1. Content LOCALIZATION improvement project
A research project of Laura van Nigtevegt, Alexandra Popova and Martijn de Pee
09 October 2015

2. contents Introduction Tech landscape Translation vendor landscape
Diagnosis issues time, cost and quality
Opportunities

3. introduction “We see KPI’s improve when translations get better”
Françoise Wallis, Loyalty Manager Jack&Jones

4. Content localization of increasing importance for bse
BSE sells 14 brands in 14 European countries (13 possible different languages)
BSE‘s core markets (will) slow in growth, other markets need to be developed for continued growth
The more localized a webshop is, the higher its conversion rate
Multilingual online content is a must to further develop core and non-core markets
Even in BSE‘s core markets, content localization (= language) has clear room for improvement

5. Clear indications Improvements are possible in translation Time, cost and quality
TIME: production processes for translations are mainly manual and feel slow
COST: indications current translations aren’t cost efficient
QUALITY: feedback from countries that translations ‘aren’t good’
Time: Sub-optimal time to market for online content due to cumbersome, manual production processes for translations
Cost: Strong feeling that current translations are not cost efficient
Quality: Feedback from countries that translations ‘aren’t good’

6. Multi-tiered approach to map translation flow and opportunities for improvement
Hired localization expert/consultant Laura van Nigtevegt who teamed up with Alexandra Popova and Martijn de Pee
Spoke with a number of people in various roles at various brands (list as appendix)
Small online survey
Brande office visit and workshop Aug 24-25, 2015
Deep-dive with translation agency Translate Plus (Account Manager, EMEA Sales Director, CTO)
WHO TOOK THE SURVEY?
Stine Rohde Mortensen Operational Femme/Homme
Rikke Fenger ChristensenE-commerce / OBJECT

7. Tech landscape “2-4 hours per week are lost copy/pasting text” –
Tina Lund, E-Commerce Manager NameIt

8. Bse has a complex tech landscape
Property file
Website navigation
Category Titles
Campaign Content
Website labels
Help Section
Account Section
Customer Club
Support Section
About BESTSELLER
Cookie Bar
Keywords
DMW
Content Slot
Content Asset
Keyword List
Graphic
MAM
BI2
PIM
(Product) Long Description
Style Name
Washing Instructions
Product Composition

9. Scattered ownership of CONTENT Repositories
Type of Content
Master System
Content Owner/Group
Product Information
BI2
Brand Buyers
PIM
Brand Product Coordinators
Product Images
MAM
Newsletter Campaigns
APSIS
Brand Managers
Confirmation /Regular s
Localization Team
Website labels (various)
DMW Property files
Localization team
Website content
DMW
Partner-specific content (marketplaces)
Tradebyte
Marketplaces Team
Note: Mention that packaging, labels and in-store content is out of scope for this overview. Include print also into out of scope.

10. Translation vendor landscape
“We don’t know what we’re pushing out to certain markets”
Katrine Boel Olesen, Team Leader E-Commerce Jack&Jones/Selected

11. Proper Translation requires well managed process
Production processes revealed
Proper Translation requires well managed process
MAIN FLOW
2. Applying Translation Memory/Machine Translation
3. Human Translation
4. Translation Review
5. Translation Memory Update
6. Translation Retrieval
1. Content Segmentation
OPTIONAL FLOW
2.A Specialized Translation Memory
3. A Specialized Human Translation
4. A In-Context Translation Review
5. A Translation Memory update (post-retrieval)
1.A Project Management Authorization

