The European market is a special one with diverse languages and cultures concentrated in a small area. For mail-order companies, some challenges arise: in addition to logistics, shipping options and returns, language plays an important role. Studies such as "Can’t Read, Won’t Buy" from Common Sense Advisory have repeatedly shown that a buyer will make a purchase at a much higher rate of probability if the relevant information is available in his native language -- reason enough to localize an online store. This is true even if the customers have 2nd or foreign language capabilities in English. The localization of the online shop is, therefore, a good and inexpensive way to increase your customer base.
Localization of Online Shops is Very Important
ccording to a study by Pitney Bowes , which surveyed 12,000 people in 12 countries, nearly 40% of consumers have made an online purchase in another country. It is particularly likely in Australia (63%), Canada, and Russia (54% each), to shop online in another country than their own. A sensible globalization strategy for online retailers is certainly to start with the most promising markets (such as the UK, France, and Benelux countries), and then continue to expand from there. Such an approach has proved successful particularly in the European market, where there are many small and medium-sized providers who do not have a huge budget for translations.
Automatization and Technological Support
Think technological support from the beginning. This will make it easier to translate the online store in additional languages later. It is also recommended that automation be implemented. This is important for the large amount of products and related information that can be found in an online store. New or updated products can be easily processed through the translation workflow. Automated workflows are the logical next step, e.g., a daily search of the product database for changes, and then forward these changes to a fully-automated translation process.
Successful Translation Management
If you are working with a Translation Management System like ONTRAM, you are saving money by reusing already created translations. This not only saves money but also time; your translators are not performing unnecessary tasks.
Thanks to ONTRAM, the mail order company KLiNGEL reduced its average processing time for translation projects by 50% following a successful go-live after only 3 weeks of implementation. The resulting savings amount to approximately € 500,000. At KLiNGEL, about 200 orders are processed per month and per language. Fifteen brands of KLiNGEL group are involved and 1.5 million words per month are translated in nine languages.
Machine translation can be an interesting supplement to manual translation for large amounts of similar text. In combination with human translators, there is great potential for savings.
International Expansion
In order to truly customize your website to the target market and the target culture, other adjustments must be made in addition to the language. Think also about graphs, images, local currencies, time zones, payment options, dimensions, and weights.
Conclusion
International expansion through an online shop is an effective and inexpensive way to globally tap into other markets. An important point is to address the customer in his native language in order to increase understanding and trust. Solutions for translation management provide technical support and can provide significant cost and time savings.
