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DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNET-MARKETING INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION
Akhmetova Z. B., Candidate of Economy Science, Associate professor, Kim I. A., 2nd course master student
Kazakhstan, Almaty, al-Farabi Kazakh National University
ABSTRACT_
The research purpose is an identification of current conditions for EAES countries' internet infrastructure in influence aspect on the region Internet marketing development.
Methodology. A wide range of analytical techniques were used during steps of research. Such as: statistical analysis, forecasting, comparison, theoretical generalization, statistical data processing. The index of information and communication technologies, the number and proportion of direct Internet users and households, the bandwidth of Internet, information legislation were elected as basic characterizing indicators.
The value of the work lies in the relevance of subjects, which was confirmed by the intensive development of Internet technologies and their implementation in the economic processes.
Findings. As a result of the statistical analysis, pace and spread of processing technology were inspected as to whole region and on a standalone basis for all countries. In addition, characteristics of the Internet market and the level of legal regulatory framework have been described in details. It should be noted that, despite the relative spontaneity of the EAEC Internet market, the development trend has a positive direction for all countries. Besides, there are all preconditions to achieve global indices in EAEC countries.
Introduction. At the present time, the infosphere is becoming to systemically important factor for life of society. Media sources have a direct influence on the development of socio-economic and political spheres.
At the same time, the usage of modern information dissemination technologies allows to increase the access coverage. Under these conditions, the Internet marketing begins to be used as a real and effective influence tool. The relevance of this issue is confirmed by the growing number of Internet users all over the world, and in separated regions at the same time [1].
The purpose of research is study of Internet technology spread conditions in a territory of the EAEC with the perspective of influence on the development of online marketing in the region.
Development of the Internet marketing market has different rates, depending on the study area. In this article, countries of Eurasian Economic Union were selected as a separate region of the study. Existence of common trends and market formation conditions, relationship and interaction of the countries were elected as maim research criteria of the region by reason of economic area general trades. As a result, the analysis was conducted in the following countries: Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Armenia.
During the work process with the market characteristics, indicators of information communications availability have been evaluated in the first instance. Preconditions and infrastructure of the Internet marketing is provided by a number of information indicators and countries' technological development.
Research methods and main results
One of the main indicators which characterize development level of the countries in this field is the index of information and communication technologies (ICT Development Index).
IDI is a combined index, representative of countries' achievements by the aspect of information and communication technologies development (ICT).
IDI Development Index could be represented as a composite index and standard measure that includes 11 indicators. This index allows us to estimate the pace and level of communication technologies development of each country for a certain period of time.
ARTICLE INFO
Received 2 February 2017 Accepted 14 February 2017 Published 10 March 2017
KEYWORDS
information technology,
internet marketing,
regional communications
development,
EAEC,
the index of Information Development.
© 2017 The Authors.
IDI rankings include evaluating the three sub-indices:
The access sub-index - reflects a level of information technologies with five positions: fixed telephony and the Internet; cellular communications; level of Internet traffic; households with computers and households with access to the Internet.
The sub-index of the application and usage characterizes the intensity of Internet usage by individuals through mobile and fixed access of broadband connection.
Sub-index of infrastructure level consists from proxy indicators which have influence to the development of information technologies (educational level of the population, the average period of population education etc.) In the calculation of the IDI index such gives the smallest deal [2].
In this article, described indicator was used to reflect the level of Internet technologies development in the countries of the EAEC in comparison with international standards.
As specified in research purpose rating table 1 was compiled according to the International Telecommunication Union report (International Telecommunication Union) «Measuring the Information Society Report». Data for the study region were considered and separated from the global reports. The table shows data for the 2015-2016 years, reflecting the country's place in the ranking, as well as the amount of IDI indicator.
According to statistical data, EAEC countries' rating scale is plural. Belarus and Russia have the highest rates, which puts them in the category of developed countries ranking, while the rest of countries are included in the quartile of developing countries.
