Considerations for e-commerce localisation

e-Commerce abroad:
What’s so different and how
to best approach it
Susanne Dirks
sudirks@evorsprung.com
Ph. 086-2375131

Introduction and background
Susanne Dirks

Commercially
astute

Technologically
sound

Culturally
sensitive

• 

Commercially astute
–  Several international management, consulting, and
business research, development, and setup roles in
MNC environment for last 15+ years
–  Diploma, Business Innovation/Development (Distinction)

• 

Technologically sound
–  MSc, IT (Knowledge-Based Systems)
–  BSc Hons (1st Class), Information Technology
–  Diploma (Distinction), Internet Marketing & Online PR
–  Diploma, Web Technologies

• 

Culturally sensitive
–  Life split 50/50 between Ireland and Germany (plus
some time in UK )
–  Multinational and multicultural work environment for last
20 years
–  Qualified translator (German/English)

Agenda
•  Why go international ? The opportunity
•  Considerations: What to watch out for during
ecommerce internationalisation
•  Action: What are the key action areas for
establishing a successful web presence abroad

e-Vorsprung Consulting

Reality – a typical example
Example: purchase.ie

3.50%
93.70%

6.30%

UK&US
2.80%


Ireland
Other

Agenda
•  Why go international ? The opportunity
•  Considerations: What to watch out for during ecommerce internationalisation
•  Action: What are the key action areas for
establishing a successful web presence abroad


e-Commerce abroad
means operating in a different environment

Business

Environment

Socio-‐cultural

Environment

Technology

Environment

Legal

Environment


Assessing the opportunity: “Ladies Shoes”
Monthly search volumes in Google:
Ladies shoes

Women shoes

Damenschuhe

Frauenschuhe

Ireland

320

50

UK

18,100

2,400

US

4,400

14,800

Germany

90

110

22,200

390

Austria

10

10

880

30

Source: Google Keyword planner, 27.1.2014

⇒  Know your market
⇒  Know their lingo

Question 1:
Is there sufficient demand
for your product/s in your
target market/s ?

Assessing the competition: “Ladies shoes”
Ireland (google.ie)
No top ads

Search:
(in native language)

Germany (google.de)
2 ads on top

Question 2: Who are you competing with in
your selected foreign target market/s ?

Re-evaluating your USP

Question 3:
What is your USP for
selling in your new
target market/s ?

Source: IPC Cross-Border e-Commerce report


The impact of a different socio-cultural
environment on e-commerce abroad

Business

Environment

Socio-‐cultural

Environment

Technology

Environment

Legal

Environment


The cultural environment directly determines the
(online) marketing approach
•  Culture is …
–  “a universal orientation
system typical of a
society, organisation or
group”
–  Influences the way all
of its members
perceive, think,
value, act :
• 
• 
• 
• 

“The web is not a culturally
neutral medium … a website has
to be designed for a targetted
customer segment … Local
adaptation should be based on
a complete understanding of
a customer group’s culture …”

Attention
Interest
Desire
Action

Many users only perceive, think, and value
only in their own language

Question asked:
“Do you use a language other than
your own to read/watch content
on the Internet ?”

Considerable country variances !
Also note:
-  Level of
usage
-  Situations
for usage


At the most basic level, cultural localisation is
about local standards and conventions
•  Important conventions for cultural web
presence localisation include:
–  Use of colours
–  Use of formats
–  Use of measurements
–  Use of symbols
–  Use of icons
–  Use of pictures
–  Use of currency

But culture goes deeper and impacts thinking
(“value”) and behaviours (“act”)
Hofstede’s cultural dimensions
•  Power distance
–  Attitude of the culture towards these inequalities amongst its members
•  Individualism
–  Degree of interdependence a society maintains among its members
•  Masculinity/femininity
–  Main motivations in people, wanting to be the best (masculine) versus
liking what you do (feminine).
•  Uncertainty avoidance
–  Extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous or unknown
situations
•  Long-term orientation
–  Extent to which a society shows a long-term versus a short-term point of
view of the future

Comparison: Ireland - Spain
PDI = Power Distance
IDV = Individuallism
MAS = Masculinity/Femininity
UAI = Uncertainty Avoidance
LTO = Long-term Orientation


Culture’s influence on purchase value
and speed of decision
Business, France

Business, Japan


The impact of different technology usage on
e-commerce abroad

Business

Environment

Technology

Environment

Socio-‐cultural

Environment

Legal

Environment


Successful web presence abroad requires an
understanding of technology usage patterns
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Technology infrastructure
Preferred search engines
Approach to search
Preferred websites / blogs
Preferred social media platforms/channels
Preferred online directories
Preferred price comparison engines
Online usage patterns

Example:
Different preferred retail sites


The impact of different legal and/or regulatory
requirements on e-commerce abroad

Business

Environment

Socio-‐cultural

Environment

Technology

Environment

Legal

Environment


Legal considerations for web presence abroad

•  Online legal aspects different from country to
country include areas such as:
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 
– 

Privacy and data protection legislation
Advertising legislation
Brand legislation
Consumer legislation
Copyright
Terms and conditions
Liability
Domain names
Website content

Example: Naming of the “Buy”
button in Germany
•  Only FOUR legally
compliant names:

•  Examples of legally
non-compliant names:


4 key action areas for a successful ecommerce abroad
•  Target
market
research
•  Online
Marketing
Strategy

