The Rise of Online Shopping: A Global Perspective

Christmas and the New Year are over and with them the highest volume of online shopping, but this seasonal drop won’t mask the overall annual increase in internet buying which seems to just keep on rising. Online shopping, of course, is not confined to national borders. It has a global customer base, but that’s something that is intimately connected to effective localization.

Translation vs Localisation: Understanding the Difference

Localization is still a term that isn’t understood very well by many businesses. It is confused with translation. Of course, if your e-commerce business is reaching out to international buyers who speak a language different from your own, you will need to use a professional translation service to translate your website into the major languages used by those customers.

But localization means more than just translation and, in some cases, it doesn’t even involve language translation itself. Think about this scenario. You have an Australian-based business that has now launched an online sales arm. You are intending to target the U.S. / Canadian market, which is much larger than the Australian one. The combined population in North America is well over 300 million, 15 times as large as the Australian one. And they all speak English, right? Wrong!

The Importance of Localisation in International E-Commerce

Both Spanish (in the U.S.) and French (in Canada) are important secondary languages, even if English is well understood throughout. The first step naturally would be to find a good marketing translation service to adapt your online site so that both these language options are available. The chances of a potential consumer buying from you are definitely higher if they can read about your products and how to purchase them if the information is in their first language.

Going Beyond Translation: Understanding Cultural Nuances in Localisation

But is Australian English the same as U.S. or Canadian English? Are the cultures exactly the same? Is the humor and social preferences the same? The way your website and products are displayed needs to take into account those differences, even if the same language is used. That’s where effective localization specialists come in useful. They are basically professional translators who understand the nuances of the target languages, even if they are using the same language!

Case Study: Amazon’s Success Through Effective Localisation

If you are unconvinced, think of the reasons why Amazon has become one of the world’s largest online retailers. It accounted for nearly 321% of all online sales over the 2016 Cyber Weekend. Amazon crafts its sites so that they are localized for its different markets. That includes graphics, colors, language, layout, and the products themselves. They are specifically geared to satisfy the choices of customers in the main markets that Amazon deals with.