Yosuke Ito will be conducting a webinar, “Navigating Japanese E-commerce” where you can learn more in-depth tips and information about succeeding in the Japanese e-commerce market.
Japan is the perfect opportunity for software vendors and e-commerce professionals looking to expand their global reach.
Writing about Japan, critic A.A. Gill said, “Today, even in the slough of a prolonged depression, it’s still the second biggest economy in the world, with a GDP as large as Britain’s, France’s and Germany’s combined. That’s astonishing, not least because Japan is about 1 1/2 times the size of the UK with twice as many people and only a third of its land habitable, yet it has no natural resources to speak of.”
Market Size
Japan has 128 million citizens compared to the United States’ 300 million and Germany’s 82 million. Japan also has the most amount of fixed and wireless broadband subscribers in the whole world, second only to the US, as indicated in these charts from the OECD. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under Japanese E-commerce, Localization
As a follow up to our “Practical Guide to Email Marketing in 2012“ this post analyzes and explains recent revisions to Canadian rules about how people send commercial electronic messages to and within Canada. Additionally, we provide some information on how to protect yourself from hackers, phishers and spoofers.
The US is widely known in the email industry as having relatively lax email regulations. In late 2011, our neighbor to the north implemented a new set of regulations on those sending commercial email. These rules are now in full swing, so if you sell software online, and you like to promote your product through email, you need to take note of Bill C-28 from the Canadian Parliament.
Violating these rules while sending email to Canada, Canadians, computers located in Canada, or hockey players may result in considerable fines (up to $10 million per violation for corporations).
C-28, known as the “Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act”, or FISA if you’re into the whole brevity thing, went into effect in September 2011. The Canadian online protection law is very similar to CAN-SPAM so as an email marketing specialist, I felt it was important to highlight some differences in the two laws that will make you think twice before sending out your Monthly Mountie Digest. Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under anti-spam legislation, Bill C-28, Can-SPAM, compliance, Email Marketing, express consent, filtering, FISA, implied consent, optimized email lists, primary purpose
October 26th, 2011 by Mike Batko
E-commerce professionals like to talk about methods for increasing their sales. Much of this discussion focuses on investing in affiliate programs, marketing, PPC, SEO, and landing pages; which tends to drive new visitors to your website. But what about the visitors you already receive? Are they having the best experience possible?
Understanding the following high-level data points about your visitors will assist sellers in the digital product space increase their shopping cart conversion rate and drive ROI for paid search campaigns.
Data Point #1 – Where Are My Visitors Coming From?
It is important to present product offerings in your customers’ native languages. Looking at traffic by territory may only give you part of the picture, so another important metric to consider is browser language. Users in territories like Canada, may primarily speak one of two languages (French and English) and it’s important to know who is looking at your site.
Once you know what language your customers speak, ask yourself the question, “Have I localized for my top visited languages and if so, have I used local translators?”
A poor translation may be just as bad as no translation at all. Below is a screen-shot of a video game named Zero Wing, which was released in 1989 and did not sell many copies.
Read the rest of this entry »
Filed under cart optimization, conversion optimization, increasing sales, localised shopping carts, paid search campaigns
