Your eCommerce company may be performing exceptionally well at home, but because of a saturated market or limited customer base, there could be difficulties growing your business internationally without taking the proper steps to succeed in the global market.
You can dramatically grow your eCommerce company with eCommerce localization services.
Benefits of eCommerce localization
If you are not selling your products internationally, it is likely that your competitors are. Thanks to online global shopping events such as Cyber Monday, internet shopping has skyrocketed within the past the past few years. As the global landscape becomes more narrow, communicating in the language of your target audience grows more important.
Question 1:
What exactly is eCommerce localization?
The art of translating your online profile, product descriptions, database-driven content, and graphic images into the language of your new target audience with cultural sensitive accuracy.
Question 2:
How exactly can this benefit me?
Firstly, you have the ability to reach a wider audience with minimal effort. Once your website is localized, you can keep costs low since products can be shipped relatively quickly.
Likewise, customers are more likely to build trust in your product if your product descriptions are in their own language. It is also a good idea to own country-level domains for target countries and to provide a simple way to convert the price into their currency.
You should consider your target audience when designing your eCommerce site. Although there is a general movement towards a single global set of best practices, keeping the persona in mind when designing your country-level domains adds to the customer experience.
The user interface for your website should reflect the needs of the persona you are targeting.
The Amazon example
Amazon has great examples demonstrating how to localize your eCommerce site to specific markets. Amazon’s website in the UK has a different design from the website targeted towards customers in the United States. Amazon also focuses on different products depending on which market is being targeted.
Both the UK and US localized sites focus on eBooks and Kindles.
Amazon’s UK site
Amazon’s US site
Amazon’s Japan site
The Japan localized site focuses on entertainment and electronics.
Amazon’s India site
The India localized site focuses on mobile phones.
Sometimes, you can learn new things from merely looking at a localized website. Based on the above examples from Amazon, it appears that Indian consumers are more tolerate of advertising as there are third party adverts along the right hand side. There are no third party adverts hosted on the other three sites.
Understanding these cultural and local needs with eCommerce localization is imperative if you would like to succeed in the global market. If a consumer doesn’t see what they want almost instantly, they are likely to leave your website and find a different eCommerce site better suited for their needs.
Conclusion
When you have a retail business that has limited opportunities to grow because of competition, prices or technology– you should consider going global by growing your target audience, and one of the best ways to do this is by localizing your eCommerce website.
Nowadays, the possibilities of who you can reach with an international eCommerce site are virtually endless. With a little market research and an eCommerce localization service provider, you can explore those outlets in no time.
To learn more about how the right localization strategy can benefit your business, please click here.