Category Archives: Business globalization

Web Globalization Back on the “Front Burner”

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Two months ago I began interviewing executives at a number of large multinationals about their global Web sites. As you know, I’ve been following this industry for many years now, and it has certainly seen its ups and downs along the way.

But I can say now that Web globalization is definitely back on the “front burner,” to quote one of the people I spoke with. Granted, most executives still believe that their global Web sites are underfunded and overlook a number of key markets (and I certainly agree). But they also believe that the momentum within their companies is shifting in their favor.

This is good news for globalization software and services vendors and ultimately good news for the companies themselves. Web globalization is inevitable for most companies, so it stands to reason that those companies who embrace it sooner rather than later will gain a competitive advantage.

The results of my interviews, as well as case studies of companies like IBM, Ikea, Wal-Mart and Starbucks, can be found in our latest report: Web Globalization and the World’s Largest Companies.

A free report excerpt is available upon request.

China: 80 Million Internet Users And Just Getting Started

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According to a new report from the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) — the country’s Internet regulatory body — China now has 31 million broadband Internet subscribers, an increase of 79% over the past six months. Total Internet users (broadband and narrowband) number more than 81 million.

Contrast that with the US, in which there are roughly 48 million broadband subscribers and more than 140 million overall Internet users.

The US is still in the lead, for now. But China is only just awakening to the Internet. In the CNNIC report, a wealth of demographic and usage data points to continued growth. The following exhibit shows Internet users by age. More than half of all users — i.e., more than 40 million — are under 24 years of age.

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And these young people love to shop. According to the report, more than half of Chinese Internet users plan to start shopping online in the coming year.

But don’t expect these shoppers to go browsing English-language Web sites. Consider this statistic from the CNNIC report, showing language preference of these Internet users:

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Any company that is doing business in China or hopes to do business in China needs a Chinese-language Web site. That’s step one. Step two will be to create a Chinese Web site that’s better than the competition.

But first steps first…

The CNNIC report can be downloaded here.

eBay: Think Globally; Test Locally

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ZDNet News UK reports that eBay Australia will no longer allow sellers to set a reserve price. According to the article, “eBay maintains that reserves actually put off buyers, citing an August 2003 study which found auctions without a reserve had a 34 per cent higher sell-through rate.”

Could Australia foreshadow the end of reserves in other eBay markets, specifically the US? I suspect so. But I find this development particularly interesting because it highlights the value of local testing, as well as the brutal transparency of the Internet.

eBay could have removed reserves globally in one fell swoop; instead, it begins with a much smaller market, one rather similar to the US, and it will soon discover if consumers embrace it or not. The more localized Web sites a company supports, the more opportunities that company has to test products, pricing and promotions locally. Global product launches or modifications aren’t always the best idea.

Finally, the transparency of the Internet provides a warning for all eBay sellers in other markets to lock in your reserves now before it’s too late.

World’s Largest Hotel Chain Expanding Global Web Sites

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Localization firm SDL recently announced that Best Western has signed up for SDL’s “Knowledge-based Translation System” to better manage its global Web sites. According to the press release, the “implementation will involve translation of more than four million words on four thousand web sites plus daily updates into four languages: French, Spanish, Italian and German.”

Best Western wants to increase the amount of localized content on each hotel Web site, but doing so manually is simply too expensive. SDL’s solution involves using a mix of translation memory, machine translation and workfow software to keep translation costs and turnaround time low.

Both companies estimate that Best Western will save $2 million in translation costs within the first year of operation. Clearly, machine translation (MT) is playing a key role in the savings. But is machine translation really ready for prime time?

SDL thinks so, and I agree. The key to success, however, is workflow. You can’t use MT as a last step or an only step and you need to carefully control the type of content you expect MT to handle. But if you do it right, MT can help you expand the amount of localized content without blowing the budget. The main reason I believe MT will succeed is that companies today simply have much more content than budget, and this won’t chane anytime soon. MT can help companies get more localization bang for their buck, and this will translate into a real competitive advantage. However, the road to successful MT is long and many companies will fail along the way. It will be very interesting to see how Best Western does in the months ahead.

PS: Here is the current Best Western global gateway.

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I like the globe icon, but this gateway will need to be improved to more effectively direct traffic to the localized sites. It needs to be moved to the top of the page and the pull-down menu needs rethinking. I recommend a splash gateway for starters. The global gateway may seem trivial, but it can make a big difference when it comes to traffic – the metric most often used to measure the success of local Web sites.