07/ 08/ 2005
by Jeffrey Moses
Many small businesses in the United States place ads in international magazines, newspapers and other media. When doing so, they often automatically include all measurements – length and distance, weight and volume – in "American" terms, such as inches and feet, ounces and cubic feet. A potential buyer in a country that uses the metric system exclusively may have somewhat negative feelings about ads that express units of measurement solely in non-metric terms.
Conversely, buyers who have grown up with and use metric measurements daily may not understand non-metric measurements. As a result, they may have trouble visualizing a product or service.
Readers who are offended or confused by use of non-metrics may feel that the company placing the ad does not care enough to address local concerns of potential buyers. It may portray an image of a company that is distant, overly American (or British) and uncaring or uninformed about local needs and customs. These perceptions are decidedly negative and can lead to reduced sales.
To be globally friendly, measurements in ads should include both metric and non-metric terms. This can be accomplished simply by including the metric measurement in parenthesis after the non-metric measurement or vice versa, depending on the company's country of origin.
For instance, let's say that an ad states that the liquid volume of a product is 1 pint. Going to one of the numerous online metric to non-metric conversion tables, you can quickly determine that 1 pint is the equivalent of .437 liters. The weight could thus be listed in the ad as, 1 pint (.437 liters.)
Similarly, a product that is 10 inches in length could be described as 10 inches (25.4 centimeters.) This is based on 1 inch being the equivalent of 2.54 centimeters.
Exact calculations need to be made for each conversion, based on the equivalent metric and non-metric measurements. Some of the more common conversions are:
Length/Distance
1 inch = 2.54 centimeters
1 foot = 30.48 centimeters
1 yard = 0.9144 meters (commonly rounded off to 0.914 meters)
1 mile = 1.609344 kilometers (commonly rounded off to 1.61 kilometers)
Weight
1 ounce = 28.3495231 grams (28.35 grams)
1 pound = 0.4535924 kilograms (0.45 kilograms)
1 ton (US) = 907.18474 kilograms (907.2 kilograms)
I ton (US) = 0.9071847 metric tons (0.9 metric tons)
Volume
1 cubic inch = 16.3870641 cubic centimeters (16.39 centimeters)
1 cubic foot = 0.0283168 cubic meters (0.028 cubic meters)
1 cubic yard = 0.7645549 cubic meters (0.765 cubic meters)
Liquid/Solid Volume
1 ounce = 0.0295735 liters (0.029 liters)
1 pint = 0.4731765 liters (0.47 liters)
1 quart = 0.946353 liters (0.946) liters
1 gallon = 3.7854118 liters (3.785 liters)
1 cup = 0.2365882 liters (0.237 liters)
