Global Omni-Channel E-Commerce:
Components of a Winning Strategy
Maximizing Revenue with Web Localization
and Technology Solutions
Global Omni-Channel
What We Talk About When
E-Commerce: Components We Talk About Localization
of a Winning Strategy
Localization refers to the preparation and publication of content
It has been widely noted by thought leaders in the retail and
travel industries that global commerce is going through a hugely
transformative period. Technology and innovation will continue
to alter both the in-store and online shopping experience. We
will continue to hear more about the curating of brands and the
crucial importance of omni-channel offerings. Furthermore,
through the power of social media and the convenience of mobile
technology, consumers are well on their way to playing a much
more vital role in the marketing, branding, and sales processes.
As important as they may be, these massive shifts across
multiple sales channels and marketing outlets are not the only
trends organizations should be paying attention to. The regional
market share of global e-commerce is also in the process of
changing dramatically. Failure to address these markets
appropriately will leave domestic online retailers at a significant
disadvantage to their competitors.
Successful entry into international markets is critical to an
organization’s ability to maximize revenue and grow brand
awareness and loyalty. While developing a global e-commerce
strategy poses distinct challenges for companies of all sizes and
verticals, the most successful organizations in the retail and
travel industries have at least two things in common:
A robust Web Content Management System (WCMS)
with an e-commerce platform that efficiently supports
the requirements of the organization’s global initiative.
A website that is professionally localized so that
customers abroad can read content in the languages
they are familiar with and place orders with the
same ease and confidence as customers who are
in the organization's domestic location.
for global markets, with particular emphasis on the technology
and processes required to deliver multilingual information and
maintain brand consistency in an omni-channel world. Once
considered an appealing option, the localization of a company’s
global digital presence is now a basic requirement for any
business that wants to be at the forefront of their industry in the
global marketplace.
Today’s medium and large enterprises compete across
multiple continents to build and maintain a loyal customer base.
Failure to enter these emerging foreign markets in their native
languages will leave domestic online retailers with English-only
websites at a significant disadvantage to competitors with
multilingual online and offline media.
Translating content is a daunting task for any company. This is
particularly true when taking into consideration that the addition
of new content and changes to existing content often occur daily.
Fortunately, technology is available that can help enterprises
with the translation and localization process. The upside to
using this technology is huge.
The Localization
Imperative
To many enterprises, the most pressing localization concern is
the ability to create, present, and maintain websites accurately in
multiple languages. Websites have become a major vehicle
for communicating with—and selling to—an increasingly global
customer base. They are a focal point of both risk and opportunity,
as visitors are no longer confined by geographic boundaries.
This paper examines the benefits of localization as part of an
overall e-commerce strategy and highlights the main challenges
Global Omni-Channel E-Commerce: Components of a Winning Strategy
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organizations may face as they consider entering international
markets. Further, it demonstrates how next-generation WCMS
solutions are superior to their predecessors in their ability to
deliver localized web content from any single source language.
By partnering with Language Service Providers (LSPs) and fully
integrating with their related translation technology solutions,
WCMS providers offer companies a cost-effective and efficient
solution that allows them to successfully engage consumers
abroad with minimal internal IT involvement.
Tremendous Growth Opportunities in
Emerging Markets Abroad
Worldwide e-commerce sales grew by nearly 20% in 2014,
and will reach $2.4 trillion by 2018. This rapid growth in
global digital sales—and its dispersion—underscores the dramatic changes the retail industry is undergoing. Online sales
have significantly outpaced brick-and-mortar retail growth
and foreign markets are now easier to reach.
B2C E-commerce Sales Worldwide, 2018
trillions and % change
2013
19.0%
2014
19.3%
2015
15.6%
2016
13.1%
2017
11.5%
2018
9.9%
$1,233
$1,471
$1,700
$1,922
$2,143
$2,356
B2C e-commerce sales
% change
Note: CAGR (2013-2018)=13.8%; includes products and services ordered and leisure and unmanaged business travel sales booked using the
internet via any device, regardless of the method of payment or fulfillment. Source: eMarketer, July 2014
Organizations can no longer afford to rely solely on English-speaking markets, or to take the approach that customers’ buying
patterns are not influenced by the availability of content in their native language. While logistical access to customers abroad is
made easier by web technology, revenue growth prospects are significantly diminished by failing to cater to the local languages
of a target country or region.
