WHY-TO-BUY-HERE STRATEGY #4: GLOBALIZATION.

Even on English-only sites, international sales typically contribute at least 10%-15% of total revenues. Web stores that are more customer- friendly to overseas buyers usually achieve much higher ratios, usually in the 30%-40% range. That percentage is likely to rise as Internet penetration grows overseas, especially for software companies that don't have a strong network of local resellers.

But creating a truly global store is not a trivial job. Buyonet (www.buyonet.com) is a software reseller that specializes in serving international markets; the Buyonet store currently makes 2,500 downloadable titles available to customers in 130 countries, with versions of its site in seven languages and a payment system that can process 30 different currencies. One nice touch: The first screen that customers see is usually already localized. The site can automatically detect a visitor's location and displays a home page in the appropriate language.

When individual publishers tackle the globalization problem, big companies do have a competitive edge on the Web. Last year Adobe Systems relaunched its Web site (www.adobe.com) as a place where "the digital publishing community gathers, collaborates, and conducts e-business." Since more than 50% of Adobe's customers live outside the U.S., Adobe created 19 international stores, each of which typically offers translated versions of Adobe's products priced in the local currency. According to Adobe spokesperson Kristin Fabos, the individual stores also take into account local "cultural expectations, laws, and marketing practices."

Fabos notes that the response to Adobe's localized Web store rollout sometimes blows even the most optimistic forecasts. "For example, in the first week of our relaunch of the Japan Adobe Online Store, Adobe.com did more business than in the entire previous quarter."

Adobe Systems, 345 Park Ave., San Jose, Calif. 95110; 408/536-3466.

Symantec, another large publisher, has taken a similar approach to globalizing its own Web store (www.symantecstore.com). Symantec currently operates 14 international stores in eight languages, and most of these stores also provide a variety of other services, including trialware downloads, anti-virus updates, and online tech support.

Some of these services (such as anti-virus alerts) tend to be very time-sensitive, and so an important part of Symantec's globalization strategy is to have the people and systems necessary to update each store as rapidly as possible. Symantec's site maintenance efforts, says e-commerce marketing manager Patricia Diaz, involve a global store management team, an outside localization firm, and "native translators as well as technical, project management, and publishing specialists who can accurately pinpoint local needs."

Symantec, 20330 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino, Calif. 95014; 408/446- 8953.