Small businesses should respond to the growing uptake of smartphones by at least ensuring they have websites optimised for mobile devices that prominently display where to find them and their opening hours, Google's managing director for Australia and New Zealand Nick Leeder says.
Leeder said every other mobile phone sold in New Zealand was now a smartphone and they accounted for a fifth of all mobiles in circulation, and this was changing the way people shopped.
"About 30 per cent of searches on smartphones have a local intent which is about double the rate we see on traditional desktops searches. As smartphone penetration increases it becomes increasingly important businesses operating in a local area have a presence on the web."
New Zealand businesses were spending proportionately less advertising their businesses through Google than their counterparts in the United States, Europe and Australia, he said.
To try to drum up demand, Google will soon launch a new paid search service in New Zealand, Adwords Express, following a pilot in Australia and launches in the US, Britain, Germany and France in July.
Adwords Express is designed to let businesses advertise their business locally, including through Google Maps, for a fixed monthly fee and without having to choose their own keywords.
"It is about creating price points that people don't find too expensive, so they can give this stuff a go without feeling they are taking a major risk," Leeder said.
Leeder was visiting Auckland to hire a couple of extra sales staff, but indicated there was no real prospect of Google making any significant direct investment in the country in the near term.
He forecast renewed economic concerns in Europe could see New Zealand forge ahead as a country.
- Fairfax Media
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