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European online retailers ready for language challenge

By Greig Holbrook

Recently The Retail Bulletin reported that many business websites are ill-equipped to deal with cross-border e-commerce.

This article looks at multilingual online retailing could help these businesses deal with this challenge, and even thrive.

Nearly two-thirds of European retailers say they are ready to carry out transactions in more than one language. However, only one third of EU consumers say they are willing to purchase goods and services in another language, according to the European Commission’s Eurobarometer report. Read more…

www.m-travel.com/news

Travellers on Tape

Oban’s short documentary about online travel search behaviour surprised even them.

It’s their most visual endeavour to put a human face on global search. Oban Multilingual’s short video, filmed in England’s capital, captures international travellers at their most candid.

Oban conducted interviews with individuals from over 40 countries. The Oban team wanted to find out how the travellers were using the internet to search.

The team was surprised to have not found the answers they expected. But after a careful review of the footage, the light bulb went on.

The video is available to watch at www.faceofglobalsearch.com.

The ending reveals the paradoxical conclusion that emerged after a long day of interviews.

While you’re at the site, check out the Face of Global Search game. There’s only two weeks left to throw your virtual suitcase around to win prizes.

Make sure to play soon or you’ll miss out on the £250 travel voucher draw.

Ten days left in the Face of Global Search competition

Hurry up and get your game on. There’s only two weeks left to throw your virtual suitcase around in Oban’s flash competition game.

The game has players attempt to toss their suitcase to a portal which transports them to the next level in another part of the world.

Players are eligible to win either £150 or £100 worth of travel vouchers just for playing. Those who finish the game are eligible for the big prize - £250 worth of travel vouchers.

During the game, players are asked multiple choice questions about how they use the internet to book their holidays.

Those who are curious about what Oban has discovered as its database of answers matures should check out the video that they put together at the game’s website: www.faceofglobalsearch.com.

The competition ends July 23rd.

http://www.ttglive.com/c/portal

Oban looks at global search methods

Friday, June 27, 2008

Kay McLellan

Oban Multilingual has released a preview of its Face of Global Search competition results, revealing how people search online for their holidays.

Just over a month into gathering information, the competition, in partnership with EyeForTravel, has had entrants from over 40 countries, many of whom say they search online in languages other than English. Languages named included Spanish, French, Chinese, Danish, and Dutch amongst others.

Read more…

http://ehotelier.com/browse/news

Oban releases preview of FOGS competition results

Jun 18, 08 | 1:57 am

The hunt for the face of global search is three weeks in. Oban Multilingual teamed up with global online publisher EyeforTravel to hold a competition to find out how people in different countries search online for their holidays.

Entrants go to the website www.faceofglobalsearch.com, and are presented with a flash game in which to get to the next level, they must answer a question about how they search online for holidays.

Already the competition has had entrants from over 40 countries, and the results have been accruing in the Oban database. While Oban can’t give away all of its results until they are compiled after the competition, it has released some which show some interesting online trends developing. Read more…

http://www.travelgbi.com/

EUROPE VISITORS KEY FOR EAST MIDLANDS

MARKETING to attract European visitors to its region is a key task identified by East Midlands Tourism.

Traffic to the German and French versions of the tourism authority’s website was up more than 90% in April, and to the Dutch and Spanish portals by nearly 30%. Now EMT is seeking to use its newly internationalised websites in conjunction with other marketing initiatives to increase the number of overnight staying visitors in the region.

Its future marketing plan will focus on German, Dutch and French tourists. According to the ETM website, currently only 7% of income from tourism in the region comes from inbound visitor spend.

For information, call 01273 704434 or see obanmultilingual.com

http://www.sixtyplusurfers.co.uk/products.html

Win Prizes With The Face of Global Search Competition

The hunt for the face of global search is on. Oban Multilingual has teamed up with global online publisher EyeforTravel to hold a competition to find the most unique and creative ways people in different countries around the world search online for their holidays.

The winner will receive £250 in travel vouchers. Second and third place prizes will also be given.

The competition has just kicked off on World Cultural Diversity Day. Entry is now available through www.faceofglobalsearch.com

Read more…

There are now more than 220 million Chinese internet users (17 percent of the population), with the US trailing slightly behind at 216 million (71 percent).

The numbers were reported by Beijing-based research group BDA China.

Since the internet’s penetration in China is still relatively low, huge growth is expected.

In the Q1 earnings release, Google said, “Revenues from outside of the United States totalled $2.65 billion, representing over half of total revenues in the first quarter of 2008.

With signs of saturation in the US paid search market, international growth is critical to both Google and its search competitors.

Baidu is China’s most popular search engine by far, with Google only accounting for 15 percent of internet searches. Nonetheless, Google has said it wants to be the search leader in China in five years’ time.

China’s internet consumption hit nearly £30 billion in 2007. This number is predicted to rise by nearly 50 percent this year, according to a survey conducted in Netguide 2008. For this reason, China is a crucial market for US search companies.

Search terms vary by country.

Where Brits are likely to type the word “holiday” when searching for their next travel destination, Americans and Canadians are more likely to use the word “vacation”. The French, on the other hand, often misspell the term, typing “holliday”.

Really, really interesting facts about international online behaviour

1. The majority of travellers visit between two and five websites when shopping for travel online, usually to compare prices (The PhoCusWright Travel 2.0 Consumer Technology Survey)

2. Finns spent £41.2 million online on clothing and footwear in 2007 (Euromonitor International Estimates)

3. South Korea was number one in terms of countries online purchases of clothing, accessories or shoes in the last quarter of 2007. (The Neilson Company)

4. The European online travel market (including the 12 newest EU member countries) may reach £54 billion by 2009, which is about a quarter of the total market for selected travel and tourism services (Centre for Regional and Tourism Research, Denmark)

5. In 2007, over half the Swedish population made online purchases

Research from Journal du net 2007 shows that 85 percent of French internet users consult blogs, forums, and customer reviews before buying a holiday online.

For two-thirds of these users, the first motivation is to read information about their travel destination. About 30 percent consult such sites to get new holiday ideas and tips.

The e-travellers are therefore becoming major actors in the growth of e-tourism. Over half of the participants admitted they would be likely to consult website offers which also provided consumer reviews.

A smaller portion (nine percent) admitted the customer reviews incited them to purchase holidays directly from the hosting website.

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