The leader of the region is Belarus with the 31 rank in the global top list, besides, in comparison with 2015, the index has increased to 7.26 units. The Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Armenia take up appropriate position - 43, 52, 71. IDI index for these countries is in the range 6.95 -5.3 units. Significant increase in the index compared to 2015 is not observed [3].
Table 1. IDI rankings and values, 2016 and 2015
Country Rank 2016 IDI2016 Rank 2015 IDI2015
Belarus 31 7,26 33 7,02
Russian Federation 43 6,95 42 6,79
Kazakhstan 52 5,57 52 5,42
Armenia 71 5,60 71 5,34
Kyrgyzstan 113 3,99 108 3,85
Source: data compiled by authors on the basis of references [2, 3]
The most dramatic decline is observed in Kyrgyzstan, in 2016 the country's rate fell five tops.
In the following step of research analysis of individual market indicators have been considered in more detail.
Consolidation table № 2 illustrates indicators of the total population, number of Internet users, growth rate of Internet users in the context of the five countries. All the indicators are weighted averages for the year.
Take account of average reading, the highest rates of growth in users has been defined in the Republic of Kazakhstan (21%) and Armenia (19%).
The average rate of increase for Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Russia have the corresponding figures of 13%, 14%, 12%. Despite this, the greatest number of users on the result of 2015 year is observed in Kazakhstan (78 per hundred people) and Russia (73 per hundred people).
The lowest figure for this position was determined from Kyrgyzstan, here, only 30 out of 100 people provided with access to the Internet. In general, there is a growth tendency of network users in all countries.
Slight increase of subscribers could be connected with lack of Internet coverage in extremely remote areas. For example, almost all Internet users are urban dwellers, as well as residents of suburban settlements, this fact is explained due to the technical specifics of the network.
A number of other basic annual indicators for each country were combined in a table 3. Within the scope of the study, some indicators which form online marketing infrastructure have been studied comprehensively. There are: number of mobile subscribers, Internet bandwidth, share of households with computers and access to Internet.
The highest share of computer availability and Internet access is observed in Russia and Kazakhstan, indicators exceeded 70% in 2015. Excess of users with open access to the Internet over the amount of equipment could be explained by inclusion of weighted average mobile Internet subscribers.
Table 2. The number of Internet users, by taking into account of population size, between 2010-2015
Year General population Number of Internet users (per hundred people) Accession rate of Internet users (%)
Armenia
2010 2963496 25 -
2011 2967984 32 28%
2012 2978339 38 19%
2013 2992192 42 11%
2014 3006154 55 31%
2015 3017712 58 5%
Belarus
2010 9490000 32 -
2011 9473000 40 25%
2012 9464000 47 18%
2013 9466000 54 15%
2014 9483000 59 9%
2015 9513000 62 5%
Kazakhstan
2010 16321581 32 -
2011 16556600 51 59%
2012 16791425 53 4%
2013 17035275 63 19%
2014 17289224 66 5%
2015 17544126 78 18%
Kyrgyzstan
2010 5447900 16 -
2011 5514600 18 13%
2012 5607200 20 11%
2013 5719600 23 15%
2014 5835500 28 22%
2015 5957000 30 7%
Russian Federation
2010 142849449 43 -
2011 142960868 49 14%
2012 143201676 64 31%
2013 143506911 68 6%
2014 143819569 71 4%
2015 144096812 73 3%
Source: data compiled by authors on the basis of references [4, 5]
The outsider in these categories became Kyrgyzstan, this fact is largely due to the economic situation of shit. Geographical location had significant influence in the Internet bandwidth allocation among countries. As a result, laid transit lines with European countries positively influenced for Belarus, the index value amounted to 139,374 bits per second; while in other countries the rate observed several times smaller.
The number of subscriptions will consider the relative value of mobile communication, as many citizens according to statistics have multiple subscriptions to different networks.
