Ciao UK Blog

Goodbye to the king of pop

Today people around the world mourn the passing of Michael Jackson. We all remember our favourite songs from the heyday of his career – whether it’s Bad, Thriller or the infamous Smooth Criminal. And who could forget the one-handed glove, the famous fedora and of course the birth of the Moonwalk?

 

If you’re looking to reminisce about the glory days of one of the greatest pop stars the world has ever known, you can check out his discography here. Alternatively, learn a bit more about the man behind the music thanks to one of the many biographies and books available.

 

In the wake of this tragedy let’s not forget to celebrate the life and work of the legend who started his illustrious career as the smallest member of the Jackson Five and would later record the best selling album of all time.

 

In the words of the Ciao community:

• “There is no other album like Michael Jackson's Thriller - even after 25 years it still remains a class above the rest”

• “This is the best that music gets”

• “Truly a distinctive artist… it is indisputable that he remains, on the basis of his music alone, one of the most memorable artists of our time”

Germany named the least popular holiday destination

New research from the Ciao community shows how Europeans really feel about each other's countries.

We asked our members in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain how they really feel about visiting each other’s countries. The results were clear: Germany is Europe’s least favourite holiday destination, and it’s all thanks to the people!

Key facts

• The most popular countries in Europe are Spain (28.8%), Italy (25.4%), France (21.2%), the UK (15.4%) and Germany (9.2%)
• The things people liked most about their chosen country are the landscape (43%), the weather (19%), the people (16.8%), the food (16.6%) and the nightlife (4.6%)
• Asked for the least popular holiday destinations people chose Germany (30.4%) the UK (26.6%), Italy (22%), France (13.8%) and Spain (7.2%)
• Things people do not like in the country they chose not to go to are the weather (31.6%), the people (31.4%) the food, (17.6%), the nightlife (12%) and the landscape (7.4%)

30% of respondents across Europe named Germany as their least favourite destination and claimed that the unfriendly people were the reason for their choice. The only exception was made by the Germans, 40% of whom named the UK as their least favourite destination and claimed the weather was the reason.

Respondents from Britain, France and Spain rated their own countries as their favourite place for a European holiday. For the Brits and the Spanish it’s the beautiful landscapes and rolling hills that make them want to stay at home – while perhaps unsurprisingly the French rate their own cooking more highly than the rest of Europe and would much rather stick with what they know!

The countryside was rated as a high driver in the holiday decision making process and may explain why the Germans and Italians prefer to go abroad: the Germans to Italy and the Italians to Spain.

What do you think? What is your favourite holiday destination? Leave us a comment below or head over to Ciao for reviews of your holiday favourites

Tom Hyde speaks on managing User Generated Content at Internet World 2009

In this three-part video Tom Hyde, Teamleader E-Commerce at ciao.co.uk, shares his tips on how to manage User Generated Content and online reviews. Part 1 examines the growing influence of UGC on the online shopper’s decision-making process, and the use of the internet as a search tool for consumers. Part 2 looks at the value of opinions and reviews, and how to use them to benefit your brand as well as incentivising customers to write them. Part 3 explains how ciao.co.uk works as an online shopping community, and the benefits it brings to consumers and brands alike.

Listen up UK! French outshine fellow Europeans by taking Mother’s Day most seriously

With Father’s Day coming up on June 21st, there are some shocking results for UK parents in our recent Ciao community survey: most Europeans shower mums with gifts to say sorry for lack of face time on Mother’s Day while the French are the most dedicated in terms of spending this important annual occasion with their mums.

Our members in France, Spain, Italy and Germany bought gifts to compensate for face-to-face time when it comes to Mother’s Day, which occurs on different days between March to June across Europe. French children take Mother’s Day most seriously, outshining European peers:

• 46% spend the day with their mums
• 71% surprise them with a gift
• 26% invest more than 50 Euros to show their mums how much they care, far more than children across the rest of Europe.

Bringing up the rear are the Germans – only one in three of them saw their mum on the day itself.

When it comes to the type of gift, there were two clear favourites:

• 45% planned to buy their mum a creative gift and
• 41% planned to buy flowers.
• Chocolates , beauty products and vouchers are the least favourite presents.

Harald Schiffauer, our Sales Director E-Commerce Europe, gave his opinion: "We know that family culture is important in Europe and it seems that the French are taking this important occasion more seriously than anybody else in Europe. It’s official, French mums are Europe’s most cared for!”

Let this be advance warning for Father’s Day – head over to Ciao to check out popular items before the day to make your dad smile.

Ciao becomes part of Bing – the new search experience from Microsoft

We are delighted to announce an exciting change at ciao.co.uk.

From now on Ciao will play an integral part in Microsoft’s new search engine Bing and will take the role of primary product search in UK. Additionally Ciao will be introduced as the new shopping engine on the UK MSN portal.

What does this mean for our members?
Apart from a modernized and updated design for the new, integrated Ciao, all the functionalities members enjoy will stay exactly the same. Additionally users can now expose their personal shopping knowledge and experience (as product, service or retailer reviews as well as product videos or product list) to an even wider range of consumers accessing Ciao’s passionate and engaged International community directly via Bing and MSN.

You might also notice new links in the header which allow you to search the new Bing (for web results, images, news or other results) and directly access MSN.

We hope you like the new design and look forward to hearing your thoughts! If you have any questions please contact us via the comments below!