BRICs and Port-ar: Driving global internet and mobile trends

In our latest research focus article, TGI’s Russ Budden looks at how mobile & the internet will influence the BRICs market; and why marketers cannot afford to ignore them…

The BRICs markets – Brazil, Russia, India and China – are under increasing focus, especially with Brazil and Russia holding major sporting events in the coming years.

As well as being seen as future cornerstones of the world economy, they are significant markets today in their own right. International marketers cannot afford to ignore them.

Overall their combined populations represent 42% of the world’s population, and although GDP levels are relatively low (representing 17% of the world’s GDP) with growth rates currently three or four times those of the western economies, the numbers entering the market for branded consumer goods will continue to increase rapidly.

If current growth rates continue, by 2025 it is predicted they could account for over half the size of the G7.  Of the current seven largest world economies, only the US may be among the seven largest in 2050. All four of the BRICs are likely to be represented.

For marketers these are the factors that make them exciting markets – or potential markets – but the associated rises are great. The cost of failure could be high… but so could the cost of not investing!

With regards to digital uptake, BRICs consumers are already pretty well connected – with internet penetration in the 50% for Brazil, Russia and China. This is still somewhat less than in the US and most major European markets, but it will continue to grow.

Internet penetration is lower in India, where PC penetration is much lower, and where the cost of access through the purchasing of a PC or laptop has remained an obstacle for more people for longer.

However, mobile phone penetration levels are notable – between 74% and 89% across the four BRICs, and comparable with ‘developed’ markets. Indeed, when looking at absolute numbers among the entire population in each country, the picture is even more telling.

This is particularly the case for India and China. The total number of SIM cards in circulation in 2009 was 500 million in India and over 750 million in China.  Some commentators estimate that by 2015 the numbers could reach 950 million in India and 1.15 billion in China.

On top of this, a large proportion of mobile phones sold are (and will increasingly be) internet-enabled.  This will be significant in many ways: in how people interact with each other, in the future of e-commerce and in how marketers will be able to communicate with consumers and prospective consumers.

Mobile internet will have a key role to play in communication in the future, and particularly for the BRICs.  In India, it seems likely that many consumers will come to access the internet via their mobile without ever having used ‘regular’ internet access.

Indeed, it is not surprising to see that consumers in the BRICs are just as likely as those in the US and Europe to be keen on keeping up with technological developments – close to half the population in each case. The BRICs are, and will continue to be, the sources of the most dynamic changes in digital consumption.

These findings are from Global TGI’s 2011 edition of ‘Brand Building in the BRICs’ – a free copy of the booklet can be downloaded at here.