All posts by Sophie Howe

When you’re in a hurry it is tempting to use one of the online machine translation tools now freely available. We’ve all done it – and they are great when what you need is the gist of the text. But that’s all you get – a gist. You don’t necessarily get accuracy or context. And forget nuances and/or localisation. Savvy business people understand this.

With most accepted business wisdom traditionally coming from America, it makes a refreshing change to look to Europe for exemplars of good business models and practice. You may have never heard of a Mittelstand company, yet these companies have been one of the driving forces behind the German economy, and also help drive the German export market forward. If you are looking to expand overseas, it may be worth looking at some of their strategies for growth.

To help make the most of your website to drive sales overseas, we’re taking a look at trends around social media, e-commerce and general online buying behaviour in a number of key markets. Germany has long been recognised as one of the world’s economic powerhouses and, despite the global recession, the country’s economy is still incredibly strong. Germany is currently the largest European economy and, in fact, one of the largest in the world, with an annual economic value of over £2 trillion.

Turkey is Britain’s 23rd largest export market for goods and is a fast-growing economy. Diverse in landscape and culture, a great bridge between the Middle East and Western countries, Turkey is a commercially attractive gem for UK traders.

Gatwick Airport announced that in May 2012, Air China (incidentally the most profitable airline in the world) will launch non-stop, four weekly services to Beijing from the UK’s second largest airport. Get ready for the new commute!