deal united’s PAY.BY.SHOPPING is now available in Frogster’s international hit online game Runes of Magic. Players in Spain, France, Germany and the UK can get 300 virtual diamonds for use in the game when they complete a deal united offer.

Sound cool? Click here to play, and don’t wait too long — diamonds may be forever, but the deal only lasts through May 8.

deal united tips our hats to game publisher Ubisoft for their success at the German Computer Games Award 2011 on March 30. Ubisoft’s Die Siedler Online won the prize for “Best Browser Game,” while Yves Guillemot, Chairman and CEO the company, took home the prestigious LARA of Honour –  a distinction reserved for an individual who has significantly impacted the history of computer or video games.

We also get to enjoy a slice of the pie here at deal united, since Ubisoft recently integrated PAY.BY.SHOPPING into their award-winning game. Users can now earn gemstones for Die Siedler Online by shopping and purchasing in deal united partners’ online stores. Start building your own empire at www.diesiedleronline.de and collect some precious stones courtesy of deal united and our shopping partners.

Note: Game available in German language only.

Like deal united? Now you can “Like” us on Facebook, too! Visit our Facebook page to stay up-do-date on the latest deals and events at deal united.

This Thursday, March 24, deal united will be rubbing elbows with other movers and shakers from the online and media industries at the Online-Stammtisch München 2.0 (OSM). The meet-and-greet will throw together digital media executives and expertsfor a chance to exchange insights on current and ongoing hot topics in the field.

When we’re not listening to presentations from industry professionals or casually discussing online marketing and e-commerce, deal united will do some “speed networking,” in which participants rotate among potential contacts, chatting in 3-minute stints.

As a sponsor of Thursday’s OSM event, deal united will be represented by members of our Sales, Marketing and Product Management teams. If you’re heading out to the OSM this Thursday, we’ll see you there!

Sales are growing and so is our team. deal united is proud to welcome Markus Wiedemann as Head of Sales.

Coming to us with 13+ years of experience in the gaming and software industries, Markus will be in charge of our sales team as they work closely with clients in games, software and online services. He’s just in time to take the wheel as deal united continues expanding our sales and distribution in Europe.

“We’re excited to welcome Markus aboard,” said Dr. Jarg Temme, co-founder and CEO. “We’ve had a great start on what promises to be a year of growth and expansion, and with Markus on the team, we’re poised to take off.”

Markus spent the last five and a half years as Managing Director for central Europe at SEGA Germany, responsible for sales and marketing in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Prior to that, he was in charge of game developer Codemasters’ German branch for over seven years.

Markus cites confidence in both the deal united concept as well as the online payment industry as reasons for his switch. “This is a fast-growing market,” he said. “There’s lots of potential for the future, and I believe deal united’s innovative business model will be successful.”

For New and Existing Customers

Out with the old and in with the new. That’s how we’re greeting the arrival of springtime here at deal united, and we’re inviting our customers to do the same. Our “Spring Forward” special offer could significantly increase participating partners’ March revenue by rewarding those who shake out the cobwebs and spruce up their ad campaigns.

Existing customers just need to create a new campaign or produce fresh advertising material, and they will receive an extra €2 on every transaction from March 18th to March 28th – for a revenue increase of up to €250,000.

Not a deal united partner yet? Not a problem! Simply by registering with us no later than March 18th, brand new customers can get a piece of the March madness, too.

So don’t let your business “fall back” into settling for less. “Spring forward” with us and take advantage of this limited time offer.

The 2011 CeBIT trade show is already in full swing in Hannover, Germany. Taking place from March 1 – 5, CeBIT is the largest, most international gathering in the digital industry, combining exhibitions, conferences and keynotes into one can’t-miss event. This year’s keynote theme, “Work and Life with the Cloud,” shines a spotlight on Cloud computing, which experts have pinpointed as the fastest growing sector in the IT market. Visitors will also see exhibitions of over 4,200 companies from 70 countries and hear more than 30 international speakers discuss topics ranging from science to politics and business.

Matthias Niedermeier and Christine Bialowons will be representing deal united at CeBIT from March 3- 4. If you would like to meet them please contact merchant@dealunited.com or call Christine at 0171-216-1770.

Speak to global users in their monetary language

from deal united by Jürgen Weichert

Digital and virtual goods have several huge benefits from a business perspective.

A) They can be replicated with almost no variable cost.
B) They can be distributed all across the globe via the internet.

These points are great because they provide us with a powerful lever for scale. The idea of placing your product in front of a global audience and being able to deliver this product digitally is extremely compelling. I know I’m stating the obvious — this is why we are all in this business.