1
4

...getting
ready for
them

...getting
them to
find you

....getting
them to
do lasting
business

... getting
them to
engage
with you

•  Channnels
•  Resources
•  Processes

•  Domain
strategy
•  Search Engine
Marketing
•  Social Media

2
3

•  Content
•  Culture
•  Language

Step 1:
Define your online strategy for the new market
•  Do target market research
–  Offline market
–  Online market

•  Review and refine your online value proposition
for your target market
–  Demand
–  Feasibility
–  Brand
–  Clear competitive differentiation
•  Online content and design
•  Online visibility

Barriers to Cross-Border e-Commerce

Source: IPC Cross-Border e-Commerce report


Kerrygold Ireland value proposition
as per Irish home page


Kerrygold Germany value proposition
as per German home page


The impact of Kerrygold’s
German value proposition on search results
Searching for
“Gesunde Butter”
In www.google.de
=> SERP 1 for
Kerrygold


Step 2:
Make sure your target customers can find you online

•  Domain Strategy
–  Domain name
–  Domain URL structure

•  Search Engine Marketing
–  Search engine optimisation
•  Onpage
•  Offpage

–  Search engine advertising
–  Social media optimisation

Domain name:
Name that is meaningful and easy for target market

If possible, a search-friendly domain name
•  For search engines and target market users
•  Meaningful in native language
–  Example (Germany): www.franchise-direkt.com
–  Example (Germany): www.promobecher.de
•  Keyword-friendly in native language
•  Easy to remember
•  Easy to spell
•  No double meaning


Domain URL Structure Options
•  Option 1: Country-code TLD (ccTLD)
–  Example: www.tricel.fr

•  Option 2: Subdirectory
–  Examples: www.combilift.com/de,
www.keenan.com/de-de
–  Avoid non-standard subdirectories:/ger,/deutsch

•  Option 3: Subdomain
–  Example: www.French.hostelworld.com

Search engine marketing for new market
•  Keywords for SEO and
SEA for target market
Keywords !!!
Search
Engine
Advertising

Search
Engine
Optimisation

Social Media
Optimisation

–  Value proposition
–  Target market
language
–  Used by target market
online users
–  Differentiating

•  Off-page SEO for
target market
•  Social Media for target
market

Good keywords are not only translated, but must
also reflect native language search patterns

79

1

Also watch:
-  Language and grammar
-  Different thinking patterns

Source: Google Trends on 103372013, Germany, past 12 months

Example Kerrygold:
Good keywords express local differentiators
Keyword

Irish search result
(google.ie)

German search result
(google.de)

Page 1 (Place 5)

Page 5 *

healthy butter (gesunde
butter)

Not found
(on first five pages)

Page 1 (place 6) **

Irish butter (irische
butter)

Page 1 (Place 1)

Page 1 (place 2) **

butter

• Organic search results only, Google ads shows earlier
** First product in the listing

Step 3:
Make sure your target market customers
buy into you online
•  Appropriate and local language content
•  Cultural adaptation of web presence
•  Making your web presence looks local
•  Legal requirements for web presence

Different countries prefer different formats of
content


Website translation is more than just translation
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Translation quality
Avoid:
Translation scope
- Google Translate & Co!
-  Unqualified translators
Translation updates
-  Mixed-language approaches
Style of translated text
Formatting of translated text
Price
Consistency of translation
question:
What does
Keyword focus on translated text
content
Non-text content -> videos
consist of ?
Quality assurance

Tackling uncertainty avoidance and building trust:
Customer service support in forms of FAQs
Keenan, France
3DIssue, Germany


Different forms of customer service support
Vitalograph


Scientific/academic evidence helps build trust
Keenan

Kerrygold


Displaying seals of quality

•  Online seals of quality recommended by
D21 initiative for Germany


Making your web presence look local
•  German domain name and/or German ccTLC
•  Providing local payment options
•  Local contact options, e.g. Address/phone
number
•  Local case studies
•  Seals of approval by local organisations/bodies
•  List of local events
•  List of local websites

Looking local:
Local approval of quality counts more
Aldi Germany

Aldi Ireland


Germans’ preference for payment options

Preferences
for
payment
on
the
Internet
(averaged):


Example:
Country-specific payment types
Country

Country-specific payment type

Benelux

Bancontact / Mister Cash
IDEAL

France

4etoiles, Carte Bleu, Carte Aurore,
Cofinoga

United Kingdom

Maestro UK

Italy

Carta PostePay,
CartaSi / Sipay

Austria

Eps-Online-Überweisung
Paybox

Switzerland

myOne,
Postfinance Card / e-finance

Scandinavia

eDankort

Looking local:
Meeting legal requirements and conventions
Vitalograph


Step 4:
Make sure you can do business with the your new
target market customers

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Channels
Communication
Resources
Skills
Processes


Channel strategy for new markets

Awareness
• How do you
raise
awareness
for your
company’s
products and/
or services ?

Evaluation
• How you do
help
customers
evaluate your
value
proposition ?

Purchase

Delivery

• How do you
allow
customers to
purchase
specific
products and/
or services?

• How do you
deliver your
value
proposition to
your
customers ?

Aftersales
• How do you
provide postpurchase
support ?

Source: Based on Alex Osterwalder: Business Model Canvas


Question: How do you deal with foreign
language enquiries or comments ?

74.7 % say
availability of
after-sales
support in own
language
influences their
buying decision


Thank You !
Susanne Dirks MSc BSc
sudirks@evorsprung.com
ie.linkedin.com/ie/susannedirks

Commercially
astute

Technologically
sound

Culturally
sensitive

Best Practice Guide available on EI website:
www.enterprise-ireland.com/localisation4germany

Considerations for e-commerce localisation

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