Internet Success For An Isolated Brick and Mortar Store

Cindy King — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 10:57:54 +0000

Business profits for brick and mortar store fronts in remote locations, can also come from international sales. On French national television recently there was the story of a Frenchman that got 90% of his business from 50% of his customers through internet sales on a website he created.

International Business Case Study

International Internet Succes From an Isolated Brick and Mortar French Location

The story is cute and spoke of the difficulties he faced with his business.

This unschooled 65-year old clock repairman from a very small city in the French countryside is looking forward to his retirement. But he is finding it difficult to get someone to replace him. He did not say that getting business to his little shop was hard. He didn’t mention difficulties speaking with his clients, even though he only speaks French. He found it difficult to find someone who was willing to move to the small city to fix clocks that are shipped in from all over the world. His international customer base is vital, as it is for any business that wants to expand.

Localization is the process of making an easy to read website that is suitable to a foreign market. This is the task of taking an existing website and molding it to be acceptable to an audience far away. This is much more than translation. Translating a website is changing the words to be read in a different language. The art of localizing your message englobes all of the subtle changes necessary to make your message communicate fully to the reader.

Internet gives any businesses the ability to reach an international audience. I am sitting in France as I type this. Small businesses should know the importance of having revenues in different economic environments. They should also by now be recognizing that an important step in those international sales is directly related to the localization of their website.
If this clock repairman from an isolated French town with a population of under 20 thousand can create an international business, you can too.

If you are interested, you can see the full report on TF1.

Cindy King's International Business Blog » French clock repairman

Internet Success For An Isolated Brick and Mortar Store

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