In most locations, the term ‘Google it’ is synonymous with searching. Such has been the widespread popularity of Google that the term ‘Google’ has become a verb (Ferrell & Hartline, 2008). However, despite the success of the search engine in various locations, entry into certain Asian markets has been unsuccessful.
Local search engines are still the dominant players in these countries (Kennedy & Hauksson, 2012). China, South Korea, and Japan are some of the Asian countries where Google is a minor player in the industry. In South Korea, Naver is the dominant search engine. The company accounts for 76% of internet searches.
On the other hand,s Google and Yahoo each account for a mere 3% of the internet searches. Naver has several features that make it more popular with South Koreans than Google. Unlike Google, Naver is a portal that incorporates “news, e-mail, discussion groups, stock market information, videos, restaurant reviews” among other features (Peng, 2011, p. 347).
Naver also caters for the interests of South Koreans. The search engine produces results that are relevant in the South Korea. In addition, Naver’s ‘Knowledge Search’ has a database that enables users to ask questions to each other and provide answers. If the answer is not correct, users can change the answer Wikipedia-style. Knowledge Search has a system that rewards points to people who submit questions and rates the answers provides by other users (Peng, 2011).
The above features are non-existent in Google. Therefore, the features provide Naver with a competitive edge over Google. In Japan, Google and Yahoo! Japan are the major search engines. Google has a market share of slightly less than 40%, whereas Yahoo! Japan has a market share of slightly more than 50%.
The Japanese economic system is the major factor that has led to the success of the foreign companies in the market. The Japanese market promotes the development of free enterprises. This has led to the success of the American search engines in the country. On the other hand, the Chinese market has several restrictions. These reduce the likelihood of success of foreign companies in the market.
In fact, in 2010, government censorship of Google made the company threaten to withdraw from the Chinese market (Herold & Marolt, 2011). On the other hand, the inability of Google to provide services that would enable it compete effectively with Naver is the main reason for the company’s failure in South Korea. Naver provides information that is relevant to the South Korean society.
In addition, Naver pioneered the presentation of search results from different categories on the same page (Peng, 2011). Naver competes with Google using the basis of quality of products. Naver displays search results that are relevant to the South Korean society. The launch of Naver in other countries would be a success if it follows a similar path.
Naver should provide results that are relevant in these countries. Relevance of search results would lead to the gradual increase in the popularity of the search engine. This would enable it to rival the dominance of existing search engines. However, understanding the needs of a foreign society would be a hard task for Naver to achieve.
The addition products of the search engine would help in attracting and retaining users. Naver can effectively compete with Google since its competition is based on quality (Hoskisson, Hitt & Ireland, 2008). Relevance of search results determines the popularity of a search engine.
Google’s rise to become the world’s leading search engine is due to the ability of the search engine to display relevant results. However, Google has been unable to replicate its global success in South Korea. The added features of Naver and its ability to display relevant results is the main factor that has led to Google’s failure in South Korea.
References
Ferrell, O.C. & Hartline, M.D. (2008). Marketing strategy, 4th Ed. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Herold, D.K. & Marolt, P. (2011). Online society in China. Oxon: Taylor & Francis.
Hoskisson, R.E., Hitt, M.A. & Ireland, R.D. (2008). Competing for advantage. Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Kennedy, A.F. & Hauksson, K.M. (2012). Global search engine marketing: Fine-tuning your international search engine results. Indianapolis, IN: Que Publishing.
Peng, Mike, W. (2011). Global business. Mason, OH: South Western Cengage Learning.