The travel industry has long been at the forefront of web globalization. Take Booking.com, with support for 41 languages, or Uber, with support for 36 languages, or KLM, with support for 32 languages. And yet, if you wish to research…
While I’ve closely studied travel websites for many years (such as airlines, hotels, travel agencies) as part of The Web Globalization Report Card, I’ve not spent much time looking closely at destination websites, such as for cities, regions and countries. That…
I recently wrote an op-ed for the Seattle Times about the importance and value of thinking globally. Here’s an excerpt: Consider Starbucks. In 2003, this aspiring global company supported a mere three languages. Today, it supports 25, which may sound…
I’m pleased to announce the publication of my newest book: Think Outside the Country: A Guide to Going Global and Succeeding in the Translation Economy. This book is the result of the past decade spent working with marketing and web…
I’m pleased to announce the new book Think Outside the Country: A Guide to Going Global and Succeeding in the Translation Economy, due out on April 10th. Think Outside the Country is isn’t strictly about taking a website or mobile app global,…
I was saddened to read that “the father of Pinyin” died this weekend in Beijing (though he did live to be 111 years old). While until now I never knew very much about the man himself — who daringly criticized…
Lululemon provides an interesting case study of a US-based retailer taking its first steps towards going global. And, like all first steps, this one is rather awkward. To be clear, Lululemon is only focused on shipping globally, which is a nice…
China’s Alibaba is the creator (and exporter) of this one-day ecommerce extravaganza that takes place on 11 And despite being a one-day event the pre-promotion is in full effect. According to brandchannel, Alibaba is intent to set new records this year…
I visited the home page of the Chinese online travel agency website Ctrip recently and came across this odd flag: Just because the UK voted to separate from the EU doesn’t mean that it’s considering a merger with the United States (the…
According to People’s Daily, a number of runners in a South China marathon suffered from more than simply lack of hydration. Try lack of translation. The bar of soap shown above was included in each runner’s swag bag — apparently a number of…
Over the past decade Simplified Chinese has grown to become one of the most popular languages on global websites, second only to English. According to the Web Globalization Report Card, which has long monitored languages supported by the world’s leading…
And so it has begun: The world’s biggest online shopping day. In China. More than $9 billion dollars was spent this day last year and experts are forecasting a number well north of that this year. As I’ve been doing for the past…
I was given a review copy of No Ordinary Disruption: The Four Global Forces Breaking All the Trends, which I read over the weekend. The authors are Richard Dobbs, James Manyika, and Jonathan Woetzel — all directors at the McKinsey Global…
Four years ago, for the Web Globalization Report Card, I began noting (and rewarding) those websites that supported mobile devices. Even then one could easily see the virtual grounds shifting in favor of mobile devices. But at the time, only about 20% of the…
I enjoying watching how Western companies localize their websites and products to capitalize on Chinese New Year — the Year of the Sheep (or Goat). Like this gift card from Starbucks China: And this hero image on the Microsoft China home…