International Business and Technology Blog

Leading Chinese search engines

Two years ago, Baidu boasted 80% of the Chinese online search market. Today, Baidu’s market share is estimated at 55% (1). But the winner has not been the otherwise world dominant Google, but other Chinese search engines including Qihoo 360 and Sogou.

While Baidu’s dominant position among the search engines in China has eroded, Google has not been a beneficiary since it has been banned in China as of 2010. Besides censorship, ClickZ (2) cites different online search behavior as one of the factors why Baidu and other domestic search engines have been more successful in China than Google. For example: an average Chinese internet user spends 3-6 times more time on page on average, does not focus on the upper left corner of the page as their Western counterparts do, searches mostly on smartphones and prefers to choose from a list rather than by typing keywords.

United States Trade Representative (USTR) Michael Froman was relaxed, bullish and optimistic during the April 2016 State International Development Organization (SIDO) meeting, as he discussed the US ongoing trade negotiations, notably the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The plan agreed by USTR with their European Union (EU) counterparts, is to deliver TTIP by December 2016. If not, TTIP could well be booted down the road, even shelved for years! Also during the SIDO occasion, EU Ambassador to the US, David O’Sullivan, confirmed the agreed sense of urgency. Both EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and Froman will “do what it takes”, upping the tempo of their meetings and negotiations, to get TTIP done before the end of the Obama administration. That’s the now or never plan.

Google Translate boasts 103 languages, covering 99% of the online population and processes more than 1 billion user translation requests per day. I love Google Translate because it is so easy to use and it costs nothing. I hate Google Translate because the results I get range from an approximation to complete gibberish. Great for personal use, but bad for business. Given the complexity of languages in the world (check out our translation article), those of us challenged with international communications know that quality language translation is extremely complex: it is hugely demanding of expertise and time, and so of money. As they say, “you get what you pay for”. 

The importance of owning a domain for your export markets is twofold: Firstly, to protect and own your brand, secondly to improve your local search engine optimization. In this blog, we will take a closer look at both of these aspects, give you recommendations on the increasingly popular geographical domains, and provide you with basic information on what you need to register your international domains.

Privacy Shield is the reassuringly protective and secure sounding title given to the new US-EU deal (February 2016) on transatlantic data flows. Essentially, the concern is one way, that of European Union (EU) data flows to the United States (US). The previous agreement, seductively entitled Safe Harbor, proved to be anything but safe for EU data and was finally struck down by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in October 2015. Safe Harbour has been described as “a way for US businesses to transfer EU citizens’ personal data to the US even though American data protection laws are not up to the European standard”. In retrospect, it seems amazing it lasted so long.

You might be working with a web agency that is very artistic and design oriented, focusing on developing your brand. Or you might be working with a web agency that is more results oriented, focusing on search engine optimization and driving visitors to the site. In the best case, your web agency can offer you both - unique custom design and a superior website performance. The best agencies specify website features based on your requirements and those of your website’s users. They create great online platforms, supporting and driving your sales in your home market. Market, which both you and your web agency know very well.

But what about your export markets? Does your local web agency have the right skillsets to create and market your international websites and thus grow your business equally successfully abroad?

Our blog How to sell online in Germany introduced the attractiveness of the German ecommerce market and outlined the main expectations of German e-shoppers, including payment methods, delivery, returns, mobility, personalization and terms & policies. Today, we will have a closer look at the theme of German online payment methods.

According to the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association (bevh) study, the most popular online payment method preferred by 39% of German e-shoppers are online payment services. Besides the international platform PayPal there are many local online payment service providers such as Sofortüberweisung.de, ClickandBuy and Giropay that are well known and have a significant market share of the online payment services.

In my last blog I cover 3 strategies for optimizing your tradeshow preparation. In this blog I will cover 4 strategies for success during and after the tradeshow.

1. Connect with prospects during the show to maximize your presence
2. Qualify and prioritize your leads
3. Follow up to convert leads into clients and build long term pipelines
4. Measure return on investment and incorporate lessons learned

Two prior blogs have explored general steps to take in preparing for International Trades Shows and making the most during and after the trade show. In this blog, I explore using your website to enhance results from your trade show investments

Next to your company website, trade show participation may be the most important part of your marketing mix. Even “Personal selling” comes in behind trade shows. Today, trade fairs remain as crucial to business development as ever, despite fears that the internet would replace those vital face to face meetings. 

It’s all about the user – whether that user is German, English, French, Italian or Estonian - any of the 500+ million European citizens from one of the 51 countries, speaking (and reading) dozens of languages. In the European Union (EU) alone we have 28 countries and 24 officially recognized languages. It is therefore not surprising that corporations seeking to grow their exports and business in European markets face significant challenges. An online strategy, fit for purpose, is an essential element for success in Europe and that strategy has to focus on your specific targeted profiles who first have to easily find your website site (through the plethora of search engines) and then use it, knowing that today’s users demand localized, relevant content.