About this Author
John Yunker is founder of Byte Level Research and author of the widely acclaimed book, Beyond Borders: Web Globalization Strategies and editor of Global By Design. He has covered the emerging field of Web globalization for half a decade and has published a wide range of reports dedicated to best practices in Web localization and internationalization.
About this blog
Going Global focuses on the risks and rewards of expanding into new geographic and cultural markets, from Web globalization to international marketing to global usability.
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Monthly Archives
July 29, 2004
Posted by John Yunker
Amazon recently released Q2 numbers, and, as we predicted, international sales are now solidly driving Amazon's growth. Take a look at the sales breakdown between North America and International:
If the trend holds, by the end of this year international sales will surpass North American sales. And when you focus on just the core media business, international could outperfom North America in Q3.
Now, how will this trend affect Amazon and its competitors? Here are a few thoughts...
1. For the folks in charge of Web globalization, this is great news. I'm quite confident that Amazon has at least two new localized Web sites in the works and would not be surprised to see half a dozen new sites launched over the next two years. What countries will be next? I would look for China, India, Russia and Spain.
2. Amazon will launch a more effective "global gateway" on its .com Web site. I have long felt that Amazon needed better global navigation on its .com Web site because studies consistently show that international Web users often first visit the .com Web site of a company (assuming that there is no localized Web site or that there is a link to this Web site). I realize that Amazon advertises locally and hosts the sites using country-specific domain names, but more can always be done here. Ultimately, all first-time visitors to Amazon.com will be asked to select a country/language preference.
3. Tensions will rise between Seattle employees and international employees. I've witnessed this at other companies, and it can be difficult to avoid. The folks that work at headquarters get comfortable viewing the in-country offices as "satellite" offices. But these satellites are collectively going to be more important to Amazon's future than HQ. Will this lead to a loss of jobs in Seattle? Will people in the country offices get a boost up the corporate ladder? These are questions that everyone will be asking as Amazon transitions from a US company serving the globe to a global company serving the globe.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization | Web Globalization
Posted by John Yunker
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 avaiable upon request.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization | Cultural Issues | Translation | Web Globalization
July 26, 2004
Posted by John Yunker
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.
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:
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.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization | Translation | Web Globalization
July 11, 2004
Posted by John Yunker
Amy Campbell alerted us to The Modern Language Association Language Map. It's an interactive tool for analyzing language speakers in the US by county and ZIP code, based on the 2000 census. Here is an excerpt of Spanish speakers in California:
Did you know that more than 350 languages were reported in the 2000 census?
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July 9, 2004
Posted by John Yunker
Microsoft has greatly expanded its globalization resources Web site over the past few years. Although much of it is geared toward software developers, Web developers will also find useful nuggets of information. If you haven't been, it's definitely worth a look: http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev.
According to last week's newsletter, here are a few of the latest additions to the site:
A new section called Perspectives (http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/perspectives/default.mspx) features articles highlighting different topics and issues that are of interest to users from different parts of the world.
Language Collection and Fonts in Windows XP: Article on the fonts that ship with Windows XP (http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/handson/dev/font_install_xp.aspx).
International Support in Outlook Express: How to set up Outlook Express to support other languages in your e-mails or newsgroup communications (http://www.microsoft.com/globaldev/handson/user/OE_setting1.mspx).
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Software Localization
July 5, 2004
Posted by John Yunker
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.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization
July 3, 2004
Posted by John Yunker
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.
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.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization | Web Globalization
July 1, 2004
Posted by John Yunker
Here's a short but useful piece in WebProNews on improving search engine results across foreign search portals. The most important tip is this: if you want to do well in other markets, you need to register your Web site in country-specific domains.
For the article, click here.
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+ TrackBacks (0) | Category: Business Globalization
Posted by John Yunker
The search engine war in China has long been heated, but Yahoo! recently upped the stakes with the launch of a new search portal: www.yisou.com.
It sure looks a lot like Google's search portal, underscoring the dramatic success Google has enjoyed in this market over the past few years.
Consider these impressive stats from The Miami Herald:
China is currently second to the United States in Internet users (at 80 million in 2003 compared to our 185 million) but will surpass the United States within five years, according to Forbes Global. On any given day, nine of the world's 25 busiest websites are situated in China. Yahoo! and eBay are coming on strong in competition with locally entrenched portals. Even without China-based offices, Google attracts 40 percent of China's search users.
Clearly, the search portal that wins in China will have the lead in users globally. While Google has the lead today, I suspect that an entirely new search engine, likely based in China itself, may be that leader five years from now.
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