Translation has many applications in the eCommerce sphere, from listing your products on foreign marketplaces, to marketing those products. In this guest post, InterCultural Elements, goes into the benefits of translation for the eCommerce merchant.
Business expansion often leads into international territory. With it comes a greater need to communicate with international clients. There are two ways in which to deal with this situation: firstly you can convey your information in understandable English, or you can attempt in a foreign language. While the first option works for a multitude of cultures and nationalities with significant exposure to English culture, it certainly isn’t a surefire option for your business. Translation will almost always be required to effectively communicate with your international audience.
So why is translation so important?
There’s a few reasons to explain why translation is so important, not only for your business, but for personal use too. Firstly, we have to consider that English is not as widespread as it’s purported to be. Roughly 18% of the world’s population speak the English language, and while that is an impressive figure, adopting just one other language into your business will help you expand your linguistic reach much further. Particularly for modern society, the growth of the Internet has led to an increased connection to foreign countries and cultures, especially the booming eCommerce trade. The internet offers instantaneous communication with people thousands of miles away; sometimes a little foreign exchange can make all the difference.
What are the advantages of translation?
Here are some ways in which translation can be advantageous for you and your business:
1) Tapping into eCommerce markets
The realm of eCommerce has exploded in recent years, with more and more retailers opting to sell their products online. Obviously the result is that international audiences are growing, and translating your listings on online stores gives an opportunity to reach more profitable areas. A season selling sunglasses in the UK could see the same success selling in Brazil a few months earlier. A related personal benefit is the advantage for you as a customer; translated listings gives you the opportunity to purchase products from across that world that aren’t accessible in your native country.
2) Business connections
Your business can’t just rely on English to succeed abroad. You have to bear in mind that your attitude towards approaching businesses is almost as important as the content of what you’re saying. By translating your information, you instill confidence in potential partners to your company. If you’re making an effort to communicate with other businesses in their native language, they will notice.
3) International Media
As an eCommerce business owner, your ability to read upcoming changes to markets is key. It’s crucial to track the buying habits of people in other countries and how their local culture affects it. With online newspapers and news websites, articles from news reporters from all over the globe can now be accessed and analysed, allowing you to predict and guide the future movements of your business to capitalize on successes.
An obvious use of translations is the ability to learn a new language. By studying translations you can understand how the language works and how to apply in it conversation. With an in depth knowledge of another language, you have the advantage of recognizing inflection and other linguistic traits when communicating, adding to its benefits for the business world. Secondary and even tertiary languages give you a much wider range of people to communicate with on their level, and let’s not forget that they increase your employability exponentially!
InterCultural Elements (ICE), a Germany-based SkuVault and ChannelAdvisor (CA) partner, specializes in setting sellers up for success in cross border trade and helping you avoid costly pitfalls. We have over 5 years' experience expanding e-tailers abroad including individualized CBT consultation, account setup, translations, item localization, market research, multilingual email customer service & even returns collection - all directly from your listing tool. Our e-commerce-specialized native-speaker translators ensure that all text is search-optimized and adheres to marketplaces policies. Mutual SkuVault clients will tell you our goal is simple: offer an A-Z service to overcome all challenges you face when expanding abroad.