12. Current translation vendor set-up far from optimal
Total annual translation spend (Aug ’14- July ‘15): €
Translate Plus largest by far (>70% of spend, approx. € per year)
Pricing agreement/SLA unchanged since 2011
Bad feedback on output quality/tone of voice
Findings
Limited expertise in fashion
Translate Plus finds BESTSELLER environment hard to navigate
Translate Plus has a localization automation and management portal (iPlus) free of charge but this is hardly used by BESTSELLER
No one at BESTSELLER has business ownership
Vendor landscape
Multiple vendors
Total annual spend: EUR 425k
Translate Plus largest bij far (>70% of spend, approx. EUR 305k per year)
History of contract
Contract signed in 2011
Style Name Custom translations since 2014
UI/marketing collateral for some brands
Pricing agreement/SLA
Remained unchanged since 2011
Fuzzy matches: 50% discount
Repetitions/perfect matches: 80% discount
Bad feedback on output quality/tone of voice
Limited expertise in fashion; ECCO Shoes & Tom Tailor are other fashion clients
Summary of vendor calls/impressions
Translate Plus finds BESTSELLER environment hard to navigate due to decentralized structure and variable localization expertise among brands/contact persons at BESTSELLER
Translate Plus has a localization automation and management portal (iPlus) available for BESTSELLER free of charge but this is hardly used
No business ownership of the relation at BESTSELLER
Pricing was never re-negotiated
No KPIs set with Translate Plus
No senior-level QBRs held so far

13. Diagnosis issues time – cost - quality
“proper translations are like underwear,
You mainly notice it when it’s not there”
Laura van nigtevegt, localization consultant

14. time leaks frustrate translation process
Limited automation
Only real automation is for PIM – automated file exchange between BESTSELLER and vendor Translate Plus
Manual steps
Copy/pasting in Excel is slow and error-prone
Many duplicate efforts
Entering the same info again and again
Example: entering product info in BI2 + enrichment in PIM
Implication: Time to market for online content is longer than desired by BESTSELLER; time leaks stalls progress/rolling out value-add activities. Great opportunity to shorten time to market by automating workflow!

15. Internal and external translation cost have room for improvement
English source content is inconsistent
limited use of translation memory and associated discounts creates higher cost
Limited automation
BESTSELLER staff and translation agency are spending precious time handling Excel files instead of automated flow
Unfavorable pricing agreement
High translation rates mismatching our content- and company type
Example: repetitions & perfect matches have 80% discount, this should be 100%
Duplicate efforts
Typing in the same product info every time incurs extra costs
Implication: Margins may be lower than necessary due to repeated high spend on translations, both external (what you pay your agencies) and internal (time spent on repeated/manual work). Great opportunity to normalize localization budget (only spend what you really need to spend)!

16. Garbage in = garbage out
Quality
Garbage in = garbage out
English source content is inconsistent
Inconsistencies in enrichments in PIM
Insufficient context
Translating without a clue what the product or campaign looks like
Example: ‘Butterfly tie’ (bow tie) literally translated like the animal in product info (Jack&Jones)
No in-house ownership
Absence of language experts for key markets leading to limited to no control over language quality. ‘Black box’ languages like Finnish and Norwegian form a liability!
Limited feedback loop
No translation memory sync between BESTSELLER and translation agency leading to repeat errors
No shared translation memory between different translation agencies leading to inconsistencies within a brand
Garbage in = garbage out
English source text that forms the basis for translation isn’t consistent
Inconsistencies in enrichements in PIM
Not enough context provided to translation agencies
e.g. images, term lists, localization style guides
Translating without a clue what the product or campaign looks like
Limited in-house review
No language experts for key markets; limited to no control/ownership over language quality. Who can say what’s good and not?
Black box’ languages like Finnish and Norwegian form a liability!
Limited feedback loop to translation agencies
No translation memory synch between BESTSELLER and agency leading to repeat errors
No shared translation memory between different translation agencies leading to inconsistencies within a brand (e.g. Category names)
Implication: Unnatural sounding content may allienate potential BESTSELLER clients; trustworthiness and brand image may suffer. Liability when there’s no real insight into what gets pushed out to markets. Great opportunity to improve content quality, user engagement and branding by re-distributing the language ownership!

17. opportunities “We translated without care. Now we start caring.”
Michael Fynboe, Head of Operations E-Commerce

