Google searches out a Web trend in UAE

The Life: Google's regional manager explains the "research online, purchase offline" phenomenon in the finance and automotive industries.

“Search is becoming more and more important,” says Mohamad Mourad. Christopher Pike / The National
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Despite the rise of e-commerce, many prefer to buy certain goods and services offline. But they are researching products on the internet as never before. According to a survey released this week by Google, 52 per cent of UAE residents use the internet to research financial products such as loans and credit cards. Mohamad Mourad, Google Gulf's regional manager, explains this "research online, purchase offline" trend.

What were the main findings of Google's UAE survey?

What surprised us positively is the amount of online activity that's happening around finance and banking, despite the fact that most of the purchasing activities are happening offline … actually deciding on something and then going to the offline channel to transact. We refer to this concept as the "research online, purchase offline" phenomenon.

What other examples are there?

When people are searching for a car, it is very unlikely that people buy the car online. But what they do is go to the site, configure the car, pick a nice colour. Then they print their options, go to the showroom and buy the car.

How did the internet compare in the study with other means for researching financial products?

In finance specifically, the banks usually try multiple channels to reach out to the customers. Fifty-two per cent of the respondents used search to research finance products. [Search] is 10 times more effective than email, and 10 times more effective than social networking sites as well.

Does this mark an opportunity for the financial services industry?

Of course. This is a very competitive industry. And there is very low awareness of certain products that are usually highly profitable for banks. So if you're a bank, and you want to increase awareness, you need to be there when people are searching for a mortgage.

Obviously Google has a vested interest in this, in terms of selling advertising alongside searches. What are Google rates for finance-related keyword advertising?

A: It's an online auction, and banks usually bid for keywords based on the value of these keywords. In the UAE, since everyone is on Google to search for banks, banks really have to justify hard not to be on Google. If 50 per cent of the potential customers are searching for you online, you don't want to not be there.

How is the total number of Google searches in the Middle East and North Africa changing?

It's growing at around 25 per cent year on year, which is a significant increase. And this is driven by more people getting on the internet, as well as people doing more and more searches. That is clearly ahead if you compare it to developed markets.

How long can this growth in search continue? Surely the time will come when it slows to zero?

We don't believe that. Search is becoming more and more important. One reason is because of the increase in information on the internet. The other thing is that search is becoming better and more intelligent.

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