Adventures in web globalization, since 2002
The Wall Street Journal features a good article on companies hiring locally as they expand globally. Although the article focuses on China, I suspect that it would apply to many emerging markets these days. Says the article: According to Taihe …
The Google Blog says that “over the past four years, Google has billed advertisers in 65 countries more than $11.2 billion in 48 currencies, and made payments to advertising partners of more than $3.9 billion. ” While the margins are …
A few years ago I spoke with an executive at a Fortune 500 company who confidently explained why his company wasn’t translating its Web site: “The world will all be speaking English soon enough,” he told me. His Web site …
Internet Retailer features an article on QuikDrop. The company is going to offer sellers free translation of auction listings in up to eight languages. According to the article, the company is does “about 15,000 auctions a week” with 40% of …
Wal-Mart is currently doing business in 15 countries, but that number is going to grow. The company has certainly had some ups and downs overseas — ups in Mexico and downs most everywhere else. Still no ecommerce site yet for …
The folks at the Pew Global Attitudes Project have produced a report that further illustrates the dramatic growth in Internet usage around the world — particularly in emerging markets. You can download a copy of the report here According to …
I’m pleased to see the beta version of Microsoft Commerce Server 2006 listing “globalization support” as one of their top three features. This is another indication that software developers are responding to customer demand for products that support global ecommerce …
I just came across a press release from an eBay drop-off chain called QuikDrop. The release says that it will be providing translations services for sellers from English into eight languages, beginning with Spanish and French (I’m trying to learn …
Every time I say I’m too busy to sit through yet another Webinar, I get a few more emails promoting Webinars that just might be worth sitting through. Here are two that caught my eye — and might be worth …
The Spanish-language edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is due out next week. Now this begs the question: Which Spanish is it being translated into? According to the press release: As with the five preceding Potter books, the …
Milen Epik, former VP of Global Services at Transware, has joined Translations.com as part of a newly named division: Epik Global Solutions. Epik Global Solutions is based in Boulder and consists of 15 people; all, I believe, are former Transware …
PayPal announced yesterday that it has surpassed 100 million registered users. Not bad for a seven-year-old company. What jumped out at me is that these 100 million users are distributed across 55 countries. Although eBay won’t release the ratio of …
According to this WSJ interview, the Chairman of Starbucks, Howard Schultz, says he plans to significantly increase the number of Starbucks locations in the years ahead to 30,000 (from 11,000 today), half of which will be located outside of the …
For an online retailer, going global isn’t easy. That’s because retailers have to figure out how to deliver products to consumers around the world cost effectively and how to process payments online while minimizing risk. Now this sounds simple enough …
If you want to succeed in Europe, it probably should. According to the Dutch Central Bureau of Statistics, 30% of the Dutch population made an online purchase in 2005. This is a bit higher than the UK and Germany and …