International Business and Technology Blog

Today, commerce in Europe is all about the e’s; there are 2, but add a 3rd in front and you have it. Everywhere (note 4 e’s) we look for opportunities and growth we find a big bold "e" written. The big EU stories for 2015 will be ecommerce; ecommerce will continue its boom across Europe this year, growing at a very healthy >18%. The figure for 2014 was 18%, 22% in 2013 and 2016 is projected at 19%. FYI, this compares to the US where online sales are expected to grow in 2015 at 14%.

Our European (EU) Quantitative Easing (QE) overview. It’s big EU news. It’s official. It's just in time central banking. EU QE phew-ee. On Thursday the 23rd January 2015, Mario Draghi (we call him Super Mario) our European Central Bank (ECB) President, announced the EU’s >€1 Tn government bond buying program. The ECB is noted as the last major central bank to embark upon such a program. US QE dates from 2008, and that of the UK from 2009, and both are deemed to have worked.

Facebook is launching a new app, Facebook at Work, which aims to expand its presence within the business community. It is positioning itself as a challenger to LinkedIn and other established collaboration tools targeted at businesses, such as Yammer, Jive and MangoApps.

In our December blog Making your website user-friendly: DIY requirements identification for companies we introduced a check list for companies on how to identify user requirements, including 1) Persona definition 2) Scenarios and story-boarding and 3) Requirements definition. The aim of these two blogs is to advice business owners, sales and marketing managers and IT managers on how to create user-friendly websites that generate business using techniques that are not resource-intensive. Today we have a closer look at usability testing.

Agriculture and foodstuff rears its tasty head, making TTIP headlines this January 2015 month in Europe. Served hot or cold, agriculture and foodstuff have been the subject of transatlantic conflict for decades, epitomizing European and American societal and cultural challenges, interconnecting with food security as well as environmental sensitivities. And lest we forget, on both sides of the Atlantic, agriculture and food is big, really big economic stuff, with >700,000 big, medium and small businesses serving a market of >800 million wealthy, educated and discerning consumers, worth >€2 Tn.

​Opportunities for US companies in Europe abound. They always have and will, the question is one of timing. US exporters to Europe, of both goods and services, achieved an accomplished and steadily growing >$500Bn in 2014. This is inextricable linked to the existing pool of business investment by US companies in the EU. The US is the largest external investor in the EU, with 33% of the total, mostly in the business services and software sectors. US investment in the EU accounts for >50% of all U.S. direct investment abroad and is valued at >$2.5T.

So why are US business executives so much less efficient than Europeans when it comes to getting sales during business trips?

This was the question being considered by Robin Chater, The Secretary-General of the Federation of International Employers (FedEE) in a recent breakfast briefing. He was quoting Eurostat, a respected European statistical agency which showed how in the last year: “the EU exported 288 bn euros of goods to the USA, but only imported 196 bn euros of goods from the USA. The imbalance was narrower, however, when we look at services. EU exports of services to the USA were worth 161 bn euros, yet imports from the USA amounted to 148 bn euros a year…

If you are a business owner, sales and marketing manager or IT manager, the chances are you have become very familiar with your website. Whether or not you find your website clearly structured and understandable, the ultimate judges will always be its end users – your customers, prospects, partners, and employees. A website that is considered friendly by its users is considerably more likely to fulfill its marketing/sales potential and bring in new business. 

We bring you 5 trends that have become crucial for any company that wishes to succeed in Europe and stay ahead of their competition. Don't lag behind!  Read our tips on: design - responsive, flat with subtle animation, user-friendly and online marketing - videos and multilingual marketing on social media.