But (why does there always have to be a “but”?) it also confronts us with new challenges. The challenge is LOCALIZATION. Zynga, the social gaming giant from San Francisco, has launched their new game “CityVille.” It’s the first game that Zynga localized into several languages, including French, German, Italian, Spanish. But the localization goes further than just translation — CityVille’s French version allows the user to build an Eiffel Tower in his city. Even objects and surroundings are customized to the local user.

The same has been done by software publishers for many years.

But here’s the catch: so far, many big players in the gaming, software and digital media space put a lot of effort into translating their products. They even go the extra mile and add local relevant content. But too many stop at the point where a corporation should be paying close attention: monetization.

Payment preferences across the globe

You can’t assume that credit cards will do the trick across the globe, as many countries don’t have a relevant credit card distribution. Germany, for example, has a credit card distribution of about 20 million cards but a population of 83 million — most with plenty of buying power.

With this in mind, there are two options:

1) Wait until global credit card distribution increases
2) Offer local payment options

We recommend the latter. Why? Payment markets change slowly, and it is not wise to leave money on the table.

But how do I prioritize the integration of local payment options? Every country with a major online market has one, two or even three dominant methods of payment besides credit cards. Germany has bank transfers, the Netherlands use IDEAL, France uses Carte Bleue, Danish users like to pay with DanKard, Japan offers a range of convenience store payments and so on.

Of course, nobody can integrate everything at once. So the first thing to do is analyze data and prioritize according to three main criteria:

1) How many users do I have, and what countries are they from?
2) Are these countries tier 1 (U.S., UK, Germany, France, Japan…), tier 2 (Italy, Spain…) or tier 3 countries?
3) How time consuming would it be to conduct business after sorting my data according to the first two criteria?

How can I stay fast and efficient?

Well, of course it makes sense to use payment service providers (PSPs) and eCommerce Service Providers (ESPs). They’ve already done the work and integrated all these payment options. We can only recommend taking a look at the PSPs/ESPs on the market and analyzing whether they cover the regional payment options relevant to your user base. Also take a look at your future plans. There may be regions with expansion potential. The PSP should have links to these regions and be able to offer payment options in these areas. Because no matter what the sales guy says, integration with a PSP is a one-time effort — you shouldn’t have to repeat this often.

Expect neutrality from your PSP

A good PSP/ESP is a consultant for payment strategy. Hence, they must be neutral. Make sure that your PSP/ESP does not run payment as a side business.

In the meantime, it makes sense to complement your payment mix with PAY.BY.SHOPPING. Our payment service is completely localized, carrying relevant local advertisers on a global scale. What’s more, our local advertisers in each country offer your users the relevant payment options for their market.

(I hope you can excuse the shameless plug.)

Questions? Drop us an email at merchant@dealunited.com

Cheers,

Juergen

Casual Connect brings together the most talented and knowledgeable experts in the casual gaming field to further the casual games industry with the best of networking and learning.

The Casual Connect Europe event will take place in Hamburg from February 8th-10th, 2011. Torsten Bongartz (Senior Sales Manager) and Melanie Richter (Sales Manager) will be present. To make an appointment beforehand, please contact merchant@dealunited.com or stop by the deal united table no. 13 in Hall F.

From deal united by Torsten Bongartz

We all know from the fluctuation in our own bank accounts that in some seasons, for example the time around Mother’s Day, Easter and Christmas, people are in a giving mood and are willing to spend more money than usual on physical goods and gifts.

That being said, Christmas trade for 2010 seems quite promising for both online and offline retail sellers. According to the Kelkoo study, Europeans will spend 313 billion Euro ($420 billion) on holiday retail sales alone, and online shopping is expected to emerge as one of the key drivers for the entire industry. Compared to 2009, online revenue will increase up to 25.1% and generate a total revenue of 32 billion Euro ($ 44.5 billion).
deal united’s PAY.BY.SHOPPING allows you to harness this willingness to pay and increase your sales with special Christmas-themed campaigns.

So, how does it work?

You offer users a 2-for-1 deal: When they purchase a product at one of our advertising partners’ shops, they get your product at no cost. But don’t worry — in return, deal united pays you for the free virtual or digital good. Our partnerships with well-known brands like Gap, OTTO and Toys “R” Us make this possible and ensure that there’s an attractive offer for every consumer’s taste.  These offers are especially effective during the holidays, when our merchants have seen up to 100% increase in sales with us. For further information, you can request our case studies at http://www.dealunited.de/home/en/business/information.

It truly is an unbeatable bargain. Your users can purchase a Christmas gift they would buy anyway and get your product for free while you increase your sales and revenue.

We’ve made the whole thing possible in 3 steps:

• Launch  your Christmas campaign now at http://dealunited.de/public/default/register/merchant

• Add the deal united “Get it free” offer via banner, in-game message, login screen, teaser, newsletter or email.

• Increase your sales!

For further information, please contact merchant@dealunited.com