A New Perspective

Welcome to the first edition of Electronic Retailer's European supplement called Perspective. This special issue enlists the expertise of industry professionals from throughout Europe, as well as from the United States.

Global marketers interested in penetrating the European market will find useful information within these pages to help them get started--from support services in Europe to understanding more about the home shopping market in Russia.

Marcel Avargues, executive director for ERA Europe, leads the way with a brief update on some of the initiatives that the association, along with the board of directors, have been working on this year. For instance, ERA Europe has been working closely with other trade groups on the Television Without Frontiers Directive, which serves as a framework for rules governing television shopping, distance selling and electronic retailing activities in Europe.

In addition, Avargues discusses the progress that's being made by ERA Europe's board of directors and Self-Regulation Committee in their goal of establishing a clear set of standards for the industry, as well as seeking support from other member companies.

While it's very important to cover the issues affecting the television landscape, we believe that it is equally important to discuss online marketing as well. Beginning on page 16, Johnny Mathis, CEO of Livemercial, examines search engine marketing in Europe.

Here he discusses the fundamental differences between paid search marketing in the United States versus Europe. For instance, Europe has different types of regulations, especially in the area of privacy and online communications. Mathis also references some interesting market data from Forrester Research. For instance, it's forecasted that European advertisers will spend ?3 billion on search marketing by 2010.

Livemercial's vice president of sales and media, Jeff O'Connor, also lends his expertise by addressing some commonly asked questions about online marketing. What's more, he compares the three big online markets in Europe, which include the U.K., Germany and France. O'Connor also discusses some of the key challenges marketers may run into when creating a direct response campaign online in Europe (see page 18).

Did you ever wonder what the home shopping market was like in Russia? On page 21, Irina Odinokova, international manager for TV Club, gives readers insight into the live shopping market. In fact, Larisa Mikhailova, founder of TV Club, hosted the first on-air live shopping show in 1994.

We also examine the support services end of the DR market in Europe. Stuart Anderson, managing director of ama Home Shopping, talks about elements that direct marketers should consider before stepping into the market, including how call centers handle cultural differences and language barriers.

We would like to hear from you, our readers, about the topics that you would like to read about in a future issue of Perspective. Please submit your suggestions to my attention at vpaynich@retailing.org. Your suggestions and comments would be greatly appreciated, and will definitely help us.

Vitisia Paynich
Editor-in-Chief