“If you are not being run after, you will find it difficult to reach success,” supposes one of the co-founders of Russian internet company Yandex Ilya Segalovich. It is even more difficult to become a pioneer and maintain leadership. However, a breakthrough into unknown territory is a kind of “gold mine”, for you have time to get ready to competitors’ pressure and take the best from the segment.
If the mountain won’t come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain. Boosters of the PRC have yet shown no desire to familiarize with most popular Russian search engines (Yandex, Rambler, Mail.ru, etc.); however, the third largest search engine in the world, Chinese Baidu, which opens access to Asian market could not but attract the attention of domestic companies. The importance of contextual advertizing in finding new perspectives is hard to overestimate. As the founder of Internet network Bill Gates said, “the way how you collect, organize, and use information defines whether you will win or lose.” Fibo Group company has become the pioneer of placing contextual advertizing in Chinese search engine.
The “Market Leader” has addressed the manager of FIBO Group Dmitry Sedov for comments on such novelty in business management and public relations.
Advertizing of Russian В2В and В2С Reached Asian Markets
“Business concepts of Ilya Segalovich are very appealing to me, beginning entrepreneurs have a good example in his personality. It is hard to disagree with his thesis that Internet has no boundaries, users quickly change their preferences, and their choice is based on a very simple principle: the better the service, the more valuable it is, the quicker and the more likely traders are to switch to it. For my part, I would add that global network is yet divided by language barriers – in other words, by language principle. However, our holding has found the way to “open the window to Asia” and bypass this case owing to contextual advertizing, which has been optimized for Baidu. iConText firm, official partner of Chinese search engine owning 65% of the country’s market, has given us access to the search engine. When we have become clients of iConText, there have actually appeared ads of Russian business B2B and B2C. This gives us almost unlimited perspectives in search and attraction of partners and clients from the Celestial Empire. Yuan is becoming a more attractive currency, and the number of entrepreneurs is rising, so they will need someone to manage their assets. Today Chinese and Asian markets are most perspective trends for western expansion, as its industrial sector is highly developed, and service market is developing dynamically. Thus, airlines, suppliers and exporters of various goods, and many more are striving to get Chinese clients. The only restraining factor for rapid intervention is an authorized reseller monopoly Baidu in Europe, which belongs to CharmClick company; iConText works via this company,” says Dmitry Sedov.
“Our operator received a permit on placing Russian contextual advertizing in Chinese network last year, but we have managed to implement the common idea only at this point. Slower economic growth in Russia, including the sphere of Internet advertizing is the main motive that strives us to the new market. Of course, China is currently experiencing a similar division of powers: the second place after TV is occupied by advertizing in the Internet network. However, the RF is very much ahead, as processes are already happening there, and in the PRC – not yet,” says iConText representative.
Credo of the Holding: Come in Time and Leave in Time
The expert gives assessment to current condition of Chinese market: development of this market segment is slowed down due to general economic tendency in the PRC, for the year of 2013 has brought the country record low growth of GDP for the last 14 years. Reduction inevitably influences advertizing business, including its web-segment. However, this will not happen at once: at this point expenses on advertizing will keep rising ten times. Especially, if to consider the fact that the PRC is the headliner of Asian and Pacific economy: in 2012, according to GroupM assessment, market volume of contextual and media advertizing in Internet network has amounted to over 12 bln. dollars, and growth – over 40%. The trend will be supported in 2013, thus making it possible to reach 16 bln. dollars. Next year the volume may rise to 22 bln. dollars.
However, such predictions have skeptical opponents: for example, eMarketer supposes that market budget of Internet advertizing may reach 20 bln. dollars not earlier than in 4-year time due to rising competition of small markets in India and Indonesia, which are intending to experience increase of dynamics, with top point during next years. As a result, they will manage to leave their giant neighbour behind. In 2007 the growth of Internet market has amounted to 75%, according to GroupM. It is logical that such leap will be followed by stagnation, even recession. However, financial holding Fibo Group, like a skillful surfer, is trying to keep its positions on the crest of the wave and avoid hitting the coast. Successful history of the company shows that so far the management was taking right and timely decisions that have made the holding one of most successful ones worldwide. This particularly concerns broker services for international currency exchange Forex.
Trading, just like optimization in search network, removes all arbitrary boundaries, which have so far existed in the Internet network. From now on, many heavy forumers will be able to continue the joke: “Anything may be found in Yandex. Nothing was ever lost in Google. And Baidu will show what has not been expected.” For example, a Russian DC.