Table 3. Qualificative indicators of information technology sphere, by countries, 2015
Country Cellular subscribing (per hundred people) International Internet bandwidth (bits per second) per Internet user Households with a computer (%) Households with Internet access (%)
Armenia 115,1 67 871 64,7 56,2
Belarus 123,6 139 374 63,1 59,1
Kazakhstan 187,2 69 615 73,8 82,2
Kyrgyzstan 132,8 7 357 19,5 16,5
Russian Federation 160,0 26 845 72,5 72,1
Source: data compiled by authors on the basis of references [6]
According to the results of statistical analysis it's possible to make number of conclusions. First of all, there is a positive trend in the number of Internet users for the study region. Several countries of the EAEC has a level of development close to the world ratings and standards.
However, at present time there is a slowdown in development, which confirms the presence of certain constraints. In connection with this, the next stage of the study were examined the most significant factors influencing the scope of Internet Marketing: Internet security, legislation and market specificity [7, 8].
One of the indicators for Internet market is level of resource security. It displays a number of secure servers means the number of servers that ensure secure transactions over the Internet.
Secure servers use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for data encryption and decryption to protect it from unauthorized interception. Figure 1 illustrates the number of secure Internet servers per 1 million populations by country [9].
In order to determine the level of Internet transactions security data of the European Union have been used as a comparative index.
96?
Russian Kazakhstan Belaius Kyrgyzstan Armenia EU Federation
Fig. 1. Secure servers per 1 million people
As clearly seen from the chart, the highest number of secure servers are observed in Russia (126 u/million people), Belarus (u/million people), Armenia (49 u/million people). Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan have the figures at 18 and 11 units per million people. Despite this, the level of the indicator under study in the European Union ranges from 965 u/million people, that is ten times higher than the weighted average for the EU.
The analysis shows a lack of development level in a sphere of digital-security in the study region, thus a reduced level of trust in e-commerce on the part of consumer audience. A certain fact is a deterrent for domestic development of Internet network in each of the regions [10].
Characteristics of the legislative framework formed in Table 4.
As it could be seen from the table, all countries except Kyrgyzstan have formed the legal basis for the commission of electronic transactions, data security and cybercrime.
In contrast to international experience, data protection of online consumer rights are not available, or are hidden from public access. Despite this, in general, the legislative provision in the field of information technology sector can be considered sufficient, however, most of the citizens are not familiar with their rights, and do not operate these knowledge in practice.
Table 4. Availability of legislation in key areas of cyber laws
EAEU member states Electronic transactions Consumer protection Privacy and data protection Cybercrime
Armenia Yes - Yes Yes
Belarus Yes No Yes Yes
Russian Federation Yes - Yes Yes
Kazakhstan Yes - Yes Yes
Kyrgyzstan Yes - Yes -
Source: data compiled by authors on the basis of references [11, 12, 13]
Conclusion. As it revealed in the course of analysis, digital market of region has delighted distinctive features. Based on the study, it could be highlighted a number of common characteristics:
1. Locality. By comparison of researched countries and the European Union, it's possible to note the difference in the impact level of the global players in the market.
On the territory of the EAEC countries there are a number of local search engines and social networks. Promotion in local markets in large part tied to Yandex, Mail and related services.
Social networks have a similar situation. Facebook has not absolutely leading position in a most countries of region, however, there are a significant proportion of users who are actively using social networks VKontakte and Odnoklassniki. Positions of Facebook and Twitter that are traditional for western countries could be strong only in large metropolitan areas [14].
2. Approach to promotion. In foreign markets strategic approach is preferred to advertising and promotion, while in the EAEU countries orientation has a point in nature and strategic focus.
Therefore, companies focus on separate tools, which leads to fragmentation promoting that significantly reduces its efficiency.
3. The composite market. Market of EAEC countries has a composite character, that is, consists of many smaller sectors. Every country has its own peculiarities, but in general, market is not characterized by the fierce level of competition [15].
According to the results of this article, statistical analysis of the Internet marketing infrastructure factors in territory of EAEC countries were clearly studied. The major trends in the industry were highlighted as well.
The level of cyber security market and legislation has been identified as specific characteristics. On the whole, despite a number of shortcomings in the legal system and security, Internet market has a well-developed infrastructure to achieve world-class performance.
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