Sweden top destination for online marketing specialist

People working at desks with computers displaying graphs.

The online retail industry in Sweden is one of the strongest in Europe. Therefore the spending on digital advertising is increasing, which makes the country an attractive location for online marketing professionals.

According to the website online marketing trends Sweden ranks 3^rd in the world when it comes to the percentage of online purchases. One of the reasons is might positive attitude towards digital transactions in Sweden in general. The country is quickly on its way to becoming the first cashless society. Sweden’s central bank, predicts that cash transactions will just be a mere 0.5 percent of all transactions by 2020. Most of Sweden’s banks don’t carry cash anymore.

Contributing to this is Sweden’s payments sector, which provides services for retail. Sweden’s fintech scene is considered a major global player, having produced companies such as point-of-sale (POS) service iZettle and e-commerce payments processor Klarna.

Ecommerce is booming

In four years’ time, ecommerce in Sweden have increased by 45 percent, from almost 8 billion euros in 2013 to over 11.5 billion euros in 2017. It´s therefore no surprise that also the spendings in digital advertising are booming. According to the latest data from Institutet för Reklam-och Mediestatistik (IRM), total media ad spending in Sweden climbed 6% in 2016 to reach an all-time high of SEK34.9 billion ($4.08 billion). Digital was a major driver of growth, with ad spending in that category rising 21%.

The need for digital marketing specialists in Sweden is therefore increasing. It´s one of the reasons that the country is one of the worldwide hotspots for marketing professionals. According to a survey by Michael Page ranks 10^th on the list of most popular career destinations for people working in marketing.

Event marketing becoming more important

Over the course of the last decade, event marketing has been perceived as a pillar of a successful marketing campaign in several notable destinations. According to a recent study, budgets for event marketing in the United Kingdom are greater than general marketing spending. Last year, marketing budgets in the UK were reported to have risen by almost 10%.Due to the fierce competition for potential customers and clients on social media, It has become increasingly difficult for brands to connect to new consumers. “Traditional marketing has become less effective in breaking down people’s defense mechanisms”, explains Kerry Smith, founder of Event Marketing Institute, in business magazine Forbes. “Face-to-face interaction has become the best way to create chemistry, moving people and logistics focused on a one, two, or three-day period.”

The increasing popularity of event marketing has made Spain one of the top global marketing destinations for companies and marketing specialists alike. According to Michael Page’s survey of over 18,000 professionals worldwide, over 40% of marketing professionals who are willing to relocate for work see Spain as an ideal destination to boost their career prospects.

Barcelona ranks highly on all international lists of preferred cities for events: the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) ranks the Catalan capital second place, after Paris and before Madrid.

Outsourcing marketing services

Another development that favours Spain as a popular destination is the outsourcing of business process activities. Many companies find it difficult to justify spending money on permanent marketing employees, whereas outsourcing, or “centralising” services, provides an efficient alternative.

Worldwide many countries are profiting from this new trend. Among other European countries, Ireland – ranking 13th as most attractive destinations amongst marketers – has become one of the most important locations for customer experience centers. Huge global brands such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and Microsoft have all their headquarters stationed in Dublin.

Eastern-European countries like Poland, Romania and Bulgaria, and countries in Asia, such as India and the Philippines, have traditionally been attractive locations for companies to outsource their marketing operations. However the Iberian peninsula’s long-standing draw for tourism and the increased buoyancy of the national economy following the 2007-8 global financial crisis is serving to attract high quality candidates from abroad.

Ranking global hotspots for marketing professionals

For Trend Watch, PageGroup surveyed 18,352 job seekers worldwide, who applied on our Michael Page and Page Personnel websites during the 3rd quarter of 2017.

Of the 1,496 marketing professionals who participated in the study, 64% were willing to relocate, for job opportunities, a better salary or a different lifestyle.