The most highly populated foreign markets are growing at a faster pace than corresponding English-speaking markets. Of the
world’s 1.2 billion digital buyers, only 163 million are located in the United States. By contrast, an estimated 495 million consumers
in China are expected to make online purchases of nearly $620 billion by 2018.
Global Omni-Channel E-Commerce: Components of a Winning Strategy
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B2C E-commerce Sales Worldwide, by Country, 2018
Billions
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
US*
$399.69
$449.37
$500.54
$553.35
$608.48
$666.28
China**
$170.85
$264.80
$355.75
$446.08
$536.43
$619.69
$99.84
$115.00
$129.04
$140.95
$152.58
$163.66
$107.19
$114.85
$122.50
$129.37
$135.83
$141.95
Germany
$65.98
$78.51
$89.58
$99.93
$109.51
$117.28
France
$43.30
$47.65
$52.30
$56.25
$60.25
$64.17
Canada
$30.16
$34.38
$39.02
$43.90
$48.95
$54.57
Brazil
$19.21
$23.35
$25.70
$27.76
$29.72
$31.51
South Korea
$20.77
$22.31
$23.38
$24.38
$25.26
$26.17
Spain
$19.48
$22.16
$25.04
$28.02
$30.96
$33.44
Russia
$18.37
$21.03
$23.07
$24.49
$25.59
$26.53
Italy
$14.51
$16.73
$18.99
$21.27
$23.53
$25.88
India***
$12.22
$16.06
$20.93
$26.06
$31.27
$36.84
Australia
$14.31
$15.69
$16.87
$18.11
$19.39
$20.65
Norway
$13.42
$14.94
$16.60
$18.00
$19.34
$20.60
Sweden
$12.23
$13.77
$15.09
$16.34
$17.61
$18.88
Denmark
$10.66
$11.83
$12.88
$13.72
$14.52
$15.25
Netherlands
$10.28
$11.47
$12.71
$13.85
$15.00
$16.18
Mexico
$9.53
$11.43
$13.09
$14.40
$15.11
$15.75
Finland
$9.41
$10.52
$11.64
$12.81
$13.96
$15.08
Argentina
$4.20
$5.46
$6.56
$7.54
$8.45
$9.29
Indonesia
$1.79
$2.60
$3.56
$4.49
$5.48
$6.57
Worldwide
$1,233.07
$1,470.75
$1,700.10
$1,922.43
$2,143.03
$2,355.88
UK*
Japan
Note: Includes products and services ordered and leisure and unmanaged business travel sales booked using the internet via any device, regardless
of the method of payment or fulfillment; numbers may not add up to total due to rounding; *excludes event tickets; **includes sales from businesses
that occur over C2C platforms; excludes Hong Kong; ***travel sales represent roughly 70% of B2C e-commerce sales. Source: eMarketer, July 2014
The ability and willingness of non-English-speaking consumers to locate, much less buy, US products online is profoundly
affected by the presence or absence of local linguistic and cultural web content. The vast majority of global Internet retail
customers do not speak English. According to a 2013 report prepared for the US Department of Commerce, 73% of online
shoppers are non-English speakers1. Failure to capitalize on the demands of these consumers simply by not engaging them
in their own language leaves a lot of money on the table.
Certainly, some retailers have been able to tap into foreign markets via cross-border trading using their existing US/Englishlanguage websites; however, economic data and market research indicate that this business model places them at a
significant disadvantage to competitors with multilingual websites.
1 Globalizing E-commerce:
What US Retailers Need to Know About Entering Foreign Markets (eMarketer: February 2012), p. 16.
Global Omni-Channel E-Commerce: Components of a Winning Strategy
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Localization: Growing
Sales, Building Brand
Loyalty, and Taking the
Final Step Towards
Consumer Confidence and
Customer Satisfaction
Most global businesses spend millions of dollars to develop
and nurture their global brands. Localization helps ensure
that a brand remains consistent across the enterprise, even
if that enterprise has decentralized processes for content
authoring and publishing.
