Network Effect and Language Barriers
Since we are building a marketplace we need to care about the “network effect” (sometime referred to as Metcalfe’s Law). The more people use Merrcury, the higher the value of Merrcury is to its users. Since we are planning a global marketplace, we need to bring down all barriers that may limit the marketplace from being truly global. One of the tallest walls, if not the tallest, is the language wall. Ebay, for example, has one English marketplace where users of all English-speaking countries can exchange goods; however, their French marketplace (ebay.fr) is a separate entity. As a seller, if you want to advertise your product in both marketplaces, you have to do two separate transactions and be able to write properly in the two languages. As a buyer, if you want to explore all of your buying possibilities, you need to do two independent searches and be able to read the two languages. Well, for Merrcury we have big dreams. One of the dreams is that, no matter what language you read or write, you will be able to use our marketplace in full. For example, if you are a seller that only reads and writes Spanish, you may be able to sell your services to a buyer that only reads and writes English.
Achieving that goal isn’t easy. We thought that we had everything under control already. We had implemented full I18N and L10N techniques. A week ago, however, we figured out that something was still missing. Both Maestro and I had to invest more than one week modifying documentation and wireframes of Sinatrra so that Merrcury would be really multilingual. Fortunately enough, we were able to do this right before Lucho had to code those areas of Sinatrra.
Thank you Maestro!
That explains a lot! Well, a year ago I had to buy a birthday gift using ebay.fr it got too complicated for me to make the payment using my paypal/ebay.com account. I tried for several days until I finally bought the only post card that could be delivered in time as the seller promised. Not to mention that it was the ugliest greeting card my girlfriend had ever received in her life. I had a similar experience using mercadolibre and mercadolivre. Technically the same corporation nonetheless a vary complicated integration. I ended up with two independent accounts. It’s nice to hear that LetMeGo is concerned about those important issues before the boom of the beta version and before it frustrates thousands if not millions of people as the number of visits will increase. The proposal for the challenge is to create a different name for portuguese or spanish countries which would go against the idea of a unique server and/or integrated server. Brazil is in the merge of eliminating it’s fix prices for international airline tickets. The fixed price got 20% lower in September 09 and will vanish September 2010 causing an immediate increase in competition never seen before in brazilian history. Of course lodging will be needed not only for international corporations but also for Brazilians willing to travel across the country that covers 47% of south america territory and has the 8th economy in the world being greater the combine GDP of Spanish american countries. It is currently the 4th country in the world in the amount of foreign investment being received.
Victor
February 16, 2010 at 12:01 am
Thank for your feedback Victor! Just in case, all of the sites of the competitors in the LetMeGo Challenge ( http://challenge.letmego.com ) will be branded as “by LetMeGo” to avoid confusing users with multiple accounts. The sign up and sign in system has been designed to make it easy for people to figure out if the already have an account, just in case.
Alexander Torrenegra
February 16, 2010 at 12:16 am
Alexander,
Thanks for the prompt reply.
Unfortunately I can’t see it as a whole yet.
A complicated matter for LetMeGo Brazil will be international transactions. Brazilian credit cards such as VISA, MASTERCARD, MAESTRO, AMEX, DINNERS have their approved amounts per transaction reduced while attempting to be charged by and american company. I am talking about international cards with high credit limits.
The country is considered high risk. My paypal business account would accept up to 10K per online transaction with an U.S card but for Brazil it would hardly accept 1K in a one-time transaction. I tried to split into 2-3 different charges and it always gets refused after the 1st one. International bank transfers are charged with very high fees and requires complicated forms to be filled out. Same thing will happen if you are in America and make a 500 dollar online purchase at Office Depot, Radio Shack, Walmart etc.
I have been requesting paypal to enter Brazil for a few years now. The best known option for online transactions really stinks. It’s called PagSeguro.
I’ve got a few shortcuts under my sleeves to solve those issues.
Do you have any idea what is the average time spent to open a fully functional company in Brazil? Would LetMeGo consider the possibility of an acquisition? I spoke with Leonardo on the phone about it and I am not sure he understood my concern. Not the best phone connection experience.
Victor
February 16, 2010 at 1:08 am
Hi Victor. Other countries have similar issues, including many in Europe. Venere.com has been able to cope with the issue by working, primarily, with lodgings that don’t require prepayment. A credit card is asked (not even verified) at booking time just to make sure that the traveler is serious. We developed LetMeGo keeping this into account. In the very near future, travelers will be able to determine if they only want to get bids from lodgings that don’t require prepayments.
We are not considering acquisitions at the moment, but are always open to business development ideas, of course.
I have shared your phone connectivity concerns with Leo. Thank you!
Alexander Torrenegra
February 16, 2010 at 2:30 am