Core Concepts of Marketing

142 CHAPTER 6 MARKETINGINGLOBALMARKETS

INTEGRATED MARKETING •

HOOKINGUPINEUROPE

EveryoneinEuropevacationsinAugust,and· businessis

booming atInternet Train, theperhaps inappropriately

namedchainofInternetcafesinFlorence,Italy.Justoverthe

PonteVechio, theoldbridgejoiningtheUffiziartgallerywith

PallazoPitti,there'sa smallstorefrontwith 20 personalcom-

puters.Inside,peoplefromaroundtheworldpeckawayat

theiremail,communicatingwithfriendsandacquaintances

frommorethana hundredcountries-forjust6,000lira(about

$3)perhalfhour.

ThousandsofkilometersawayinLondon,nearVictoria

Station,thesceneis muchthesame.Stelio'sHaij-Joannu,Ii

GreekshippingtycoonandInternetentrepreneur,hascreated

EasyEvelYthing,whichheclaimsaretheworld'slargestInter-

netcafes.Haij-JoannuboastsnineInternetcafes·with3,900

PCsreadyandavailable."EasyEvel)'thing(easyeverything.

com)iswonderful,"reportsReadeFahs,CEOofLondon-

basedFirstTuesday,a globalInternetnetworkingorganiza-

tion. "YoucallitanInternetcafe,butit'smuchmore.Most

Internetcafesareaboutthecoffeewithcomputersontheside.

Thisisabout 400 thin-screencomputersinthisverycoolenvi-

ronmentwitha littlecoffeeontheside."

Ofcourse,thestoryinEuropegoesfarbeyondemailand

Internetcafes.They'rejustthetopoftheinnovationrevolu-

tionsweepingEuropefromtheNorthtotheSouth.Consider

easyGroup,whichownsea~yEverything:easyGroupincludes

easyJet.comandeasyRentacar:com(allpropertiescontrolled

byHaij-Joannu).EasyJet.combillsitselfasthe"Web'sfavorite

airline"andmarketsitselfasitdiscountairlinewithsteep

incentivesforbuyerstotransactonline.EasyRentacar:comis

"theworld'sfirstInternet-onlyrent-a-carcompany,"headds.

HealsoplanstostarteasyMoney.com,offeringdiscountmort-

gagesonline.

Still,thechallengesofEuropean Internetmarketing

arelegion.PuttingaB2C(business-to-consumer)ora B2B

(business-to-business)siteupinEuropeis muchmorediffi-

cultthanintheUnitedStates.Amongthemanycomplexities

facingpan-EuropeanWebsitesarethefollowing:

• Developinga siteformultiplelanguages


• Developinga siteformultiplecurrencies


• Providingmultilingualcustomerservice


• ShippingacrossbordersinEurope


• Handlingthevalue-addedtax(VAT)


• Copingwithsl1ictgovernmentregulatoryissues


• Recruitingandretainingpeopleinmarketsthatprohibit
  orcurtailstockoptionsandothereconomicincentives

Sources:HenryHeilbrunn, "InteractiveMarketinginEurope,"

Direct Marketing,March 1998 ,pp.98-101;MichaelKrauss,

"Eurol?eForgesAheadwithWebInnovations,"MarketingNews,

August 14 , 2000,p.8; MichaelPlogellandFelixHofer,"No-nos

inEurope,"Promo,April2000,pp.23-24.

ThePolitical/LegalEnvironment

ThepoliticaVlegalenvironmentabroadis quitedifferentfromthatoftheU.S. Mostnations

desiretobecomeself-reliantandtoraisetheirstatusintheeyesoftherestoftheworld.

Thisistheessenceofnationalism.Thenationalisticspiritthatexistsinmanynationshas

ledthemtoengageiapracticesthathavebeenverydamagingtoothercountries'market-

ingorganizations.Forexample,foreigngovernmentscaninteiveneinmarketingprograms

inthefollowingways:

• Contractsforthesupplyanddeliveryofgoodsandservices


• Theregistrationandenforcementoftrademarks,brandnames,andlabeling


• Patents


• Marketingcommunications


• Pricing


• Productsafety,acceptability,andenvironmenialissues