P wants to move up on the web
Internet With the acquisition of the online portal Zanox, PubliGroupe is entering the virtual sales channel.
Internet With the purchase of the online portal Zanox, PubliGroupe discovers the virtual distribution channel. The future lies on the Internet. This has been made clear by the takeover news in recent weeks. PubliGroupe caused quite a stir in the media. Together with Axel Springer Verlag, the Lausanne-based company is buying the Berlin-based online marketing portal Zanox for 215 million euros. The acquisition is a commitment to the booming Internet business. The Swiss offline dinosaur wants to equip itself for the digital business of tomorrow.
The trend: advertising investments will increase by 50 percent worldwide, according to a study by Google and the British industry association CBI. As sales from traditional media are dwindling every year, PubliGroupe is betting on the web. Which has its price. The acquisition of the portal is the most expensive purchase in the company's history to date.
"The acquisition will have an impact on all business areas," said PubliGroupe CEO Hans-Peter Rohner at the press conference. As the traditional value chains are being put to the test, the digital business must be systematically expanded. Rohner left open how the company intends to use Zanox's technologies. However, he was obviously impressed by the vision of the Berlin-based company. Their ambitious goal: "We want to monetize the Internet." The Zanox founders were self-confident at the press conference in the posh Mariott Hotel: "The vision has worked quite well to date." The company is growing by 100 percent every year. Money is mainly earned with affiliate marketing. Unlike marketers of banner advertising, Zanox works with a "success-based online marketing solution".
This can be compared with the classic agency model. For example, an advertiser places a link on a website (publisher) in order to sell its goods or services. Zanox assumes the role of intermediary between advertiser and publisher. The company brings the two parties together and handles the technical and commercial services. If a purchase is made, for example if the user follows a coded link, the publisher receives a commission from the advertiser and Zanox receives remuneration from the publisher. The principle works according to the same rules as when a sales representative sells a vacuum cleaner to a customer. The interesting thing about the online solution is that a bookseller only has to pay for a campaign or an advertisement if a purchase is made. This is not the case with banner campaigns.
Affiliate marketing is a promising concept. Hardly any other discipline is currently booming so strongly online. Zanox is still the only provider in 30 countries on all five continents. But the competition is not sleeping. The search engine giant Google is also entering the cost-per-action market. In addition to Zanox, other affiliate platforms such as TradeDoubler, ValueClick and Affilinet are also bringing a lot of movement to the market.
The purchase will open up an attractive market for PubliGroupe and Axel Springer Verlag. Germany is one of the leading e-commerce nations in Europe with a turnover of 15 billion euros. If the experts at Forrester Research have their way, this development will accelerate and grow disproportionately worldwide. This is why Zanox wants to increase its reach to publishers from 1 million to 50 million over the next few years. This will not be difficult with the PubliGroup network. The takeover will enable the Swiss media group to market 80,000 of its customers with the help of Zanox, which will translate into hard cash. However, the competition between Google and PubliGroupe will also be more exciting in the coming years. According to a growing number of reports, the search engine giant is planning to enter the offline business. Conversely, the Swiss media group operates the recently launched search platform local.ch.
Christian Lüscher
The trend: advertising investments will increase by 50 percent worldwide, according to a study by Google and the British industry association CBI. As sales from traditional media are dwindling every year, PubliGroupe is betting on the web. Which has its price. The acquisition of the portal is the most expensive purchase in the company's history to date.
"The acquisition will have an impact on all business areas," said PubliGroupe CEO Hans-Peter Rohner at the press conference. As the traditional value chains are being put to the test, the digital business must be systematically expanded. Rohner left open how the company intends to use Zanox's technologies. However, he was obviously impressed by the vision of the Berlin-based company. Their ambitious goal: "We want to monetize the Internet." The Zanox founders were self-confident at the press conference in the posh Mariott Hotel: "The vision has worked quite well to date." The company is growing by 100 percent every year. Money is mainly earned with affiliate marketing. Unlike marketers of banner advertising, Zanox works with a "success-based online marketing solution".
This can be compared with the classic agency model. For example, an advertiser places a link on a website (publisher) in order to sell its goods or services. Zanox assumes the role of intermediary between advertiser and publisher. The company brings the two parties together and handles the technical and commercial services. If a purchase is made, for example if the user follows a coded link, the publisher receives a commission from the advertiser and Zanox receives remuneration from the publisher. The principle works according to the same rules as when a sales representative sells a vacuum cleaner to a customer. The interesting thing about the online solution is that a bookseller only has to pay for a campaign or an advertisement if a purchase is made. This is not the case with banner campaigns.
Affiliate marketing is a promising concept. Hardly any other discipline is currently booming so strongly online. Zanox is still the only provider in 30 countries on all five continents. But the competition is not sleeping. The search engine giant Google is also entering the cost-per-action market. In addition to Zanox, other affiliate platforms such as TradeDoubler, ValueClick and Affilinet are also bringing a lot of movement to the market.
The purchase will open up an attractive market for PubliGroupe and Axel Springer Verlag. Germany is one of the leading e-commerce nations in Europe with a turnover of 15 billion euros. If the experts at Forrester Research have their way, this development will accelerate and grow disproportionately worldwide. This is why Zanox wants to increase its reach to publishers from 1 million to 50 million over the next few years. This will not be difficult with the PubliGroup network. The takeover will enable the Swiss media group to market 80,000 of its customers with the help of Zanox, which will translate into hard cash. However, the competition between Google and PubliGroupe will also be more exciting in the coming years. According to a growing number of reports, the search engine giant is planning to enter the offline business. Conversely, the Swiss media group operates the recently launched search platform local.ch.
Christian Lüscher
