What To Consider When Going International With eCommerce

The global ecommerce market is a juggernaut, which is expected to swell over $7 trillion by 2025, in association with an unprecedented growth spurt in online shopping and digital transactions. 

Eight billion people form the potential base of customers for such markets. While this might present a tremendous prospect to worldwide ecommerce, there’s certainly a long and tough path ahead for anyone that has a desire to widen the business to a world setting. 

This article identifies key concerns for businesses considering taking their ecommerce ventures offshore so that they are ready to make the most of new markets.

Is There Opportunity to Grow in Your Target Market?

Before you embark on the international ecommerce journey, you must measure demand for your products or services in your target market. Market research, therefore, is absolutely essential. Determine whether there exists pre-existing demand and what competition is already out there. 

A “soft launch” can be a good way to test the waters with minimal investment. This allows you to shape your offerings based on real-time feedback and sales performance.

Use tools like Google Trends and social media analytics in detecting levels of interest. Also, conduct research on local consumer behavior, preference, and buying patterns. Know the cultural and regional angles, which would be the foundation for your choice. Your bestseller may not be there in Asia.

Is Your Translation Accurate?

Translation has nothing to do with translating words from one language to another, but it means that you are taking meaning and making sure that your brand is maintained across cultures. The accuracy in translations is the best way of getting trust and credibility with your international audience. Wrongly translated content can make your customers confused, lead to mistrust, and ultimately, loss of sales.

Hire professional translators who know your industry. Automated translation tools are convenient, but lack the nuance required for effective communication. Consider dialects, too. A large French-speaking population inhabits Canada, so, in order to effectively engage with that audience, they will need bilingual content.

Further reading: How to Translate Your Website in 10 Steps

Are You Localizing Your Content?

Localization, therefore, takes the translation effort one step ahead by adjusting the content to local cultures, changing marketing messages and images, and even product offerings depending on local customs and traditions and values.

For example, using country flags to represent languages on your website may not be well accepted. Instead, encourage users to “Choose Location” for a more inclusive approach. Also, note local holidays, festivities, and events to capitalize on relevant marketing opportunities. Localization creates a familiar and relatable shopping experience, which enhances engagement and conversion rates.

What Currency and Payment Options Will You Offer?

Knowing which currency is mostly preferred and the mode of payment in your targeted markets will make the transaction pretty smooth. Each region has its different payment preferences, so for instance, the North American region prefers credit cards and PayPal, whereas Asian markets prefer either Alipay or WeChat Pay. Providing local currencies will improve the experience of the users as well as encourage them to trust it.

An active price strategy that will take into account the difference in currencies might also be fruitful. Further considerations include payment gateways, using a customer’s local currency to lessen their burden, instill them with that sense of security and ease while transacting.

Further reading: Content Localization: A Comprehensive Guide for Successful Strategies

Are You Using the Right Digital Marketing Channels?

Digital marketing forms the backbone of any ecommerce strategy, but it calls for a local approach in international markets. Each country has its unique set of preferred social media channels, search engines, and digital behavior.

Google rules North America, Yandex dominates in Russia, and Baidu is the absolute ruler in China. What is essential to know here is the difference between all these countries as this would help get your message through to the target audience.

Localized SEO strategy includes use of local keywords and optimizing for regional search engines. Social media marketing, also is to be noted: For example, North America may prefer TikTok while the Chinese will definitely depend on Douyin. Hence, in these markets, if your strategy fits into their choice and preferences, there will be good engagement and response.

How Will You Set Up Logistics in Different Countries?

Logistics can make or break your international ecommerce success. An efficient shipping and return process will make the customer happy. Assess the shipping options and if you will partner with local courier services or international shipping providers.

Questions to Consider —

• What shipping methods are you offering (standard, express, etc.)?
• How will you handle customs and duties in different regions?
• What is going to be your return policy? In this case, will it differ from one country to the other?

Always make shipping time and shipping cost clear. While many customers love that they get their orders very transparently, knowing potential delay times does provide for a better experience.

Will You Add on 24/7 Customer Support?

Customer support is an indispensable function for any successful ecommerce enterprise. You may be shipping products across all the time zones and communicating across languages, because your customer will be anywhere in the globe. With 24/7 customer support, the company can help to maximize its customer’s satisfaction and retention.

You could hire people in the office of the customer service representative who speak many languages to cover speakers of different languages. Even having chatbots for quick responses to common concerns would help address common concerns, which can also build confidence as it minimizes complaints due to language barriers and time zone differences.

5 Tips to Set You Up for International eCommerce Success

Are you ready to take your ecommerce business international? First, here are some absolute must-do’s for going international successfully:

1. Research Markets: Learn about local cultures, laws, and consumer preferences in new markets before entry. Study how your competitors work and generate demand locally to judge the probability of your products.
2. Choose the Right Ecommerce Platform: Platforms like Shopify can easily allow integration into translation apps and ensure things work smoothly.
3. Start with One Market: Take time to expand into one country first so that you can get a feel and experience for it, so it can then be more strategically rolled out to additional markets.
4. Maintain Compliance: Be thoroughly aware of local laws including product sales and data privacy regulations in order to keep compliance and protect your brand.
5. Invest in Translation and Localization: Even the content translated and localized may even determine the user engagement. Translation of language tools as well as localization gives the user the shopping site in the local or native language that implies the shopping experience could even be localized for the intended customer across the world.

Why Choose Linguidoor?

Ecommerce stores will open new sources of revenue and increase their market reach. But in order to tap into such new markets, there should be the right application of communication strategy, which will only be possible through proper translation and localization.

Through Linguidoor, you will be able to give an authentic ecommerce experience to your international customers. With our dedicated team, you will enjoy:

• High-Quality Translations: Ensuring 99.5% accuracy and relevance in your content.
• Contextual Guidelines: Vocabulary and style guide for consistent brand voice
• User-Friendly Integration: Connect your store on business without programming skills required.
• Comprehensive Language Support: More than 65 language support for translation.

The international ecommerce journey is an exciting one but challenging nonetheless. Through the understanding and implementation of the considerations put forth in this guide, you will be able to position your business for success in the global marketplace. 

It’s the high time to expand your business to an international level — don’t let the opportunity pass you by!

Related Article:

7 Powerful E-Commerce Localization Practices to Accelerate Global Growth

Why E-commerce Website Translation is important for business growth?

Globalize Your Business with Ecommerce Translation Services