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Stronger global brands such as McDonald's and H&M have websites in more languages than their less-profitable competitors
(BOSTON) – August 25, 2015 -- Manufactured products, from toothpaste to software programs, rely on global markets to leverage the maximum investment in research, design, production, and branding. And while the majority of the world’s largest brands have multilingual websites, 37% of the world’s most prominent websites are monolingual, making them unreachable to a large part of the internet population.
For eight years, independent market research firm Common Sense Advisory (CSA Research) has studied the world’s most prominent websites to identify the MVPs of the global web. These business and consumer websites represent the biggest companies, most popular websites, and most valuable brands, based on the Forbes Global 2000 list, the Alexa Top 500 Global Websites, and the Interbrand 100 Best Brands. The combined lists contain brands from 25 countries, representing 24 industrial sectors and 59 vertical sub-industries. Of the 2,407 websites studied, 1,506 were multilingual sites averaging 9.2 languages each. 10% of the visited sites did not include English.
Data collected by CSA Research finds a strong correlation between a brand’s financial strength and the number of languages it makes its website available in. Adds lead analyst on the report, Ben Sargent, “Regardless of if we study broad measures of corporate success or narrow calculations of financial health, such as Earned Equity Growth, our research found striking correlations between performance and multilinguality. Whether translated from a source language or locally produced, content enables revenue and boosts profit. Companies that provide content in more languages generally do better than those that skimp on or avoid content localization.”
The findings are detailed in the firm’s report, “Global Website Assessment Index 2015,” which features dozens of tables and figures, including:
When looking across sectors, CSA Research’s GWAI study found that company size, website popularity, and brand value all show positive correlation to the number of languages found.
Global Website Assessment Index 2015 is available as a part of CSA Research membership. Visit www.commonsenseadvisory.com for more information.
About Common Sense Advisory
Common Sense Advisory is an independent market research company helping companies profitably grow their international businesses and gain access to new markets. It specializes in best practices for translation, localization, interpreting, globalization, and internationalization. www.commonsenseadvisory.com
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Tweet this: 63% of world’s top global brands are multilingual, with 9.2 as average # of languages http://ow.ly/Rj6TS. Via @CSA_Research
Contact: Melissa C. Gillespie, 760-522-4362, Melissa@commonsenseadvisory.com\
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