The Worldly Marketer
October 2015 edition

From the Blog:

Why English-Only Websites
Just Won't Cut It Anymore

According to recent statistics compiled by  We Are Social , there are now 7.357 billion humans on this planet. Of that number, 3.175 billion -  almost half the global population  - are active Internet users, and that proportion is growing every day.  That's an amazing opportunity for online businesses, both big and small. But guess what? Most global Internet users don't speak English as a first language. Look at the top 12 countries with the highest number of active Internet users:


Social Tip of the Month

October Tip:
Not everyone's weekend is on Saturday and Sunday!

When you say to someone "Have a nice weekend", chances are you mean "Have a nice Saturday and Sunday". But not everyone's weekend falls on those particular days. In   Israel , for instance, the weekend is on  Friday and Saturday to accommodate the Jewish Sabbath. For Muslims, Friday is the holiest day of the week, and the traditional weekend used to be Thursday and Friday. But these days, most Muslim countries also have their weekend on  Friday and Saturday , so as to better coincide with the workweek of international markets.

For more specific information about the standard working weeks and weekends of countries around the world, click here.

International & Global Marketing News

Which countries have the most competitive economies in the world right now? The World Economic Forum (WEF) has just published its Global Competitiveness Report 2015-2016, which ranks the economies of 140 countries and looks at the factors that affect their productivity and prosperity. This annual report claims to be "the most comprehensive assessment of national competitiveness worldwide". Also, check out the WEF's blog, The Agenda, for related articles that focus on specific findings from this latest report.

Did you know that North America represents less than 10% of the world's Internet users, while Asia represents almost 50%? Those are the numbers reported by Internet World Stats for the 2nd quarter of 2015. And that ratio will increase significantly: the current Internet Penetration Rate (i.e. the percentage of the population who are active Internet users) is still only  39% in Asia - with lots of room for growth - as compared to 88% in North America.

Instagram  now has over  400 million users  worldwide - an increase of 100 million users since last year. This impressive growth spurt is mainly due to international expansion: " more than half [of the newest Instagram users] live in Europe and Asia. The countries that added the most Instagrammers include Brazil, Japan and Indonesia."

For  more articles  relating to international business and global marketing, visit the  Verbaccino Flipboard  magazine. And with new articles added throughout the week, you'll want to check back often!

#Holiday HeadsUp
for  October 2015

China , Germany , Spain  and Austria  are just some of the countries celebrating their national holiday in October. Muslims around the world are getting ready for the Islamic New Year. There are  several Hindu  festivals coming up this month. And did you know that Canada , Australia and New Zealand  all  celebrate Thanksgiving in October? Find out more:

(Just click on the link above to view the calendar, then select "Save Page As" to download it as a PDF file on your computer.)

NB: You can get more details about any particular holiday or observance
by clicking on the entry in the calendar.

Did we miss any important dates?
It's a global, social, multilingual market.
Grow with it!