Tag: twitter

ZipDial has now become the social network’s first acquisition from that country, in a sizeable purchase.

Twitter has now made its first acquisition of an Indian company, in the form of a mobile marketing firm called ZipDial, which was purchased for what was reported to be in the area of $30 to $40 million.

This considerably boosts the investment that Twitter has made in India, which has massive growth potential.

ZipDial is a mobile marketing and analytics startup that is based in Bangalore. A the time that this article was written, no terms for this acquisition had been released. However, TechCrunch, the technology website, had been displaying a report that had suggested that anonymous sources had quoted the aforementioned amount for the purchase. The acquisition greatly enhances the investment that Twitter has in India, which is one of the nations in which the social network is currently experiencing sizeable growth.

The mobile marketing acquisition also establishes a new engineering office for Twitter, in Bangalore.

ZipDial was originally founded in 2010. It provides its customers with phone numbers that can be incorporated into marketing campaigns. It works when consumers phone these numbers, but hang up (as a missed call) before they are actually connected, thereby avoiding any charges or minutes usage. In return, they receive a mobile ads via text message, which contain promotions from which they can benefit.

This type of mobile advertising communication functions especially well in areas where cell phone connections aren’t all that reliable, or where they don’t necessarily have access to data connections.

According to the Twitter VP of product, Christian Oestlien, it won’t be long before there will be billions of additional internet users who have come online for their very first time, in countries such as India, Indonesia, and Brazil. He added that “For many, their first online experience will be on a mobile device – but the cost of data may prevent them from experiencing the true power of the Internet. Twitter, in partnership with ZipDial, can make great content more accessible to everyone.”

ZipDial’s mobile marketing platform has engaged almost 60 million users, to date, and boasts hundreds of marketer and brand clients.

New report shows that small retailers are becoming more invested in the digital space

A growing number of small businesses are beginning to embrace mobile commerce in the United States. Throughout the years, small businesses have been relatively slow to embrace e-commerce on any kind, partly due to the costs involved in doing so. Over the past few years, however, many retail businesses have been finding more success by engaging consumers online, especially during the holiday season. A new report from Duda, a website-building group, small businesses are growing increasingly invested in the digital space.

Small businesses expect to see 25% of their holiday sales come from online shopping this year

The report found that many small businesses in the U.S. expect 25% of their holiday sales to come from online shopping this year. Approximately 14% expect to see more than half of their holiday revenue come from e-commerce. The report provides a new perspective on the e-commerce space. Many believe that consumers generally favor shopping on sites like Amazon and eBay when they are looking for products, but consumers have shown willingness to shop directly from sites built by retailers, especially when it comes to shopping from a mobile device.

Small businesses have been slow to embrace e-commerce

Small businesses have been able to get by without having a significant online presence for years, but that may no longer be the case. Consumers are becoming more reliant on technology and many want to make use of online services that make shopping more convenient for them. This has lead to a surge in mobile commerce, as consumers have begun gravitating toward mobile-centric services. Social media is playing a role in the growth of e-commerce as well and small businesses may be able to capitalize on that trend.

Social commerce could help small retailers engage consumers more effectively

So called social commerce is becoming quite popular among consumers. This concept is relatively simple, as it involves shopping for products online using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. Small businesses may be able to engage consumers more effectively by adopting some of the principles of social commerce.