18. Short term opportunities
Actions
Time
Cost
Effect
Owner
Connect CMSs to Translate Plus via API
Start using iPlus portal for project management
Formalize current in-country sign-off by the non-linguists (‘market-readiness checks’) as KPI so it will become a priority task
1 month
2 weeks
€ 4.000
Free
Faster (automated) data transfer
Much more effficient project management
More dedication, faster
Product Management
Ecommerce Operations (non-tech), Brand Mgmt
Ecommerce Operations (non-tech), Customer Support, Market Managers
Re-negotiate pricing with Translate Plus
None
€ per year savings
Ecommerce Operations
Start sharing translation memories between vendors
Centralize all term lists (glossaries) and translation memories on iPlus
Start providing images with PIM translations
Perform review on iPlus
1 week
2 months
€ 3.000
€ 1.500
More consistency
Consistency
Fewer errors
Fewer errors, faster
Ecommerce Operations, Brand Management
Brand Management
Unify terminology: 1 FTE copywriter (50k/year) for 3 months. This can be either a copywriter who is already working for one of the brands or an external one.
Localization coordinators: 4-6 months from realizing you need someone to actually signing and getting someone up to speed
Licensing your own tool: own tool benefits= translation vendor independence. Downside: cost (set-up & licensing fees, maintenance even when SaaS).
Automation could be done via your translation vendor (use their technology) and is usually free of charge then. Benefit: lower costs. Downside: afraid of lock-in with a vendor? Dependent on what the vendor has to offer. Re-connect everything when you change vendors.
Total one time cost €
Effect € per year

19. Medium term opportunities
Actions
Time
Cost
Effect
Owner
Standardize English source texts
Set up pre-defined text options in PIM
Unify terminology within and across brands (one time effort)
2 months
3 months € €
Faster, better quality
Faster content production
Multiple owners:
Product Management
Ecommerce Operations
Hire cross-brand Language Specialists for key markets to do
Terminology management
Style Guide development & maintenance
Liaising with ‘language leads’ of the translation agency to improve quality
Reviewing key content/products
3-6 months
€50k/yr ea
Immense quality improvement
Quality improvement
Total one time cost €
Unify terminology: 1 FTE copywriter (50k/year) for 3 months. This can be either a copywriter who is already working for one of the brands or an external one.
Localization coordinators: 4-6 months from realizing you need someone to actually signing and getting someone up to speed
Licensing your own tool: own tool benefits= translation vendor independence. Downside: cost (set-up & licensing fees, maintenance even when SaaS).
Automation could be done via your translation vendor (use their technology) and is usually free of charge then. Benefit: lower costs. Downside: afraid of lock-in with a vendor? Dependent on what the vendor has to offer. Re-connect everything when you change vendors.
Total recurring cost € / year (x number of specialists)
Effect: each percent CVR improvement in 2014/15 would have meant € in additional CM2

20. Long term opportunities
Actions
Time
Cost
Effect
Owner
Licensing own localization workflow management tool
Hire localization coordinators (2) to liaise with internal stakeholders, translation agencies and language specialists
3 months
4-6 months
€25-100k/yr
€50k/yr/ea
Faster flow, more context, more control
Less duplicate work, better quality
Ecommerce Operations (dedicated team)
Hire a Head of Content to elevate the business relationship with your translation vendor(s) by
KPI setting & monitoring
Quarterly Business Reviews
Ongoing cost optimization and updating Senior Management on (global) content ROI
€ 100k/year
More control over quality and budget, continuous efficiency improvement, true content ROI calculation
Enforce terminology by using Acrolinx within and across brands
RFP for a new translation vendor with more fashion expertise
3-6 months
€45.000/yr
€15.000
Easier translation, better quality for English-speaking markets
Better quality
Unify terminology: 1 FTE copywriter (50k/year) for 3 months. This can be either a copywriter who is already working for one of the brands or an external one.
Localization coordinators: 4-6 months from realizing you need someone to actually signing and getting someone up to speed
Licensing your own tool: own tool benefits= translation vendor independence. Downside: cost (set-up & licensing fees, maintenance even when SaaS).
Automation could be done via your translation vendor (use their technology) and is usually free of charge then. Benefit: lower costs. Downside: afraid of lock-in with a vendor? Dependent on what the vendor has to offer. Re-connect everything when you change vendors.
Total one time cost €
Effect: each percent CVR improvement in 2014/15 would have meant € in additional CM2
Total recurring cost € /year

