Just to set the scene:
And GE is predicting Brazil’s air traffic could double in the next three years. I’m currently sitting in a hotel room in Sao Paulo listening to planes buzz overhead about once every two to three minutes. Brazil was almost certainly the fastest growing mobile internet market in 2010 with an over 500% increase in mobile search queries, and the payments innovation in this market is also something I’ve also written about before.
Another interesting thing about Brazil is that it is one of the rare markets where Facebook is not the leading social network. Google’s Orkut product is around three times bigger and outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt recently said:
Brazil is, for example, already on its way to becoming our sixth-largest country in revenue.
With so much growth in aviation and in mobile, Brazil will continue to be an important market for airline direct channel trend spotters to keep an eye on in the the months and years ahead.
March 11, 2011 at 11:16 am
Thing with Brazil is that market is so localized it is difficult (not impossible though) to replicate wins outside the Brazilian territory.
As a challenge: how many Brazilian companies can you name that hold leading positions outside their homeland?
March 11, 2011 at 11:17 am
Maybe it is difficult to replicate because at first chance everyone just copies without understanding cultural differences and other tabs that must be adjusted before deploying in another environment…
March 11, 2011 at 2:28 pm
Mario, the more general point I suppose is just to be aware of what other airlines and tech companies are doing in markets you may not fly to – sometimes I am surprised (not from readers of this blog) at how little interest some airline e-commerce executives seem to have in understanding or even knowing about the latest trends outside of their home market. Most may be market specific as you say, but if a person don’t know what is going on elsewhere then they’ll never be able to decide whether it is or isn’t relevant.