Creation of BRICs
No time in history have the world’s economies been so connected and interdependent as the current time. This translates to many opportunities for your company. The first decade of the new century was a witness to the creation of BRICS – a grouping of countries that consists of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. In 2011, South Africa was allowed full membership. Thus the new acronym BRICS.
BRICS Objectives
One might ask, rightfully so, what does BRICS mean for me and my company? Well, access to hundreds of millions of people who are coming out of low-class income to middle-class income! According to Goldman Sachs, “these trends imply an acceleration in demand potential that will affect the types of products the BRICs import—the import share of low value-added goods is likely to fall and imports of high value-added goods, such as cars, office equipment and technology, will rise.” In the same whitepaper it is estimated that when combined together, the economies of BRICS will overtake the economy of USA by 2018. BRICs contributed 36.3% of global GDP. Note that 12 languages of the world constitute for 80% of world GDP and 4 of these languages are Portuguese, Russian, Hindi, and Chinese.
If that’s the case, you might ask what verticals are going to be in greater demand by the existing and new members of the middle class? According to Goldman Sachs, these are, “food, clothing, tobacco, household furnishings, equipment & maintenance, communication, education, housing, energy, and transportation.”
Require Localization
There you have it. But don’t get excited just yet. Marketing your products and services in these countries WILL require localization of your offerings. Companies that will be in a great position to benefit are those that have a streamlined localization process using global content management systems and creating the correct localization flow for all stakeholders: internal employees, business partners, and suppliers. Otherwise, you will end up spending millions of dollars and may not be correctly positioned for success.
Contact EPIC Translations for a free no-obligation consultation session on the correct strategy for localizing BEFORE you start selling in these countries.