Customer satisfaction is also directly linked to successful
website localization. In an eight-country survey of 2,400
customers, localization market research and advisory firm
Common Sense Advisory found that 52% of online consumers
make purchases only from those websites that present
information in their native language. In addition, the more
important a product or service is to a buyer, the greater the
impact of local-language web communications on the buyer’s
purchasing decisions. Depending on the product, as many as
85% of online consumers would not make a purchase without
first reviewing information presented on a site in their native
language. Moreover, as technological advancements allow for
media and information to be received almost immediately, a new
perspective of “on demand” has been engendered, and instant
localization is the expected norm.
While localization has clear benefits for businesses entering
new markets around the globe, many organizations today
are using localization to first address the growing diversity in
existing markets, as these markets have shifted on them in
the same locale.
Companies significantly reduce their growth potential by
further delaying a localization initiative. Building brand
recognition and loyalty is important in any market, but
particularly so in foreign ones. Organizations that are first
to market with localized content offerings have a definite
strategic advantage in establishing loyal customer bases
and building partnerships with in-country companies. As
competitors prepare to advance upon these opportunities,
there is little time to waste for organizations that want to be
on the forefront of international commerce.
Challenges to Robust
Localization
While the importance of consistent multilingual content
creation and dissemination is clear, many organizations
struggle with the process. Within most enterprises, no single
factor can be pinpointed as the cause of their localization
pains. Typically, it is a combination of several factors:
•
•
•
•
•
Decentralization of translation assets
Cumbersome manual processes for content dissemination
IT support issues related to global growth
Speed of delivery to global markets
Translation and localization quality concerns
Decentralization of Translation Assets
Historically, enterprises have outsourced nearly all of their
localization and translation needs to Language Service
Providers (LSPs). Individual LSPs tend to focus on a specific
language or market and do not operate globally. This means
that each local office of a global enterprise hires its own LSP
and manages that relationship locally. This arrangement
leads to a serious dilution of branding and messaging for the
following reasons:
Variable quality of LSPs - Not all LSPs are created
equal, and they provide different levels of client
support and translation accuracy.
Local office messaging control - Local offices
frequently do not align with the global enterprise’s
top-level positioning and do not adhere to centralized
branding and messaging. These offices may be
creating their own non-standard content or messages
and passing it on to their LSPs for translation.
Cumbersome Manual Processes for
Content Dissemination
First-generation WCMSs offer no framework or solution for
managing multilingual content translations. Not only do they
lack translation rules and glossaries, but they also provide
no automated method for easily distributing content out of
the WCMS for translation, tracking project status, receiving
edits and comments, and redistributing approved translated
versions of the content.
Global Omni-Channel E-Commerce: Components of a Winning Strategy
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IT Support Issues Related to
Global Growth
Most WCMSs do little to empower business users as they
develop content to be translated for localization purposes.
Particularly in first-generation WCMSs, there is no integration
between translation technology platforms and the WCMS. This
means that WCMS users need to download and run an external
translation application and perform data transfers themselves
from the WCMS into the translation platform (and re-import
translated content manually back into the WCMS when
complete). Simply put, this is too complex for most business
users, hindering the efficient localization of company websites
and diluting the brand. It also creates issues related to content
export and import, often requiring the assistance of internal IT to
facilitate the process. This is a serious concern for enterprises,
because most of their content creators are business focused,
not technologists. Combine the velocity at which business moves
today with the competitive pressure to keep content updated and
fresh, and there is a clear gap for many organizations.
Speed of Delivery to Global Markets
In traditional WCMSs, the localization process cannot be
streamlined and automated, therefore the time-to-market is
significantly longer. Diversified and decentralized translation
assets create inefficiencies that contribute to delays in getting
translated content onto the localized website. Further, a lack of
automation technology in these systems requires organizations
to manually monitor updates or additions to content, which
creates additional internal overhead related to routing and
publishing of in-language content.
