Ok......

I just recently found out that the UAE has companies that sell flowers and gifts and stuff online
like http://www.hadayaonline.com/gifts_list

Lol i feel ignorant

A "fake" website

The otherday i was ckecing my Facebook account and found that i had three similar messages in my inbox that went something like this:

hey pplz...A web site that is willing to pay 50$ for just registering, and also 1$ for each person you invite and join....its really amazing :D.... please register before 31/3 by clicking the following linkwww.diabian1.dubaimlm.complz ppl do it for me ill appreciate it a lot..LOVE U ALL....its only gna take 2 mnts..n we both profit from it..when u register i get 50$ n u do too..THX...

http://www.facebook.com/share_redirect.php?h=c6db31eb7239e64798603f6a3e3dac50&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.diabian1.dubaimlm.com&sid=10913122962
http://www.diabian1.dubaimlm.com/

Of course it seemed too good to be true, HONESTLY... DUBAI? giving away money?! No way!

So i went to check out this website here's what it looked like:

A few things to note:

Poor design, ugly banner ads, bad layout.... among others.

I would rather be caught dead than send an email begging people to log on to this website so that i can make money.

But let me tell you one thing, im sure they ended up with a huge traffic count! Dubai has bad traffic even online =P

Well anyways, you can check it out for yourselves if you have nothing else better to do.

Online shopping in the UAE

75% of UAE internet users avoid online shopping because they believe it is "unsafe" and "too risky acc. to Symantec

Most of the online users that do shop online do so without proper security procedures, but the UAE has the highest rate of Online Shopping compared to other Pan Arab Countries.

I think that internet users in the UAE need to be informed on the dangers and advantages of online shopping and need to be able to differentiate between Trusted and Non-Trusted websites otherwise emerging e-commerce sites Such as http://www.souq.com/ will have great losses

(Please note the i have previously typed souk.com thanks to MA for his/her comment => )

Region has bad Radio Ads

Ever since i have lived in the uae all the radio ads have been the same & They always have the same voices and tones, the same structure, and REALLY annoying Jingles.



"Honey"

"Yes, dear"

"There's no more yougurt in the fridge"

"I know dear"

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well honey, i've replaced them"

"Replaced them!? with what!?"

"(Product name) Yougurt is 99% fat free it's blah blah blah"

"Oh Honey, let's good by some more (Product Name Yogurt)"



BORING



Basically this article talks about how dissapointing radio ads are here and how the clients actually lack in knowledge of the usefulness of radio (Target segmentation ...etc)



Click on the link to read the article

Region behind in e-commerce due to poor marketing

This Quote sums up the main idea of the article:

“[Online marketing] is not lacking because of concerns over security, but probably because it’s something new and the mentality in the region is more traditional, where shoppers prefer to shop by themselves and look at products before buying,” said Antoine Harb, Kingston Technology’s Middle East and Africa business development manager.

Click on the title to read the article

FACEBOOK!!! and Internet access in the UAE!

This is VERY imp. to residents such as MEEEEE in the UAE. And people, Facebook will NOT be blocked, only certain bits of it! Sooo yea, if you want to find out more, click on the title to link to the article.

It just mentions that Du is Etisalats Competition, that Etisalat will (basically) stop blockin sites completely but will only block bits of them , and keeping in mind the cultural,traditional and religious values of the UAE

Oh, and on last class's topic, if you wanna know more about how facebook makes money and how its helping others, (the application developers) then read this article -> http://www.business24-7.ae/cs/article_show_mainh1_story.aspx?HeadlineID=3270

Ecommerce in the UAE

Facts and Figures:

Internet Service Providers 1
Companies with Internet Access 88 percent
Companies with own Website 60 percent
Companies with E-Commerce Operations 14 percent
Compaines Intending to Begin E-Commerce Operations 42 percent
Companies with no Intentions to Begin E-Commerce Operations 12 percent
E-Commerce Market (1997) $11.5 million*
These numbers have grown significantly since 1997

Click on the title for the link to the article