ge, there are 60 internet shops currently presented. But these figures are dynamically changing. Some new shops is opened and some in the case of failure, owners just close up the online part of their business. As the main advantage of online business Zgudadze underlines its simplicity.
“We organized a paying system of the public register. Now we are in the process of launching online payment system for the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance. We are attracting different services. For example, reserving car numbers online and so on. The Ministry of Finance of Georgia is initiating the launch of online payment for custom houses. Therefore, we are seeing that the Government is also focused on simplifying a payment system for the people,” Zgudadze says.
Zgudadze notes that they are trying to advertise the bestpay.ge website and accordingly, to support Georgian internet shops by ads campaign and increase the turnover of the shops registered there.
“For our times these are quite good figures. We are negotiating with Magti GSM; they want to launch the online payment system on deposits. Activity of such a large-scale company will result in the added popularity of such a service and accordingly the companies’ turnover will reach in to the millions,” Zgudadze believes.
Zgudadze notes that to raise the popularity of e-commerce among Georgians, it is very important for the Government to encourage it themselves.
“For example it would be helpful if all of the air companies in the country made the decision to sell online tickets, like in Europe. Or even to make the sale of online train tickets a reality. It would be large stimulation for people to make them switch to online services,” he says.
“There are no statistics available from surveys on which people or segments are the major users of different websites. Such information is too vague ad general. It would be good to create customer search programmes on the internet. If there were accurate information available on the age, gender and status of customers of different websites, it would greatly simplify the work of advertisers,” Zgudadze notes.
“It has recently become popular for companies in the country to use the corporate intranet and mailing lists of the companies with a lot of staff to stimulate their sales. In such cases advertisers who presume our staff as their target audience, ask us to supply their staff with concrete information about them.
Zgudadze also underlines the effectiveness and popularity of online video commercials.
As for the best week day for online sales in Georgia, the day when the number of internet users reaches its peak is usually a Thursday.
Written By Madona Gasanova
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