In 2014 Facebook bought this company, which had a great many users. The Angry Birds game (developed by Finns) reached two billion downloads shortly after it became available.
These companies quickly grew on a global scale even without any great initial adaptation of their products for local markets. Does that mean every digital product can overcome the traditional barriers to achieve fast international growth?
No, it doesn't. There are many companies such as TomTom (navigation), BlaBlaCar (carpooling) or Mastercard (payment technology). For them, internationalising their digital business definitely was not so simple.
Cultural differences
In the case of TomTom, it turned out that addresses are written differently in different parts of the world. In India, the majority of streets have no names, as a result of which navigation is based on local landmarks and directions derived from them. That meant the interface needed to be changed in such a way as to suit users in India.
BlaBlaCar connects passengers with drivers who have empty seats in their cars, so they can split the cost of a journey. While carpooling is quite common in Russia, people in the UK were reluctant to give it a try. So BlaBlaCar decided gradually to hire people who were already developing a similar platform for the local market, thereby obtaining the necessary knowledge of local cultural specificities. This is also a reason why local teams enjoy high autonomy when it comes to local marketing and communication strategy. In the UK, the company collaborated with the AXA insurance company in order to overcome the fear of UK travellers who were afraid their insurance would not cover carsharing rides.
-jk-