21. Medium and long term best served by dedicated team
For Fast, cost efficient, high quality language content
Medium and long term best served by dedicated team
ROLE
# PEOPLE
TASK
REQUIREMENTS
Localization Coordinator 2
Streamline the work with translation vendor
Interface between internal stakeholders and translation vendor
Work day-to-day with a vendor to resolve incoming requests during translation production
Experience working in Translation Agency/Translation Vendor side
Language Specialist
(in-house) 3
(for key markets DE, NL and FR in stage one)
Specialists for your key markets
Terminology management
Style Guide development & maintenance
Liaising with ‘language leads’ of the translation agency
Reviewing key content/products
Industry experienced copywriter or blogger, former translators, native speaking marketers or journalists
Head of Content 1
Elevate the business relationship with translation vendor(s) by
KPI setting & monitoring
Quarterly Business Reviews
Ongoing cost optimization and
Updating Senior Management on (global) content ROI
Senior Project Manager or Senior Account Manager from the agency
As you already have copywriters working for the brands I didn’t add these to the localization team.

22. appendices

23. BESTSELLER People we interviewed
Addendum i
BESTSELLER People we interviewed
Tina Lund Manager NameIt Katrine Boel Olesen Team Lead E-Commerce Jack&Jones Mette Vanger Rask Larsen Brand Manager MAMALICIOUS Michelle Egedal Lauritzen Communication Coordinator Jack&Jones Kirstine Vestergaard Henriksen CRM Specialist ONLY Thomas Søby Andersen Ecommerce Trading Malene Brouw Jakobsen Language Coordinator Ecommerce Louise Søften Hedegaard Language Coordinator Ecommerce Charlotte Rytter Ecommerce Manager Vero Moda Françoise Wallis Loyalty Responsible Jack&Jones Michael Fynboe Head of Operations E-Commerce Kristoffer Nielsen Store Optimizer, Only Lars Øer Creative Developer, ONLY Susanne Jagd Operational Sales Responsible Søren Gundtoft Johansen Head of OMNI-Channel Mia Bennebo Supply Chain Assistant Kirstine Vestergaard Henriksen CRM Specialist ONLY

24. Translation spend Aug ‘14 – July ‘15
Addendum ii
Translation spend Aug ‘14 – July ‘15

25. Localization maturity model
Addendum iii
Localization maturity model
Reactive. An ad hoc response to business demands for international or domestic multicultural (also called “ethnic”) support characterizes this first phase of localization. There are few defined processes – and lots of individual heroics. Small companies, websites at any size firm, and self-contained business units of larger organizations typically find themselves at this level as they first begin responding to international market demands.
Repeatable. In this discovery phase, companies establish basic project management processes to track cost, schedule, and functionality. External translation resources and engineering resources support the effort. Firms of any size that have undertaken some international product development, marketing, and website globalization fall into this category as they begin realizing how much work is involved in localization.
Managed. Recognition of common problems drives efforts to document, standardize, integrate, and sometimes centralize localization projects across the firm. Ideally, all projects use an approved version of a corporate-standard process for localization. Larger firms – especially high-tech companies in software and hardware, consumer electronics, and automotive manufacturers – have generally reached this level.
Optimized. At this stage companies take a more scientific approach, collecting detailed process, quality, and efficiency metrics. They begin requiring localization- and language-centric tools, both by their internal development groups and by their sourcing partners. Companies with highly evolved internal processes, a modern software infrastructure, a content management architecture, and experience in distributed authoring and product development will aim for this next level of localization maturity.
Transparent. Companies in the final phase of the LMM have internalized the concept of localization so that it is a natural part of their code and content life cycles, business planning, quality management programs, and general outlook. They undertake a program of continuous process improvement in which they insert the globalization “gene” into every product, customer interaction, and employee. Some high-tech companies – Microsoft, Oracle, and Symantec among them – have evolved to this stage of awareness and practice, but we find few firms at this level of localization maturity. Of course, we regularly speak with language service providers and software vendors that paint a picture of this nirvana to their prospects and clients.

