Internet penetration in New Zealand is growing exponentially, giving rise to a new wave of ecommerce. We take a peak at the main transactions New Zealanders are making online and the impact this has on emarketing.

New Zealand is a growing online market in Asia Pacific.
 
According to the New Media Review, published by the European Travel Commission, as of March 28 2008, there were 3,200,000 internet users in New Zealand (representing 74.9 percent of the population) in June 2007. This was up by 285.5 percent compared to 2000 (Internet World Stats, November 2007). The hyper growth in just eight years is attributed to broadband.

Global telecommunications research firm, Budde.com states that, "New Zealand is finally catching up with the rest of the world in terms of broadband penetration, with overall subscriber growth in excess of 30 percent in 2006/07."
 
In the ISP Survey released on March 6 2008 by Statistics New Zealand, the InternetNZ (the Internet Society of New Zealand Inc.) welcomes the findings "as a turning point in New Zealand's internet history. The results, for the six-month period ending September 2007, show that the number of broadband subscribers has overtaken the number of dial-up subscribers to make broadband the dominant access technology for the internet."

According to Ian Carter, chief executive officer of AdPlace, a DIY (do-it-yourself) interactive technology company, "the New Zealand online sector is about to explode mainly because of its broadband use and accessibility in rural areas." Carter also states that mobile potential in New Zealand is enormous as the country has one of the highest rates of use.

With broadband penetration rates growing, what are New Zealanders doing online?

Shopping and Traveling
According to a March 2008 report published by HitWise New Zealand, out of the top 20 websites, Trade Me ranked second. Trade Me is comparable to online auction/marketplace eBay.

Carter attributes Trade Me's success to its usability/ user-friendly nature, its colloquial language, as well as teaching users that online transaction was safe and secure. "Trade Me focused on the convenience of being online -- it was the paradigm that changed the comfort levels of users".

It appears that the practices of Trade Me and other ecommerce players have paid off. According to Nielsen//NetRatings's Online Retail Monitor, New Zealand has a healthy retail ecommerce market, with 61 percent of adult New Zealanders making online purchases each month -- that is very high by anyone's standards, given New Zealand's very high internet penetration. (The study covered online shopping and buying activity from December 2006 to March 2007). The research clearly shows that most New Zealanders feel very secure about making a purchase online, and this security helps to add satisfaction to the whole user experience.

Travel
According to Nielsen//NetRatings, March 2007, the most popular single item of purchase was tickets for flights. Carter states that comparable to their Australian neighbours, New Zealanders travel quite a bit, which is why travel companies spend part of their advertising budgets online.

The New Media Review highlights that: 

• Travelocity, which booked US$10.1 billion in travel worldwide in 2006, has formally launched Travelocity New Zealand. The new online travel company currently offers hotel, cruise, insurance and other online travel bookings.
• Google and Tourism New Zealand have announced a jointly created Google Earth site, which provides geographic and general information about New Zealand locations, visitor centres and scenic highlights.

NZ Minister of Tourism Damien O'Connor said it is a huge opportunity for Tourism New Zealand to be associated with Google Earth, adding that the partnership with Google could potentially expose the site to Google Earth's 200 million unique users.

It is evident that New Zealand has a very promising future -- both for online advertising opportunities, as well as mobile marketing. Not only does the number of broadband users increase, but ecommerce statistics are very impressive. Less than one year ago, New Zealand's biggest city Auckland recently issued a request for information to providers as it wants to have (but not own) a downtown Wi-Fi network in the next three years, with the potential to take it citywide (Wi-Fi Planet, June 2007). We shall see how this affects further internet and broadband penetration rates.

Elizabeth M. Lloyd is co-founder and chief revenue officer of 9Global Inc.