JUNE MARKET REPORT
Banks have tightened credit criteria. It is not enough that a loan is fully secured, the borrower must be able to demonstrate servicing capacity or the ability to be able to repay principal and interest from cash flow or profits after tax. This has affected the value of businesses where multiples were say 3.3 times the EBITD (earnings before interest tax and deprecation) they are now more like 2.5 times the EBITDA. Different business types have different risks so the multiples for these risks will vary. Talk to your business broker or accountant about your business risk profile. Management buy in will be an important segment in the next 12 months with this method of selling providing the best exit strategy for most SME over the ensuing year. There is a shortage of businesses in the $300,000 to $800,000 range where there is plenty of senior executives looking to buy. Enquiry is strong across a wide range of opportunities so there are still people who are looking to get into business.
Peter Gwynne, Group Managing Director
ANALYSING THE AUSTRALIAN USERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA SITES
Last issue (please click here to view last issue), we compared the differences between different social network sites and how they allow us to implement our marketing strategies. This month, we will get in depth to understand the user profile and demographic of each social network site.
FACEBOOK
Facebook has become the most popular social networking site in Australia as many users have started to desert MySpace for Facebook.
Number of members: 5 million users in Australia - May 2009.
User profile: Gender: 57% female ; 43% male
Household Income: 56% users have a household income of above $75,000 and 34% of users have a household income above $100,000
Average Time on Site: 21 minutes and 15 seconds on the site
Other Interesting Information: Facebook has 38% reach of Australian online according to the Nielsen Globalfaces report.
MYSPACE
Members: 2.1 million Australian users.
User profile:
Age: According to Nielsen Netratings MySpace Australia's target audience is not as skewed towards the order demographic as it is in the US, 48% of Australian visits are aged below 25.
Gender: 59% female / 41% male
Household Income: 52% of site users have a household income of $35,000 – $75,000. Only 19% have a household income above $100,000.
Monthly Unique Visitors: According to Nielsen Online, MySpace attracted 2,362,000 visitors in December and on average a MySpace attracted 2,362,000 visitors in December and on average a MySpace user views 252 pages.
Average Time on Site: 27 minutes and 46 seconds
TWITTER
Members: 249,000 - February 2009
Growth: Traffic from Australia to Twitter grew by 1,067% from the beginning of 2009. Twitter is now the 37th most visited web site in Australia - moving from position 81 in February.
User Profile: Gender: 57% male / 43% female
Age: 29% are aged 35-44 and 18% are aged 45-54
Household Income: 71% of all users have a household income greater than $50K and 50% are over $75,000.
Average Time on Site: 13 minutes 10 seconds
Other Important Information: Global figures show the retention rate of Twitter is approximately 40%, whilst it is 70% on Facebook & MySpace. More than 60% of Twitter users are said to deflect from the site within 1 month. With the rate in which membership has grown in Australia, it is believed that the retention rate may be higher than that of the global average however it is still an important consideration when trying to develop online relationships with your consumers.
Twitter promotes itself as a social messaging facility it has obviously been embraced by many professionals and entrepreneurs. As a result, Twitter is useful for both B2C & B2B markets.
GOOGLE AUSTRALIA REVEALS STIMULUS PACKAGE
Australia is a country based on mateship, Australian love their mates and will always help others in adversity, and this is what made us Australian quality.
23 April 2009, Google Australia announced a business stimulus offer to help Australia’s 1.88 million small and medium enterprises (SMEs) speed up in the economic slowdown.
In the current economic climate, more Australians are heading online to research products and services, with search engines central to online navigation, research and comparison shopping.
Google Australia’s announcement will help out Australia’s small businesses in front of potential customers at the precise moment that they’re looking for information.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) has become increasingly popular in Australia over the past 12 months, with thousands of businesses embracing the benefits of measurable, cost-effective and targeted advertising programs such as Google AdWords. Those who are new to Google AdWords can access the Google $75 stimulus offer before 30 June 2009 at google.com.au/stimulus.Julian Persaud, Google Australia’s Head of Online, said, “At Google, we want to help propel the Australian digital economy. The Internet drives efficiencies and opens new markets. Encouraging more Australian businesses to connect with customers online is a major part of that vision.”
Jaye Radisich, Chief Executive Officer of the Council of Small Business of Australia, said, “COSBOA welcomes this initiative which will give many small businesses a kick start in the important online environment and potentially put millions into the small business sector. We’d like to see more companies supporting Australian small business with creative offerings like this, as this will boost the overall economy and directly assist a sector that employs over four million Australians.”
Both online and “bricks-and-mortar” businesses will benefit from the stimulus offer. Research shows that many Australians are going online to research their purchases more carefully. Monash’s Australian Centre for Retail Studies has found that 50% of Australian shoppers research their retail purchases online before they buy from the store.
“In Australia, we’ve seen strong growth in search queries over the past 12 months. Australians are going online to search their purchases more carefully, whether it’s a new lamp, a restaurant booking or a business stationery supplier. Google is in a great position to help all Australian businesses capitalised on this increased activity,” Persaud said.
While this stimulus offer is for businesses who are new to Google AdWords, Google is also offering existing advertisers two special master classes help them improve the performance of their search marketing campaigns. A select number of existing advertisers that attend the seminars will receive a free, tailored campaign “optimisation” from Google expect to drive better results and increased sales.
NEW WEBSITE
A new site has been launched for the private business sales market. The site www.BusinessSales.com.au caters for that end of the market where a broker's fee cannot be accommodated in the size of the business sale. The site utilises the latest technology from overseas and offers an affordable option to business sellers. A one off cost until the business is sold makes this a cost effective alternative for private sellers. For more information on this site click here.
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