Designing multinational online stores: challenges, implementation techniques and experience

ABSTRACT

With the onset of the Internet, traditional constraints such as geographical barriers have been abolished. Companies are no longer prevented from doing business simply because they are located in different parts of the world. However, there still remain barriers such as taxation, shipping, business practices, language and cultural differences that still prohibit a true globalized marketplace. To best serve customers, it is becoming increasingly important that companies address the wide range of business practices, languages and cultures when doing business through the Internet.It is significantly less expensive to develop and maintain catalogues and systems on a single web site that spans multiple languages and countries than it is to dedicate a server for each country. It is very often a top business priority to architect these multicultural sites so that the cost of doing e-business in multiple countries is kept to the absolute minimum.This paper describes various business and technical challenges, as well as a proven architecture that satisfies the desire to do e-business across multiple countries in an efficient and profitable way.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.4 COMPUTERS AND SOCIETY
      K.4.4 Electronic Commerce

Additional Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.3 INFORMATION STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL
      H.3.5 On-line Information Services
          Subjects: Web-based services; Commercial services

General Terms:
Design, Economics, Experimentation, Management, Theory