studies

For the first time ever the majority of purchasers does online research before purchasing. The online purchase share shows limited growth for most products, however online research grows strongly and consistently across all countries and products.

Key Findings

• Online purchase mainly grows in travel and media, however online research grows strongly and consistently across all countries and products.
• Online research grows equally strong amongst online and offline purchasers and is consistent amongst countries and products as well.
• Products of higher value show both more online research and more online purchase than lower value products.

The Global Business Map provides a country profile for 48 countries on 6 different continents. The country profiles give an overview of fundamental country facts and specific market insights. We have collected those metrics most relevant for uncovering market potential and to help you recognise business opportunities specific to your company. This guide also provides an introduction to a range of products and tools available to you at Google, which are each explained briefly to help you get acquainted with the different ways in which you can reach out and connect with your target markets.

Each country page contains the following data:

• Basic Facts: official country name, capital, area, top-level domain, official or most spoken language, local currency, age distribution and GDP in terms of purchasing power parity and rank. GDP in each country has been expressed in US Dollars.
• Demographics: Population (total, growth and country rank), a breakdown of the age distribution according to gender and age group, median age.
• Internet statistics: The Internet penetration of the population, the total number of broadband and fixed Internet subscriptions, as found by the International Telecommunications Union.
• Google Contact: The email address that you can use to get in touch with our local representatives. They will be happy to give you more insight into the statistics you can find in the pages here and connect your ideas with the appropriate Google products.

With smartphone penetration in the United Arab Emirates now at 61% and 64% of smartphone owners accessing the Internet every day from their device, mobile has become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Google partnered with Ipsos OTX Media CT to understand how the growing adoption of smartphones has transformed consumer behavior from media consumption to commerce to connecting with the world around us. These insights can help advertisers understand how to best use smartphones to engage with their customers. Here's what we found:

• Smartphone users are multi-tasking their media with 86% using their phone while doing other things such as watching TV (52%). 93% of smartphone users look for local information on their phone and 92% take action a result.
• Smartphones are critical shopping tools with 84% having researched a product or service on their device. 39% of smartphone users have made a purchase on their phone.
• Mobile ads are noticed by 93% of smartphone users. Smartphones are also a critical component of traditional advertising as 78% have performed a search on their smartphone after seeing an offline ad. Review the full study to understand the business implications and opportunities for marketers.

This research offers unique insights into the usage of internet enabled devices (PCs, smartphones, tablets, etc.) as well as internet & broadband penetration and online behaviour per market. The enumeration survey was conducted during Q1 2012 in 40 markets, this is the overview on SEEMEA emerging & mature markets.

Key findings:

• Highest smartphone and tablet usage in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Among the European markets, Spain and France have the highest penetrations.
• In two thirds of the SEEMEA countries, PC penetration is higher than 66%. In half of the markets, Laptops/Notebooks are more popular than desktop pcs.
• Less than 2 thirds of the population use the Internet in 6 SEEMEA markets. Lowest usage in Egypt - with a clear distance to the other markets.
• Mobile networks are most often used to access the Internet on a smartphone followed by Wifi/WLAN at home.
• In Portugal and France Internet enabled TV are used by about one fifth of the population. eReaders are the device with the smallest penetration.

This research offers insight into the usage of internet enabled devices (PCs, smartphones, tablets, etc.) as well as internet & broadband penetration and online behaviour.