Florida Firm Offers Software That Translates English Retail Sites Into Spanish

December 29, 2003

BY STEPHEN POUNDS

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The numbers are compelling to Will Fleming and Adam Rubenstein.

Hispanics are the largest minority in the United States, with a population of 38.8 million. And they are growing by more than 1.7 million a year. They have purchasing power of about $540 billion.

"If you look even further out, in only four years, 2008, the disposable income of the Hispanic community will top $1 trillion," said Ramon Rodriguez, chief operating officer of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Given those staggering demographics, the two Wharton School MBA graduates from the University of Pennsylvania wondered why there aren't more Spanish-language retail Web sites. They started a company called Motionpoint to help close the language barrier.

"It's not that those companies don't appreciate the demographics," said Fleming, Motionpoint's chief executive.

They found that the hassle of getting the translation right had scared many large retailers away. That's where Motionpoint comes in. Motionpoint is an "application service provider," or ASP, that offers a subscription software service over the Internet -- in this case software that translates English-language retail sites into Spanish.

Copyright © 2003, HispanicBusiness.com