Translation AND Localization
Quality Concerns
Localization allows merchants to take advantage of the
e-commerce opportunities that lie in wait with the 73% of
non-English-speaking markets that are currently online. It is,
however, a complex and daunting process. Translation is only
one element of the larger concept of localization, although
certainly it is the most critical one. In addition to cultural
understanding, professional translators must have an
intimate knowledge of the complexities, nuances, idioms, and
ambiguities of both the source language and the target language.
Managing a decentralized translation process that lacks
automation technologies can be extremely difficult and the
risks of quality concerns and brand inconsistencies are high.
Further, when localizing websites (and social media or mobile
apps), businesses must also take into account a wide variety
of concerns in addition to translation. These include cultural
relevance and sensitivity, local laws and regulations, writing
conventions (e.g., date/time format, formatting of numbers,
symbols, etc.), currency conversions, weights and
measurements, censorship issues, conventional and/or
accepted payment methods, and a variety of other factors.
hybris for Web Content
Management (WCMS)
and Product Content
Management (PCM)
Optimizes Localization
Investments
Implementing a localization-ready WCMS is clearly a priority
for global enterprises. However, gaining corporate approval
has not always been easy, primarily due to the aforementioned
technology challenges related to business user adoption.
hybris’ WCMS solution provides the functionality that business
users require, making it much easier for enterprises to adopt
a system for translation and dissemination. Though the WCMS
acronym implies “web as a singular channel,” WCMS/PCM
provides permission-based omni-channel publishing across
a range of output channels, including email, mobile, social
networks, web, and print. This also includes multilingual
translations and localization platforms.
By leveraging hybris’ WCMS solution, the integration with
localization systems becomes simple for business users.
Additionally, users operate solely within the hybris system,
with no need to learn or download the translation system.
The translation functionality becomes a single click embedded
within the content creation workflow. The advanced file-sharing
and language portal features of localization solutions make this
single-click integration possible. Advanced collaboration
capabilities also allow users to find, share, and download
packages (editable file and folder representations), components,
and hot fixes from the hybris server and incorporate them into
the translation portal, which already includes the languages,
LSPs, and workflows for each content type.
From the perspective of hybris users, nothing changes in
their content creation routines—except that now they have a
one-click option to localize the content they just created.
This means that marketers can own the publishing
processes, better control the message and brand, reduce
their dependency on IT development teams, and drastically
accelerate time to market globally for new content.
Translation Memory
Enforces Brand Consistency
and Delivers Savings
Many organizations rely on stovepipe WCMS and localization
systems, necessitating manual intervention to move content
between the two. This makes it difficult to return both the
original and the translated versions of content to the WCMS,
resulting in a complete loss of translation memory. Today,
Global Omni-Channel E-Commerce: Components of a Winning Strategy
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there is no reason why organizations should continue to
redevelop the same content multiple times, as it is costly and
inhibits the speed of doing business. WCMS/PCM/localization
system integration overcomes this issue while providing
additional benefits in terms of brand consistency,
productivity, asset management, and content ownership.
translation memories that contain specific branding and style
conventions based on the intended end use (such as marketing,
legal, or HR). This enables an enterprise to unlock only certain
blocks within a page (or certain pages) for local offices to edit for
their own markets.
Customer Communication Management
Brand consistency
Every time a content asset is created, the risk of diluting the
brand rises as different language professionals interpret
the original content and messages differently. The ability to
reuse previously approved translated content helps make
the company’s brand more consistent as the organization
introduces new websites to new audiences and geographies.
Increased Productivity
Leveraging existing content is one of the easiest ways to
reduce translation costs and accelerate time to market.
The use of shared translation memory assets maximizes
the number of pre-existing translations that are leveraged.
Translation memory allows organizations to capture
previously translated (and approved) content. This means
that content can be translated once and then re-used where
applicable, eliminating the possibility of inconsistent brand
messaging, shortening time to market, and reducing overall
translation spend. Dashboards of translated content can
be used to see what is available, as well as what is missing.
This is very important in a disjointed (yet empowered) system
of content creation, translation, and sharing.
Considering the potential time lapses between content
submission and approval among globally dispersed team
members, the benefit of real-time access to approved
translated content becomes clear. It also eliminates the need
to have LSPs translate the same content again and again.
