In spite of a troubled global economy, Gartner, which is the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, says worldwide sales of customer relationship marketing (CRM) solutions totalled $9.15 billion in 2008. That, they note, is a 12.5 per cent increase from 2007 revenue of $8.13 billion. A major reason why? Emerging markets, which of course means emerging markets labeling (which mostly require GS1 compliance).
According to Sharon Mertz, research director at Gartner: “Actual market growth was moderated by a stronger dollar but reflects higher contributions from emerging markets.” Further, according to this news release, while CRM remains most popular in developed nations, its share is growing in emerging markets: While the CRM market remains highly concentrated in Western economies, emerging markets are growing rapidly and now account collectively for nearly 16 per cent of the worldwide market, up from approximately 13.8 per cent in 2006.
This is another data point demonstrating that there is money to be made in emerging markets for corporations in developed nations that are willing and able to mount appropriate initiatives. Oh, and don’t forget you’re going to need labels to ship and have product in those places (most of which, by the way, are GS1 adopters. The US, as we’ve pointed out before, is the laggard.)
GHS and Regulatory Labeling Challenges in the New Era 
