Did you know? Seventy-six percent of online shoppers prefer buying products with information in their own language. Moreover, 40% say they will never buy from websites in other languages, according to CSA Research. So, if you want to attract global customers, a multilingual website isn’t a nice-to-have, but a necessity. And that requires localization.
Yet ecommerce localization presents its own challenges, including the need to translate and update product descriptions in every available language. Manually localizing every listing is time-consuming, costly, and—depending on the size of your catalog—seemingly impossible. Fortunately, a continuous localization platform can automate the process, making it easy to keep your ecommerce website up-to-date.
Before we dive in, we need to define what eCommerce localization is all about. Simply put, it’s the process of adapting an ecommerce website or platform to meet the specific cultural, linguistic, and regional needs of a particular market. This includes translating content, changing payment methods and shipping options, and providing customer service support in the local language. The goal is to create an experience that feels natural and familiar to customers in that market, making them more likely to convert.
Accurate, scalable ecommerce translations are a must when accounting for changing product offerings, seasonality, and upgrades. To earn customers’ trust, product listings should match local sizes, units of measurement, and currencies. You also need to localize any accompanying graphics, product videos, and user reviews that will help customers make informed buying decisions.
Now that you know more about eCommerce localization, let’s take a look at five major benefits of localizing product descriptions.
eCommerce localization allows you to create SEO optimized product descriptions in multiple languages and optimize content for regional search engines. This is essential if you want to increase organic traffic. Why? Because product-related keywords vary by language, and different search engines use different algorithms to determine website rankings.
For example, say you want to drive more traffic to the Chinese version of your website. You’d need to optimize product descriptions for Baidu, the largest Chinese-language search engine.
Localized product descriptions inspire buyer confidence. Online shoppers who trust your product listings are accurate and more likely to buy. Plus, they’re less likely to return purchases because they choose the correct size, color, or other attribute, so the product meets their expectations.
For example, the French version of an online clothing store would offer women’s sizes starting at 32, 34, or 36, which is equal to XXS, XS, and S in U.S. sizes.
eCommerce localization helps build a strong brand image in new markets by showing that you understand and respect local customs, values, and preferences.
For example, say you want to create an Arabic version of your website to do business in Saudi Arabia. You can alter product images that include models who don’t adhere to modest dress codes. This demonstrates that you understand the importance of modesty in the Muslim world, and more customers will trust your brand because of that.
eCommerce personalization is now the norm. Case in point, 71% of shoppers expect companies to deliver personalized experiences and 76% get frustrated when they don’t.
Localized product descriptions help you create those experiences by offering product recommendations in the customer’s preferred language. You can also send personalized push notifications, email offers, and rewards based on past purchases.
Localized product descriptions and personalized recommendations enhance the shopping experience by providing shoppers with relevant information in their language. This is essential for increasing customer loyalty. In fact, 73% of online shoppers say that a positive experience is the key factor that influences their decision to return to an ecommerce website.
As you can see, every hour a localized product listing isn’t live on your site, you’re losing revenue. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution. Integrating a continuous localization platform with an eCommerce system such as Shopify, Magneto, or BigCommerce enables you to automatically keep product descriptions up-to-date.
Now that you know more about how localization platforms work, it’s time to choose one for your organization.
In 2015, we launched our powerful, cloud-based AI platform, WordsOnline. It reduces costs, translates large volumes within tight deadlines, and gives you more control over the localization process. Here’s how it works:
If you translate regularly, you can set up a monthly translation subscription to save time, costs, and administration. It’s that easy. Yet you don’t have to take our word for it. Our client success stories speak for themselves.
Amazon, a global eCommerce platform that sells over 350 million products, needed a solution to translate millions of words every month.
Given the volume of translations, it would be difficult to find the high number of translators required and too time-consuming to manage individual contributors. Furthermore, project managers would have virtually no time to re-assign poorly translated and/or non-delivered sections.
WordsOnline enables us to manage high volume projects with short delivery times using a large pool of linguists. We distribute the content to be translated, monitor progress and quality based on live data, and post-edit and revise content. We can also dynamically increase or decrease the pool of linguists simultaneously working on a project.
Our system greatly reduced the time spent downloading files, creating projects or adding terminologies. This allowed our translators to reach an average of 7,000 words a day. Some even showed incredible productivity numbers of up to 10,000 words per day, three times the norm.
Mountain Warehouse, a British outdoor retailer, needed to localize its products into German, French, Italian, and Spanish to increase online sales.
Mountain Warehouse releases a new collection every year in autumn and spring that includes a large catalog of product descriptions. And while a portion of the catalog is on the company website, the company also sells products on Amazon and eBay. To maintain a unified message, Mountain Warehouse needs to translate content from multiple websites—including keywords, SEO content, and titles.
We use Mountain Warehouse’s precise instructions to create glossaries and translation memories that help us hit the right tone and follow the brand’s style guide. We also developed transparent work flows and end-to-end localization processes to automate manual tasks that occur in the translation process.
Mountain Warehouse is reaching new markets faster thanks to automation provided by WordsOnline, and has increased the ROI of their marketing efforts in multiple languages.
Mountain Warehouse Case Study Download now Introduction Mountain Warehouse is a British outdoor retailer with over 330 stores worldwide, selling
It’s easy to see why companies such as Amazon and Mountain Warehouse trust us with their ongoing translation needs. Our AI-powered localization platform automates the translation process—without sacrificing quality or brand integrity.
Want to learn more about how Jonckers can help you expand into new markets? Contact us today!
Upload your documents to WordsOnline and pay online for a fast, simple service. 10% discount on your first order
We will help you transition to the new world of continuous localization!