Asset Management
With a centralized repository for translated content and assets,
marketers in local geographies can be more productive while
rolling out new campaigns or messaging. Meanwhile, version
control is upheld so that the correct assets are being used
at all times. Leading localization systems enable language
managers from both the enterprise and its LSP to search,
modify, and delete translation units (TUs). Clear distinctions
can be made between project TUs that are entered into the
translation memory by translators versus TUs that have
already been approved.
Another advantage is that centralized, role-based management
of specific content permits content owners at corporate
headquarters to lock specific blocks for review and edit by
specific users. It is also possible to create departmental
Communications are personalized on demand. Bills,
receipts, documents, digital kiosks, and other items are
all getting their content assembled in real-time so that
customers aren’t missing critical pieces of information
because they have not been translated yet.
Translation Automation vs.
Machine Translation
Translation automation from within the localization
system provides hybris users with an easy-to-use solution
for managing multilingual content and translation vendors.
Translation automation should not be mistaken for machine
translation, as they are quite different from each other.
Upon completion, machine translations typically require
extensive editing. Translation automation, in contrast,
creates automated workflows for making the process of
human translation and multilingual content management
simple, efficient, and cost-effective. Its purpose is to put the
right content in front of the right reviewer at the right time.
This is not to say that machine translations cannot be useful in
certain situations. Use cases for machine translation typically
involve scenarios where time to market is more important than
accuracy or cases in which a human translation process would
be too costly. In these situations, WCMS localization solutions
can help to make machine translations more effective by
providing a glossary of pre-approved terms. The machine
translator can then better select the best translation option,
requiring less manual editing of the machine translated content.
By improving the accuracy of machine translations over time,
the solutions also increase overall ROI.
Taking Global WCMS
and Localization
Further with hybris
and Translations.com
hybris’ WCMS solution includes features designed to streamline
the process of multilingual content creation and localization
as well as global website creation, social collaboration,
marketing campaign management, and overall digital
Global Omni-Channel E-Commerce: Components of a Winning Strategy
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Translation Lifecycle Management process is not just a
one-time translation; it is a continuous synchronization of
source and target content as the source content changes over
time. When content is added or changed, GlobalLink Project
Director receives that content from hybris (automatically or
through manual workflows) and then re-delivers translated
content back to the WCMS.
asset management—all within a unified platform. An intuitive,
business-focused interface means that marketers and
business users are free to develop their own ways of doing
business without relying solely on IT development teams.
hybris’ WCMS/PCM solution and Translations.com’s
GlobalLink technologies are integrated so that users can
perform multilingual content translation and localization
without ever having to leave the hybris user interface.
This is made possible by hybris’ WCMS technology and
Translations.com’s GlobalLink platform, which enables
simple integration with localization solutions.
hybris provides end users with a unique, customized
experience by utilizing technologies that involve optimized
design and customer experience. hybris allows organizations
to present their customers and clients with multilingual
content in an omni-channel manner. Companies can tailor
their content to end users across multiple devices and
platforms with minimal internal IT involvement.
hybris and Translations.com
Integration Overview
Leveraging hybris’ WCMS solution, business users can
perform a simple configuration that will provide single-click
integration with Translations.com’s GlobalLink platform.
GlobalLink Project Director, which is the localization workflow
engine, integrates with hybris, providing users with a powerful
solution to initiate, automate, control, track, and complete
all facets of the translation process. Users never leave the
hybris environment and can send newly created content
for translation with a single click. Content is pre-processed
against existing, server-based translation memory assets and
automatically packaged as vendor-neutral localization kits that
can be distributed to any combination of internal or external
translation resources. If required, translated content can be
validated internally utilizing the GlobalLink Translation and
Review Portal, which is a web-based review environment.
When the translated content is final and approved, automated
calls from hybris to GlobalLink pull edited translation content
back into the hybris standard workflow for publishing. An
additional benefit of this review process is that hybris becomes
a repository containing only approved and final multilingual
content, eliminating interim review steps within the system
that can introduce errors or inconsistencies.
