Benefits of Localizing E-Commerce Websites

Is your e-commerce site growing and expanding? Are you able to get new customers onboard on a daily basis? Is your revenue constantly going up? If the answers to these questions are affirmative, then good for you, it’s obvious you are doing something right! But here is a snag; how long do you think it is going to take you to hit that proverbial ceiling? It is going to happen sooner or later, and one of the reasons for it is that you are probably catering exclusively to an English-speaking part of the population. There is a cure for this, however, and it is called e-commerce localization.

What is E-commerce Localization?

E-commerce localization is the process of making your site available and user-friendly in more than just one language. It is the art of adapting your store to your target audience by approaching them in their own language and considering what works best for that particular market. Cultural sensitivity plays an important role here.

Consider Amazon, for example. Amazon is doing an excellent job localizing their specific landing pages to their target markets. Amazon.co.uk serves up a different landing page when compared to Amazon.com; their Japan and India pages are also different. They understood, early on, that they need to put in extra work when approaching different target markets if they want to cash in on a global level.

Three Ways E-commerce Localization Can Help You Grow Your Sales

1. User-generated content counts for a lot
   A lot of online buyers confess that they consult product reviews before making a purchase. Over 70 % of them state that those reviews influence their purchasing decision. Now, if you are offering up more than one language version of your site, you are giving the buyers an option of leaving a review in their own language. Great reviews drive sales, and reviews written in their own language increase the level of confidence buyers have in your site.
   
   
2. Most people don't speak the English language
   Buyers tend to shop more from sites in their own language, and numerous studies already proved that. It is not just the question of preference, however. Most people in the world do not even speak the English language; offering only an English language version of your page limits your potential pool of customers to about a third of the population.
   
   
3. You Can Cash in on Cultural Differences
   People around the globe have differing shopping practices and tendencies. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are great days for retailers in America and Europe; not so great for retailers in other parts of the world. Every culture has something similar. In China, it is called Singles Day and it is a national holiday. Last year’s Singles Day accounted for more sales than Cyber Monday and Black Friday combined. The problem is that if you are not immersed in a particular market, you tend to disregard these things, and that is bad for business.

E-commerce localization is no longer a luxury, it is a necessity. If you plan on growing your business you need to set it up to be all-inclusive. That is the only way you can increase your business on the expanding globalized marketplace.