Saunier Duval: Facing difficulties

Words are not the only variable to consider in setting up a local site.

The Site

Saunier Duval, a German-owned maker of domestic heating systems, has a local-language site for its Chinese market that literally presents a westernised face to users.

The China site is one of nine autonomous country sites offered on the portal page for the .com URL. Clicking on the country name (in Chinese characters) opens the China home page which, like the rest of the site, is local-language only. The page is dominated by the site’s solitary photograph – other than product shots – which shows an unmistakably European-looking ‘nuclear’ family (mother, father, son, daughter) in their living room smiling warmly.

The Takeaway

Delightful and delighted (presumably with their Saunier Duval heating system) as the happy family on the company’s China site are, the one thing they obviously are not is Chinese. In every other respect Saunier has produced a thoroughly local website and is obviously not a newcomer to the market, judged on the extensive dealer network revealed by the site’s contact-finder map. So, why the western family?

Presumably if there were any cultural resistance to depicting families in a marketing setting that would apply to all nationalities (and other westerners’ local sites do not suggest any such restriction on using Chinese family groups). Are they there to inspire and assure, emphasising the western quality and luxury of the company’s products? Or did the localisation budget not run to a photo-shoot? Given the evident autonomy allowed to country sites, there may be reasons other than image-library limitations that would make it rash to recommend a change of picture to reinforce the site’s Chinese identity. But the issue perfectly illustrates that in setting up a country site there are more things to consider than getting the words right.

First published on 24 July, 2007