Page 67 - Electronic Commerce

Chapter 1

build online businesses more quickly and easily than a new company without a
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reputation. For example, a potential buyer might like to know how the seller would react
to a claim by the buyer that the seller misrepresented the quality of the goods sold. Part of
this knowledge derives from the buyer and seller sharing a common language and
common customs. Buyers are more comfortable doing business with sellers they know are
trustworthy.
The combination of language and customs is often called culture. Most researchers
agree that culture varies across national boundaries and, in many cases, varies across
regions within nations. For example, the concept of private property is an important
cultural value and underlies laws in many European and North American countries. Asian
cultures do not value private property in the same way, so laws and business practices in
those countries can be quite different. All companies must be aware of the differences in
language and customs that make up the culture of any region in which they intend to do
business.
For example, managers at Virtual Vineyards (now a part of Wine.com), a company
that sells wine and specialty food items on the Web, were perplexed by the unusually high
number of complaints from customers in Japan about short shipments. Virtual Vineyards
sold most of its wine in case (12 bottles) or half-case quantities. Thus, to save on
operating costs, it stocked shipping materials only in case, half-case, and two-bottle sizes.
After an investigation, the company determined that many of its Japanese customers
ordered only one bottle of wine, which was shipped in a two-bottle container. To these
Japanese customers, who consider packaging to be an important element of a high-quality
product such as wine, it was inconceivable that anyone would ship one bottle of wine in a
two-bottle container. They were e-mailing to ask where the other bottle was,
notwithstanding the fact that they had ordered only one bottle.
Some errors stemming from subtle language and cultural standards have become
classic examples that are regularly cited in international business courses and training
sessions. For example, General Motors’ choice of name for its Chevrolet Nova automobile
amused people in Latin America—no va means “it will not go” in Spanish. Pepsi’s “Come
Alive” advertising campaign fizzled in China because its message came across as “Pepsi
brings your ancestors back from their graves.”
Another story that is widely used in international business training sessions is about a
company that sold baby food in jars adorned with the picture of a very cute baby. The
jars sold well everywhere they had been introduced except in parts of Africa. The mystery
was solved when the manufacturer learned that food containers in those parts of Africa
always carry a picture of their contents. This story is particularly interesting because it
never happened. However, it illustrates a potential cultural issue so dramatically that it
continues to appear in marketing textbooks and international business training materials.
Designers of Web sites for international commerce must be very careful when they
choose icons to represent common actions. For example, in the United States, a shopping
cart is a good symbol to use when building an electronic commerce site. However, many
Europeans use shopping baskets when they go to a store and may never have seen a
shopping cart. In Australia, people would recognize a shopping cart image but would be
confused by the text “shopping cart” if it were used with the image. Australians call them

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