26. Addendum IV Acknowledgments
All icons made by Freepik from 

28. Many opportunities for faster time to market
Term
Actions
Time
Cost
Effect
Owner
Short
Connect CMSs to Translate Plus via API
Start using iPlus portal for project management
Formalize current in-country sign-off by the non-linguists (‘market-readiness checks’) as KPI so it will become a priority task
1 month
2 weeks
€ 4.000
Free
Faster (automated) data transfer
Much more effficient project management
More dedication, faster
Product Management
Ecommerce Operations (non-tech), Brand Mgmt
Ecommerce Operations (non-tech), Customer Support, Market Managers
Medium
Standardize English source texts
Set up pre-defined text options in PIM
Unify terminology within and across brands (one time effort)
2 months
3 months € €
Faster, better quality
Faster content production
Multiple owners:
Ecommerce Operations
Long
Licensing own localization workflow management tool
Install localization coordinators (2) to liaise with internal stakeholders, translation agencies and Language Specialists
Enforce terminology by using Acrolinx within and across brands
4-6 months
3-6 months
€25-100k/yr
€50k/yr/ea
€ /yr
Faster flow, more context, more control
Less duplicate work, better quality
Less duplicate effort
Ecommerce Operations (dedicated team)
E-commerce Operations (dedicated team)
Unify terminology: 1 FTE copywriter (50k/year) for 3 months. This can be either a copywriter who is already working for one of the brands or an external one.
Localization coordinators: 4-6 months from realizing you need someone to actually signing and getting someone up to speed
Licensing your own tool: own tool benefits= translation vendor independence. Downside: cost (set-up & licensing fees, maintenance even when SaaS).
Automation could be done via your translation vendor (use their technology) and is usually free of charge then. Benefit: lower costs. Downside: afraid of lock-in with a vendor? Dependent on what the vendor has to offer. Re-connect everything when you change vendors.

29. Spend only what you need to spend
Cost
Spend only what you need to spend
Term
Actions
Time
Cost
Effect
Owner
Short
Re-negotiate pricing with Translate Plus
2 weeks
None
€40k/yr saving
Ecommerce Operations
Medium
Standardize English source texts
Set up pre-defined (and pre-translated) text options in PIM
2 months
€ 2.500
Less time entering info
Product Management
Long
Install a Head of Content to elevate the business relationship with your translation vendor(s) by
KPI setting & monitoring
Quarterly Business Reviews
Ongoing cost optimization and
Updating Senior Management on (global) content ROI
4-6 months
€ 100k/year
More control over quality and budget, continuous efficiency improvement, true content ROI calculation
Ecommerce Operations (dedicated team)
Depending on the office location the annual salary for a Head of Localization may vary. This is an indication for Western-Europe.

30. Improve user experience
quality
Improve user experience
Term
Actions
Time
Cost
Effect
Owner
Short
Start sharing translation memories between vendors
Centralize all term lists (glossaries) and translation memories on iPlus
Start providing images with PIM translations
Perform review on iPlus
1 week
1 month
2 months
€ 3.000
€ 1.500
Free
More consistency
Consistency
Fewer errors
Fewer errors, faster
Ecommerce Operations, Brand Management
Product Management
Brand Management
Medium
Install cross-brand Language Specialists for key markets to do
Terminology management
Style Guide development & maintenance
Liaising with ‘language leads’ of the translation agency to improve quality
Reviewing key content/products
Unify terminology within and across brands (one time effort)
3-6 months
3 months
€50k/yr each €
Immense quality improvement
Quality improvement
Ecommerce Operations
Long
Licensing own localization workflow tool
Enforce terminology by using Acrolinx within and across brands
RFP for a new translation vendor with more fashion expertise
€25-100k/yr
€45.000/yr
€10-20k
More context, control
Easier translation, better quality for English-speaking markets
Better quality
Ecommerce Operations/dedicated
Licensing your own tool: own tool benefits= translation vendor independence. Downside: cost (set-up & licensing fees, maintenance even when SaaS).
Automation could be done via your translation vendor (use their technology) and is usually free of charge then. Benefit: lower costs. Downside: afraid of lock-in with a vendor? Dependent on what the vendor has to offer. Re-connect everything when you change vendors.
Migrating to simplified English: this is usually driven by a senior copywriter. Time it takes is a ballpark for the assessment, startegy setting and implementation (and maybe clean-up of existing content) however this wouldn’t be a fulltime job but more of a major KPI for a copywriter. You already have copywriters working for the brands who could pick this up, or you ire an external copywriter to do this.
Acrolinx: licenses start at 3k/month for 5 users
RFP costs: this is typically what a Head of Localization would drive. Could also be carried out by a consultant.