eCommerce Localisation for International Shopping – Currency, Language, and Pricing

ECommerce has become a bridge for sellers to connect to a much larger international shopping community. While this opportunity to sell to a global audience is valuable, there are a few issues and obstacles that arise.

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of an international customer for a second. Say you saw an ad from a .com shopping website that had a product you were interested in. You click on the ad only to be met with two problems. First, everything is in English, which isn’t your first language. You end up having to translate the information on the page yourself with varying levels of success. Second, the product is in a currency other than your own and one you don’t recognize. So, you first try to figure out what the currency is and the exchange rate. Imagine having to go through all of these steps just to figure out what the product actually is and how much it costs. Most customers would rather visit an online store displayed in their native language and local currency. In the example above, the customer would most likely try to find the product elsewhere than even bother going through the processes described.

ECommerce localisation is the process of optimising your website and/or store so that it caters to users no matter where they are in the world. This automatic process allows site visitors to have the domain, currency, price, site language, and product images completely personalised based on the region they are from.

Domains

Over  37% of all domains use .com as the default extension for global businesses. However, using region-specific, top-level domains is more likely to capture the trust of some global customers, 92% of which aren’t comfortable spending money on websites they don’t recognize.

Currencies

The price of an item is usually the make or break moment for a shopper. When displayed with a different or unrecognisable currency, shoppers won’t know if the item is within their budget without looking up exchange rates. Then there’s the issue of the processing fees incurred by some banks when converting. These cause a third of Shopify shoppers to be likely to abandon their online carts.

Localised eCommerce sites that provide multicurrency options to shoppers convert 40% more than sites that don’t.

Localise your eCommerce business for international shopping with Shopify Markets. There are over 130 international currencies that prices on your product pages can automatically convert to. Additionally, it automatically updates the prices based on the latest exchange rates.

Payment Methods

Customers like to purchase in their own currency, but that’s not all. How much variety does your site offer in terms of payment methods?

When localising, it’s important to accommodate the payment preferences of the regions you’re targeting. Some countries prefer COD (cash on delivery), some debit or credit cards, while others prefer to pay digitally through systems like PayPal or Shop Pay. Certain regions may also have payment options specific only to them. You can make these preferences options for global customers through Shopify Markets.

Product Pricing

As an online seller, you need to be aware of the costs of selling to a global market. Familiarise yourself with the regions you’re accommodating. Be aware of shipping costs, import costs, and other region-specific fees and adjust your pricing accordingly to maintain the profitability of your online store.

Localisation is customization, and this impacts the decision-making process of buyers. In a survey commissioned by Shopify, Forrester Consulting, a leading global market research organisation, discovered that personalised discounts significantly influenced more than half of consumers to make a purchase.

Shopify Markets gives sellers an enhanced ability to customise international pricing and localise these prices to maintain or increase their profit margins.

Language and Translation

When visitors can hardly understand a site or product page, they are less likely to buy from that page due to the issue of trust or the general hassle of having to translate the information themselves.

We know that most people prefer shopping in their own language. If English is the only language that a website’s content is displayed in, it’s shown that 60% of people will likely not even purchase from that store. According to Shopify, when comparing stores displayed in the default language vs stores that showed the translated version, there was a 13% increase in shopper conversion rates for the latter. Some of the most important areas to apply translation include the titles of products, product descriptions, CTAs, navigation, and emails.

Imagery

Imagery is still one area of localisation that may fly under the radar. Make sure that your visuals are also optimised based on the region, as some images may be interpreted differently in other cultural contexts.

Customer Support

Only 7% of shoppers make a purchase without taking a look at the reviews first. This means a whopping majority takes the feedback of other customers as a basis for their buying decisions. In fact, positive business reviews influence about a third of shoppers to spend more money on that site.

Consider highlighting and sourcing positive reviews from customers within the specific regions you are targeting. Translated positive reviews don’t have the same effect as those from local buyers. A positive, localised review increases the trust factor for other potential buyers making them more likely to convert.

Customer service is another important area to consider. Depending on the region, you may need to hire a customer support representative that speaks the native language and can provide assistance for any questions or concerns shoppers may have regarding the product.

Localise your eCommerce website to give users a smoother experience. It will give you the competitive advantage that you need, because one size rarely ever actually fits all. You can reap other benefits as well, including increased market share from consumers who prefer your localised presence and share their great experience with your site and products organically. With an international search presence, you’ll also get more attention from search engines across wider locations because you fulfill language, currency, and content relevancy requirements.