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Germany has 80 million people, the German-speaking market is 100 million people. The smaller countries are mostly used to everything being in English (Slovenia,

Germany has 80 million people, the German-speaking market is 100 million people. The smaller countries are mostly used to everything being in English (Slovenia, Finland), so they don't care. France is 50 million people as well. If your business idea doesn't bootstrap with that market size, it won't work with a factor 6 more either. Also recently, international payment can be considered a solved problem with iban/bic, PayPal and credit cards. Which means you can get by just as well with English, French or German only, and some point down the line you add i18n for one or two other languages first, and then whatever there might be a demand for. On the other side of the coin, next-day national shipping for 3,50€ to 5€ is the norm around here. Go try that in NA.

nabla9 11y ago
>The smaller countries are mostly used to everything being in English (Slovenia, Finland), so they don't care. I live in Finland and I can tell you that you don't have full access to mass markets unless you handle the language, deliveries and local payment methods as well. Case: https://www.varusteleka.fi/en https://www.varusteleka.fi/en It's very successful Finnish army/outdoors store that sells mostly trough net (probably biggest in the Europe). They have build loyal international customer base outside Finland mainly because they have a great customer service and they're very honest about the products it sells. No marketing bullshit, if they sell inferior products, they tell that the product sucks balls and sell it very cheap. They have been gradually expanding their operations from Finland to Sweden, Estonia, Russia and other countries. Similar company started in Minnesota (same size as Finland) would be several times bigger by now.
briandear 11y ago
Regarding the shipping price differential.. That shipping might be cheap, but the 20% VAT and the higher cost of taxes and social charges quickly destroy that competitive advantage. So that 5€ shipping really costs much much more than NA when the much higher costs of doing business are factored in.

nabla9 11y ago

>The smaller countries are mostly used to everything being in English (Slovenia, Finland), so they don't care. I live in Finland and I can tell you that you don't have full access to mass markets unless you handle the language, deliveries and local payment methods as well. Case: https://www.varusteleka.fi/en https://www.varusteleka.fi/en It's very successful Finnish army/outdoors store that sells mostly trough net (probably biggest in the Europe). They have build loyal international customer base outside Finland mainly because they have a great customer service and they're very honest about the products it sells. No marketing bullshit, if they sell inferior products, they tell that the product sucks balls and sell it very cheap. They have been gradually expanding their operations from Finland to Sweden, Estonia, Russia and other countries. Similar company started in Minnesota (same size as Finland) would be several times bigger by now.

briandear 11y ago

Regarding the shipping price differential.. That shipping might be cheap, but the 20% VAT and the higher cost of taxes and social charges quickly destroy that competitive advantage. So that 5€ shipping really costs much much more than NA when the much higher costs of doing business are factored in.