The Top Ten Issues in E-Strategy

The coalition released five recommended tips for e-commerce fraud prevention: asp?id=content&style=mini#_ftn17" name=_ftnref17>[16]

 

Cultural awareness and sensitivity are important. Awareness of local business practices and culture is also a key. asp?id=content&style=mini#_ftn18" name=_ftnref18>[17] Forrester Research found that 75 percent of consumer Web sites that can take orders online are unable to register international addresses or estimate delivery costs across borders. A large number of the sites assumed potential customers' first language was English. They were not designed to be viewed by a global audience and had not been localized.

 

Although the globalization and localization (G&L) services industry has just begun making inroads with some e-commerce firms, it is already transforming the e-business economy worldwide.asp?id=content&style=mini#_ftn19" name=_ftnref19>[18] Globalization means online companies have looked to extend their reach worldwide. It has driven the demand for an effective, end-to-end process that adapts content to a target locale's technical, linguistic and cultural expectations without altering the overall meaning, appearance and functionality. asp?id=content&style=mini#_ftn20" name=_ftnref20>[19] Localization means translation of a Web site into another language. At its most sophisticated, it means a complete online makeover, not only by translating but also by rewriting content and redesigning graphics to be acceptable and attractive to a particular market or country. It is a concerted effort that can even affect how a product is conceptualized and designed.asp?id=content&style=mini#_ftn21" name=_ftnref21>[20]

 

G&L is the one of the key issues of e-commerce. If a company wants to sell seriously to foreign marketplaces, it will have to localize the web site. Without G&L, sales will be minimal. More worryingly, returns are very high because of misunderstanding by people who are purchasing in a foreign language.

 

Having discussing the importance of G&L, I will introduce several web globalization strategies as follows:

 

 

The Evaluation and Audit is an important starting point that will lay the foundation for the globalized site. At its core is the comprehensive inventory of all platforms, applications, databases, code, scripts, and third-party tools that will be conducted in order to assess their readiness.

 

The goal of the second phase is to internationalize the site and create a technologically, linguistically and culturally neutral platform from which to launch global e-Commerce initiatives, and incorporate local content and functionality. It covers as well as foreign language searching, sorting and parsing technology requirements.

 

Once the scope of the effort is determined, the service provider works with its teams of internationalization engineers, Web designers and localization experts to effect the necessary changes.

 

After a testing is loaded, a good OOBE (out of browser experience) is much more than just fast response time from servers. Once you hang your URL out on the Web, you've welcomed in users from around the world, each with varying degrees of English language proficiency. Does it matter how fast a page is served up, if that page is in English and the Web user's native language is French? Or perhaps, the page is promptly served up in the French language, but contains numerous errors in translation, cosmetic display, font usage, and cultural appropriateness. These common situations are guaranteed to detract from the browser experience. asp?id=content&style=mini#_ftn22" name=_ftnref22>19

 

Although e-commerce has turned retailing on its head, it must integrate e-business with its existing business and customer base. The bricks-and-clicks approach is the most effective and economic. This combines offline resources, such as store brands, channels with and online e-commerce presence. The other option – a pure dot-com company – is now rare. Consumers are looking for brands that they know and trust. They also like the fact that a business has a physical presence, a place where they can go if something goes wrong.  Pure dot-coms found that they had to spend a lot of money on marketing just to maintain awareness.

 

One good example is that more and more online brokerage firms adopt a 'bricks-and-clicks' strategy.asp?id=content&style=mini#_ftn23" name=_ftnref23>[21]  Customers may not feel secure when making big transactions on the Internet, and they prefer to get "face-to-face" assistance from representatives. Therefore, these online brokerage firms should establish branch offices and target outlets to allow investors to have workstations where they can trade and get investing information online.

 

Another example is about American automaker business.asp?id=content&style=mini#_ftn24" name=_ftnref24>[22] It stresses that Internet was never intended to completely replace traditional American commerce. The auto industry is about as traditional as commerce can be. Consumers use the Internet to figure out what to buy, but when it comes time to make the deal, a test drive, tire-kicking and price haggling still rule. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, automakers' efforts to establish strong supply chains and delivery mechanisms via business-to-business initiatives appear to be holding their own. Some auto companies, like FordDirect.com and Ford Motor Company, allows a consumer to "build" a vehicle by selecting colors, options, etc., and then search by zip code for the desired vehicle at local dealerships. By adding to the convenience of shopping online, automakers offer features such as calculators that allow consumers to determine what they can afford and what their payments might be. Information on financing options is also available.