Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Wal-Mart has now listed groceries, pet supplies and health and beauty items on its e-commerce website

Wal-Mart’s USA retail website is the second most visited retail site, after Amazon, and while these items are not yet for sale, this is appears to be an indication of Wal-Mart’s intentions.

The retailer has begun listing tens of thousands of items ranging from prepared salads and cooked shrimp to dog food and lipstick on its site.

The goods are not available for delivery from an online purchase at this stage it but allows customers to check availability and the details of the product, including nutritional information on the food items.

Wal-Mart is the largest USA grocery retailer, with more than 20% of the total market, but to date does not provide online home delivery of perishable groceries.

Wal-Mart’s 2,500 stores operate a site to store feature that allows goods ordered online to be picked up at its stores and they have suggested that they could extend their existing in-store pick up service to the three new product categories.

Only Safeway and Royal Ahold’s Peapod offer online grocery delivery services in some areas in California, the Midwest and the north-east.

The potential of online sales of supermarket items continues to attract retailers and Amazon launched an online grocery store two years ago, offering bulk packaged groceries that are delivered by parcel service.

As commerce of all types more to a greater online presence, this is another indication of the likely development of retail supermarkets.

Our USA Online Business Directory, with 10 million businesses listed and a substantial number of pages indexed on Google, provides great consumer convenience, with no cost involved for the businesses.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Google’s new Android powered mobile phone is unveiled in New York and will be available on 22 October

The next generation of the mobile phones was announced as T-Mobile, Google, and HTC introduced the first Android-powered handset, the G1.

The handset will include a touch screen, QWERTY keyboard, Wi-Fi, GPS, Google App integration, and support for Amazon's music download service.

T-Mobile USA will sell the phone for $179, slightly cheaper than Apple Inc's iPhone.

G1 users will have free push GMail, wireless syncing with Google calendar, and support for YouTube.

The Google Maps feature has a built-in compass which enables users to view locations and navigate 360 degrees by moving the phone with their hands.

The handset will have a multimedia player, preloaded with an Amazon application that enables users to search, download, and buy music from more than 6 million DRM-free tracks.

The G1 also has Bluetooth capabilities, a dedicated search button, and users will be able to download applications from the Android Market.

The Android operating system has widespread possibilities beyond the mobile phone market, and being open source will invite creative applications in other fields.

Google has a very wide spread of online products and while some will falter and disappear, the take up and success of others will produce income streams to supplement their huge online advertising revenue.

Our USA Online Local Search Business Directory has 10 million businesses listed; a very substantial number of pages indexed by Google, and provides prospects to the businesses at no cost, via Google’s organic search results.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Google’s value as a brand grows the fastest

Interbrand reports that Google's brand value has risen by 43% in the past year to $25.6 billion, from twentieth place last year to tenth this year.

Interbrand values brands by taking into account revenue forecasts, market research and brand risk analysis, which includes customer loyalty.

Coca Cola is number one, valued at $66.6 billion,

IBM is number two, valued at $59 billion,

Microsoft is third, also valued at $59 billion,

GE is fourth, valued at $53 billion,

Nokia is fifth, valued at $35 billion,

Toyota is sixth, valued at $34 billion,

Intel is seventh, valued at $31.2 billion,

McDonald’s is eighth, valued at $31 billion, and

Disney is ninth, valued at $29.2 billion.

As Google becomes intimately incorporated in consumer’s lives, particularly by their use of the Google search facility, the brand valuation can be expected to continue to increase.

So the 10 million businesses listed in our USA Online Local Search Business Directory enjoy this rise in Google’s popularity, since they receive qualified prospects via the directory’s extensive Google listing, with zero cost for the business.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Google’s USA share of search traffic continues to grow

Comscore reports that Google now has almost two thirds of USA search enquiries.

At the end of August, Google had a 63% share of the USA search traffic, an increase of 1.1% for the month. Google had 7.4 billion of the 11.7 billion USA searches in August.

Yahoo’s share of the USA search market fell .9%, to 19.6% with 2.3 billion searches.

Microsoft’s share fell .6% to 8.3%, with 977 million searches.

Ask Network had a .3% increase to 4.8% and AOL increased .1% to 4.3%.

So Google’s continued increase in search market share, with the increased advertising revenue that goes with that, means that Google’s position in the on-going competition with Microsoft is progressively more dominant.

It’s recently been suggested that the most profitable solution for Microsoft would be to have Google serve the ads on the Microsoft search results. Of course, this is highly unlikely.

The strength of Google’s search results is great for our 10 million clients who are listed in our USA Online Business Directory, which has a large number of pages indexed on Google, and which provides prospects to those businesses with zero cost involved.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The growth of Google over its first 10 years is remarkable

Google has just had its 10th birthday. Here’s a summary of the firm’s development:

Sept. 7, 1998: Google incorporated in California.

February 1999: Google opens their first office in Palo Alto.

June 7, 1999: Google secures venture capital of $25 million from Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

June 26, 2000: Google becomes Yahoo's default search provider.

Oct. 23, 2000: Google offers AdWords, an online advertising service.

March 26, 2001: Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Novell Inc., is named chairman.

July 19, 2001: The "Don't be evil" motto is first mentioned and becomes Google's ethical motto.

Aug. 6, 2001: Schmidt is named chief executive.

April 1, 2004: Google starts e-mail service Gmail.

April 29, 2004: Google files for a initial public offering.

Aug. 18, 2004: Goes public with a market capitalization of $23 billion.

June 28, 2005: Release of Google Earth.

January 2006: Google successfully wages a court battle to avoid handing over search user’s information to the Justice Department.

Jan. 17, 2006: Buys dMarc Broadcasting, a radio advertising company.

Jan. 27, 2006: Google creates search engine for China that censors results.

June 15, 2006: The verb "google" is added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Oct. 9, 2006: Google announces plans to acquire YouTube for $1.65 billion.

January 2007: Fortune magazine names Google the best company to work for in its annual list.

March 13, 2007: Viacom files $1 billion suit against Google regarding video piracy on YouTube.

April 13, 2007: Announces $3.1 billion deal to buy online advertising service DoubleClick.

This is a remarkable rise to wealth and power. The Google brand is now independently valued at $61 billion, the world’s most valuable brand.

The businesses listed on our USA Local Search Business Directory benefit substantially from Google's success since the directory is extensively indexed on Google, and the service for businesses is free.