An old, famous Latin proverb says: “Cum Romae, ut Romani faciunt fac” (When in Rome, do as the Romans do). This advice has always been accepted, practiced and respected, at least since the Roman Empire of Julius Caesar.
Even today, ancient Romans could understand that the most important thing to be able to adapt to a new environment is to do what locals do. This not only help people to be accepted and to successfully adapt to a new society, but also to be able to understand locals’ mentality, think and live like them.
THE NEED FOR TROPICALIZATION
This pattern of behavior not only serves for social adaptation, but also for business. It is what we in our field call ‘tropicalization.’
The success of tropicalization means that this is the first step we must take for a foreign business to prosper. The language, the national holidays, the time, the bonuses, the gaming modalities, the payment methods, the social networks, the systems, etc., are part of the tropicalization. Adapting to local payment systems is not only very important, but essential for a foreign company to start operations in a new region.
It sounds quite simple, and it really is. It all depends on the regulation of each country and the policies of each payment system. To begin with, this will depend on whether the country is regulated or not. In the second case, if we do not have a license, well, there’s nothing to be done. We are not fit to work in this country with absolute tropicalization.
In case this country is not regulated and is a free market, we have two types of local payment systems: 1) those demanded by a local company since they will send the money to a local bank account, and 2) the payment system agrees to transfer (export) the money outside the country where the income was generated and this will facilitate the process for a foreign company.
As we can see, tropicalization is very important to adapt, grow and be successful in each different region. Having local payment systems is not complicated at all if we investigate how this can be made possible.