Foreign expansion - content localisation?

[kriss]

Hi all,
this is my first post here and first of all i apologize for my english...

Im thinking on a business with online webshops. Just like me, 70% of the internet users are non-english and 30-40% of them dont speak any english - as i know. But most of the webshops are in english. What does it mean for the ppl who would like to buy anything online: they will use their local webshops where they understand the product details and easy to communicate with the customer service and these opportunities will be totally invisible for the english language-based webshop owners.

I really wanted to join an affiliate program, but most of the affiliate tools are in english...what is irrelevant on my market.

My idea: find trustworthy webshops with worldwide delivery and set up their local present, monetize their business. It doesnt mean a website translation only, but an online customer support as well in local language(s). [Just like online gamling companies do.]
I will be a partner/agent and every transaction will happen on the owner's webpage what is under his control, he will do the logistic and everything else but we will translate website and the products and answer to the local customers questions. The local service is just like a layer on their website.

As an agent/representative i would like ask some % from the income what was realized on the local page.
I hope it was understandable.

What do you think about it?

Thank you,
Kriss

[akirk]

If you do this with the permission of the owners of each website then it could be a very good business.
However, if you don't you will be a) in breach of their trademarks and b) they wouldn't pay you a % commission...

So, yes, if you can get agreement - fine. However be prepared for the fact that many of these people don't want non English speaking customers - it is too expensive to deal with them - if there is an issue / etc. then are you planning on offering customer support? How would you set that up? if not, the company may not want them as they may not be able to justify the cost of handling them - yes, perhaps 70% of internet users are not speaking English, but that is not necessarily 70% of their market...

Alasdair

[Clinton]

Hi kriss, and welcome to experienced-people.net

It's a good idea you have there, but it is also very ambitious. Large companies won't easily outsouce core tasks such as customer support. They would be risking their global reputation on services provided by someone they don't know.

I would suggest you start quite simply - just selling their products.

How I would go about it is to first build a local language site in my selected industry. I'd then build traffic to that site and only approach merchants once I've got a decent level of local traffic. Merchants tend to prefer partnering with webmasters who've already demonstrated they can get the visitors rather than those who happen to be in a particular locality and have local language skills.

[crabfoot]

@Kriss - what languages can you work in? I know someone who is looking for workers like you.

But you want to sell things for others - that demands a lot of trust, for someone to allow you to manage their affairs. There are so many ways you could rip them off - it would be very easy for you to change cookie codes and divert sales into your own pockets.

Whatever, it may be a way into the business for you, but you are bound to learn from the experience and then set up sites of your own. Can't you find useful affiliate sites? Or perhaps you find it hard to get into the marketplace with the products they offer? If you say what you need, perhaps we can help.

I once asked an Austrian friend of mine how he achieved some tasks on a French site, when his skills in French are minimal. He replied "I understand very little, but the big grey buttons look the same whatever is written on them". After a while, you learn that a lot of things can be understood without knowing the precise meanings.

[kriss]

Hi all,
first of all thanks for your support, its a very useful forum indeed.

@Clinton
agree, its not an easy way (or maybe its not the right way). your suggestion that i should to sell their products doesnt mean an affiliate partnership with the owner, yeah? its just a "simple" webshop or a general marketplace. if i do that way than i can do the regular way too: purchasing-selling...lets be honest, i thought a bit different way of biz without logistic and invoicing.

@akirk
why should it be too expensive? its a kind of affiliate system, they dont need to invest money. to set up a team is not reasonable for only 1 webshop on a smaller market, thats true, better to find more partners. these markets are much smaller than the english language based and you can expand your team as the market grows. or not?

@crabfoot
im a ce-european, but im living in se-asia now. thanks for your feedback, it was very usefull. the trust to manage their affairs can be a really risky point of this idea. exactly, i dont understand how could i cheat them with the cookie (its a normal affiliate just on other languages, but nevermind).
yep, i have found useful affiliates, but most of them are on english... :/ well, may i be critical with that "grey button philosophy" - if its working than everybody could order from china?


OK, conclusions:
- very hard to find a partner for this kind of business
- the volume of that market are small, maybe to much investment for the money
- could be a better way to set up a marketplace instead of localized affiliate programs
- i should to rethink the idea and expand or change it

anything else?

kriss

[akirk]

@akirk
why should it be too expensive? its a kind of affiliate system, they dont need to invest money. to set up a team is not reasonable for only 1 webshop on a smaller market, thats true, better to find more partners. these markets are much smaller than the english language based and you can expand your team as the market grows. or not?

because you will be that company to your market and therefore will need to offer customer support - that is expensive.
the reason that many shops to not sell into foreign language markets is because for the size of their market the support costs (needing people who can speak the language) is too high for the return.
they will not therefore support those people - you will need to provide that support.

Alasdair