eCommerce Localization: What Is It?

E-commerce localization is the adaptation of an online store or e-commerce website to meet the unique cultural, linguistic, and logistical needs of a specific target market or region. 

By tailoring the shopping experience to align with local expectations, this approach aims to enhance customer engagement and satisfaction across different locales, elevating the entire user experience.

Yet, the question arises: what does eCommerce localization entail, and which elements should never be overlooked in your localization strategy?

Let’s take a look!

5 eCommerce Localization Elements You Should Never Overlook

1. Terms and Conditions

An integral part of eCommerce localization is terms and conditions. Because when it comes to terms and conditions of return, refund, and exchange regulations, any misunderstanding can have huge repercussions. That’s why you need to make sure your terms and conditions are accessible to your customers in different languages.

For example, the eligibility criteria for return, refund, and exchange regulations needs to be clear.

• Do your clients need to provide proof of purchase?
• What are the refund options?
• What is the timeframe for returns and exchanges?

If such information gets misunderstood due to language barriers, you risk your reputation and in some cases legal suits as well.

Surely you don’t want that, right?

2. User Interface

Your user interface is a part of your customer’s user experience, and hence a major element in eCommerce localization.

If the user interface doesn’t work well or looks gibberish in a target language, your customer’s experience isn’t going to be pleasant. And if the quality of your eCommerce website is bad, customers are going to wonder if your service/product is bad, too.

That’s why you need to adapt your user interface to accommodate text expansion/contraction and text direction (LTR, RTL) while utilizing Unicode to facilitate reading characters from diverse languages.

Additionally, customization of color schemes, icons, and symbols is also essential to resonate with the cultural sensitivities and preferences of your target users.

Without this step, your website won’t look good. If they don’t like it, they won’t buy from it. 

3. Customer Support

Customer support is a huge aspect of the user experience. After-sales services are an important satisfaction factor. 81% of customers are more likely to buy again from a brand when the customer support service is satisfying. In addition, 70% of customers’ purchasing decisions are impacted by the quality of customer support.

If you don’t provide multilingual customer support, your after-sales services won’t be accessible to a huge amount of your customers. That’s why you need to provide live chat, phone, and email customer support in different languages.

• User Generated Content

About 84%of millennials base their purchasing decisions on online reviews rather than traditional advertising methods. That’s why when you decide to expand your eCommerce business with eCommerce localization you need to localize your user generated content.

Want to know the alternative? For example, if a significant amount of your user-generated content is in Chinese, your sales in Arabic-speaking countries, for instance, could suffer greatly.

Consider the potential loss of customers simply because they cannot comprehend the language of the reviews. You surely want to avoid that, right?

• Product Catalogs

Product catalogs are the most important element of eCommerce localization that you should never miss. 

When you’re selling a product, you need to ensure that your customers understand all the necessary details about it, or else they won’t buy it.

But what elements of product catalogs do you need to localize?

• Product Title and Description
• URL
• Text on Images
• Category Descriptions

3 Key Benefits of eCommerce Localization

1. Expanded Market Reach

By localizing your eCommerce platform, you can effectively target and engage with customers in different regions and countries. Tailoring your website, product descriptions, and marketing materials to the language and cultural preferences of specific markets enables you to tap into new consumer bases and expand your global reach.

2. Enhanced User Experience

Localization enhances the overall shopping experience for customers by providing content that is relevant, relatable, and accessible in their native language. 

From seamless navigation to localized payment options and customer support, a well-localized eCommerce platform ensures that users feel comfortable and confident throughout their online shopping journey, ultimately leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.

3. Increased Conversion Rates and Revenue

When customers can browse, understand, and engage with your eCommerce platform in their preferred language, it significantly boosts the likelihood of conversion. 

Localization not only improves trust and credibility, but also removes language barriers that may hinder purchasing decisions. As a result, you get higher conversion rates, increased sales, and ultimately, better revenue from your global customer base.

Conclusion

Gripon, a leading translation and localization company, stands as your trusted partner for all your eCommerce translation and localization needs. With expertise spanning over 120 languages and a wide team of specialists, we guarantee a comprehensive localization plan.

Our team of eCommerce localization specialists offers a full range of services, encompassing translation and localization, desktop publishing, and various multimedia solutions tailored to meet your specific needs.