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Business experts have been advising products brands to be globally-conscious for years. This is because consumers are not just looking for locally-based companies operating in their own country but products that are available from all parts of the world via international e-commerce sites as well. People in the business want to know the greatest challenges and demands organizations face like translation challenges on content coming from other locations, cultures and languages.
Logistic challenge
Logistics is one of the many challenges, which could be overcome by effective communication. However, there is still the fact that it is difficult to have effective communication when you have to factor in so many different languages.
Russia is a fine example of this dilemma. The country has the potential to be a major contributor to online sales, especially for foreign brands as the undeveloped consumer market is composed of wealthy purchasers interested in buying foreign goods like electronics and fashion items. The biggest sector of Russian consumers that shop online are younger, wealthier and have more refined tastes.
The Russian market is geographically vast however their infrastructure is not yet well developed. Their postal system is still dismally unreliable, moreover, many consumers are still novices when it comes to e-commerce. Still, the market is slowly getting used to e-commerce with the opening of services from eBay and Alibaba, two companies that have put up localized versions of their online shopping sites.
Communication challenge
While localization is a must to reach potential markets in other countries, it is not enough just to translate content into the local language. An organization should have a strategy for consumer experience, which includes taking into consideration the local idioms and cultural nuances. The consumer experience should be personalized and accurate, which means that the translation should not only think about going local but should also meet industry-specific sayings, phrases and jargon.
On the other hand, customers should also be aware of the online transaction process and policies. You should also be thinking about local currencies and guides to sizes. Organizations should be aware of customer expectations, such as delivery times and shipping arrangements, and should even address peculiarities as suspicions regarding transactions across borders. You can never go wrong in teaching online consumers on how to properly and accurately format their addresses to ensure correct and prompt delivery of goods they purchased.
Languages other than official language
One other hurdle in localizing content is the fact that the target audience might not speak the official language of the country but rather other languages, such as in the case of India, where the country’s official languages are Hindi and English, yet the government recognizes 22 languages out of the 447 individual languages spoken in the country.
To sum it all up, localization does not only mean translating content in a target language, but should also consider the target audience’s cultural nuances, managing consumer expectations, educating them on the e-commerce process and taking into consideration a second or third language spoken by the target audience.