Workflows are meant to route content through a process,
so it makes sense that workflows are the primary extension
point for configuring and customizing the translation process.
hybris’ WCMS has the ability to configure separate translation
workflows based on different content types. Organizations can
have very different workflows for translating video assets as
opposed to written content and product information. As with
any workflow, translation workflow can be any combination of
manual and automatic steps.
Using hybris’ WCMS solution integrated with Translations.com’s
GlobaLink platform, companies have the capacity to schedule
automatic submission and retrieval of content. They can also
cancel translation requests and take advantage of dashboard
reporting within the hybris UI. The WCMS contains built-in
change management and detection on source content.
Any change to the translatable fields of the source content
triggers an event to update the localized components. An
important consideration to remember here is that the
Combined with the extended localization workflow capabilities
of Translations.com’s GlobalLink platform, hybris gives users
a comprehensive solution to manage enterprise content for
markets around the globe.
Global Content
Management and
Localization Simplified
Localization is critical for any enterprise that seeks to maintain
its brand and establish strong customer relationships globally.
Most consumers engage with international brands through
the web, making localization of website content an absolute
business necessity. This is particularly true for product and
service companies that sell items that consumers deem to be
of high value.
Efforts to improve website localization have often failed
because enterprises have neglected the needs of frontline
business users. These users need to be empowered with
simple, intuitive systems and processes that enable them to
perform localization functions with speed and precision. This
means having a WCMS/PCM solution that integrates with the
multilingual translation and localization environment. Not
only does such integration free users from IT dependence,
but it enables them to focus on creating compelling content
for markets around the world in a much faster and more
cost-effective manner.
hybris, together with Translations.com, provides one
of the most streamlined and robust web localization
solutions on the market today. The standards-based hybris
architecture, combined with the GlobalLink platform and
multilingual translation environment, make the website
localization process intuitive and easy for business users.
And since the joint solution is completely vendor neutral,
business users can work with any external LSP they choose
and even incorporate existing internal translation teams into
the process. This puts the power of content creation and
localization in the hands of business and marketing teams
Global Omni-Channel E-Commerce: Components of a Winning Strategy
7
to ensure their business strategies are being communicated
accurately to their customers.
This localization offering in the context of an overall customer
experience strategy is critical for businesses that want to
establish a strong global presence, yet drive relevance in local
regions and markets. To learn how your organization can quickly
and easily maximize its global brand potential and streamline
website localization, contact Translations.com today.
About Translations.com
With annual revenues of over $470 million, Translations.com
is a leading provider of enterprise localization services and
technology solutions. From offices in more than 85 cities on six
continents, Translations.com offers a full range of services in
170+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 3,000 global
organizations employ Translations.com’s GlobalLink® Product
Suite to simplify management of multilingual content.
Translations.com is part of the TransPerfect family of companies,
with global headquarters in New York and regional headquarters
in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit
www.translations.com.
About hybris software
hybris software, an SAP Company, helps businesses around the globe sell more goods, services and digital content through every touchpoint, channel and device.
hybris delivers OmniCommerce™: state-of-the-art master data management for commerce and unified commerce processes that give a business a single view
of its customers, products and orders, and its customers a single view of the business. hybris’ omni-channel software is built on a single platform, based on open
standards, that is agile to support limitless innovation, efficient to drive the best TCO, and scalable and extensible to be the last commerce platform companies
will ever need. Both principal industry analyst firms rank hybris as a “leader” and list its commerce platform among the top two or three in the market. The same
software is available on-premise, on-demand and managed hosted, giving merchants of all sizes maximum flexibility. Over 500 companies have chosen hybris,
including global B2B sites W.W.Grainger, Rexel, General Electric, Thomson Reuters and 3M as well as consumer brands Toys“R”Us, Metro, Bridgestone, Levi’s,
Nikon, Galeries Lafayette, Migros, Nespresso and Lufthansa. hybris is the future of commerce™. www.hybris.com | [email protected]
Version: January 2015. Subject to change without prior notice © hybris
Global Omni-Channel
Components
of a Winning Strategy
hybris is a trademark of the hybris Group. Other brand names are trademarks
and registered E-Commerce:
trademarks of the
respective companies.
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