Digital Lifescapes

Marketers that are seeking growth within the online North American marketplace should not underestimate the upside potential that's developing outside of the United States. In fact, while market saturation may be an issue in the region, new high-growth opportunities still exist. Canada, with a population about one-tenth the size of the U.S. market, also has a significantly smaller business-to-consumer ecommerce market. But when viewed holistically, there's much more to consider than the mere market size. This year, according to the latest market study by eMarketer , online sales of retail and travel products will reach $21.45 billion in the Canadian market -- that's compared to $343.43 billion in the United States. That online revenue gives Canada a 2 percent share of all B2C ecommerce sales around the world, or 5.9 percent of the market in North America. And while its worldwide share will drop slightly in coming years as emerging economies grow their online sale...

According to the latest market study by eMarketer, mobile phone penetration in Canada is not as pervasive or as fast-growing as in the U.S. marketplace, but the country that birthed the BlackBerry is rising rapidly when it comes to uptake of smartphones and media tablets. Canadian mobile device adoption is already inspiring more mobile internet usage as a result. Therefore, savvy marketers on both sides of the 49th parallel are taking note. The number of mobile internet users in Canada increased more than 28 percent in 2011 -- with an estimated 25 percent of the population using mobile internet access by the end of 2012. eMarketer forecasts that user penetration will continue to rise, albeit at a somewhat slower pace, through 2016 -- when nearly half of the population will be mobile internet users. "As adoption continues to increase, marketers are moving from getting their feet wet to executing more sophisticated campaigns,” said Paul Briggs, analyst at eMarketer . Ca...

American online retailers have compelling reasons for selling to potential customers in other nations. According to the latest study by eMarketer, as ecommerce growth slows in the U.S. market, retailers are seeking new revenue opportunities in foreign markets. This is especially true in emerging internet economies such as China -- where B2C online sales are forecast to grow at a 94.2 percent compound annual rate from 2010 to 2015. "Some U.S. retailers have started to sell online internationally after seeing significant amounts of site traffic coming from abroad," said Jeffrey Grau, principal analyst at eMarketer . Retailers that hesitate now may face higher entry barriers later -- as competitors team up with the most desirable in-country business partners and earn the loyalty of local online consumers. The most popular foreign countries for American online retailers have been Canada, the UK and Australia -- highly developed markets that share linguistic and cultural ...

comScore released new data revealing that the worldwide growth of online video consumption appears to have no limits. "As global broadband connectivity continues to rise, online video viewing has taken off in a big way and has become a fully integrated component of the digital content experience," said Dan Piech, comScore product manager for video. In October 2011, 201.4 billion videos were viewed online from a home or work location, with the global viewing audience reaching 1.2 billion unique viewers age 15 and older. Google Sites led as the top global video property with nearly 88.3 billion videos viewed on the property during the month, accounting for 43.8 percent of all videos viewed globally. YouTube.com was the key driver of video viewing on Google Sites, accounting for more than 99 percent of videos viewed on the property. China-based Youku, Inc. was the second largest video property globally with 4.6 billion videos viewed in October (2.3 percent global share), ...

comScore released data about key trends in the Canadian mobile phone industry for September 2011. The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and smartphone operating system (OS) platforms in Canada. In September, 20.1 million Canadians ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 25.2 percent of mobile subscribers in Canada, followed by LG with 20.0 percent share and RIM with 14.3 percent share. Apple ranked fourth with 12.0 percent share of subscribers, while Nokia rounded out the top five at 10.1 percent. 8 million people in Canada owned smartphones in September 2011, representing 40 percent of the mobile market in Canada -- a gain of 7 percentage points in the past six months. RIM ranked as the top platform with 35.8 percent of the smartphone market, followed by Apple at 30.1 percent. Google Android gained ground among the competition by doubling its market share to 25.0 over the past six mon...

IDC Canada released highlights from its third quarter of 2011 (3Q11) market assessment for the PC industry. The overall Canadian Client PC market proved to be fairly resilient with strong shipment numbers despite a negative year-over-year growth rate of -0.4 percent -- just behind the 0.7 percent growth in the U.S. and 1.3 percent growth worldwide. Total PC shipments in Canada reached 1,921,032 units in 3Q11, which is a mere 6,833 units shy of the all-time high set in Q3 2010. Portable PC market performance posted a strong 5.7 percent year-over-year growth on 1,368,432 units. Portable shipments in 3Q11 were the highest on record and just short of the total shipments for the full year 2005. Portable PC shipments in Canada made up 71.2 percent of all shipments, which is higher than the worldwide share for portable PC shipments of 64.7 percent. As expected, desktop PC shipments were down 12.7 percent year over year with only 552,600 units shipped. HP led the overall Canadian Clien...

More people will purchase their first media tablet, or a similar device, this coming holiday season. IDC Canada shared some insightful findings from their latest market study of new device owners. Today, Canadian consumers have many alternatives to choose from when making a media tablet purchase decision. This week, the launch of the Amazon "Kindle Fire" and the Barnes & Noble "Nook Tablet" will likely establish yet another segment within this device category for consumers to explore and consider. IDC now tracks 50 different media tablet models in Canada alone, compared to just a handful at this time last year. The plethora of devices has made it challenging for the average person to evaluate and select the device most suitable for their needs. Yet, in some ways, the market has not changed much at all. For the time being, Apple remains the market leader. But the market is about to evolve -- with a continuous change in the mix of portable device vendors,...

International Data Corporation Canada ( IDC Canada ) released key highlights from its latest market study of online video entertainment, and provided details from IDC Canada's Online Video Index. At present, the Canadian online video market remains very complex: each service has a different approach and is at a different stage of development. As a result, there are no accepted or proven business models to pave the way. "Innovation will continue to drive this market," said Emily Taylor, Consumer Technology & Services analyst at IDC Canada. "The introduction of new devices and new platforms -- including consumer cloud services -- will strengthen services as well." Competition will only get more intense, given that major brands like Walmart are active in the U.S with online video services -- with its VUDU offering -- and it is only a matter of time before they enter the Canadian market. In the Index, IDC evaluates Canadian online video services across...

When most industry analysts profile digital marketing and online advertising in North America, the focus is typically on the U.S. market. That said, Canada has a relatively high internet access penetration and growing social network usage rates. According to a recent eMarketer report, Canadian social network users view social media as their online home -- a hub for communication, entertainment and information. "Canadians readily adopt social network activities, often at rates higher than users in the U.S., but gaining the trust of users on a social network is a brand manager's biggest obstacle," said Mike Froggatt, eMarketer research analyst. In 2010, eMarketer estimates that about 15.1 million internet users in Canada will have visited social networking sites at least monthly -- up from 13.6 million in 2009. Penetration will rise from 59 percent of the internet audience this year to 68 percent by 2014 -- when 18.4 million people in Canada will be socializing on...