Find guidelines to get customers from all over the world flocking your e-commerce business. Beat your competition in the race for global e-commerce success with these tips.

Critical Tips for Global e-Commerce Success

E-commerce, just like any business, requires a strategyto successed. If you do not strategize as you run your business, your business may not have a future. This is why you need to find ways to drive your business towards success constantly. If you run an e-commerce venture and are grappling with succeeding globally, read on to find out some of the ways that you can gain a competitive edge.

Speak Your Customer’s Language

In as much as English is the most widely spoken language globally and online, it will not address the needs of all customers. You will need to make your content available in your customer’s language. Research actually shows that customers will prefer to buy products from a seller that speaks their native language.

If you want your message to reach most customers in their languages, you should use professional website translators such as Translate that takes into account the cultural nuances of your customer. It has critical tools such as a website localizator, different CMS’ plugins for Joomla, WordPress and Magenta. It also has a chat translation system and supports tickets.

Use High-Quality Product Images and Videos

Aside from what your message says, customers will rely on what they see, and make decisions based on their own judgment concerning the images and videos that will accompany your products. As a matter of fact, customers will be attracted to your website depending on the images or videos that you have uploaded. A good message accompanied by a poor photo or video will not sell products. For instance, if you are selling clothes, you will need at least three high-quality images of a dress from different angles for it to sell. You will also need to add a high-quality video of a model on acatwalkin the dress to convince customers to buy it.

Include Good Product Descriptions

Good photos and videos are great for business, but so is a comprehensive product description. If you are selling foodstuffs, people need to know when and where the product was manufactured, the ingredients, and allergen warnings. They also need to know about the expiry date and so on. If you are selling clothes, the customers need to know the measurements of the product, the type of fabric, how to take care of it (do you machine wash it or dry clean it, do you iron it or not?). The information will depend on the product. However, the key takeaway is that provide all the information about the product.

Make Payments Easy to Fulfill

Your customers should not have to struggle and deal with headaches when paying for your products. For instance, they should not go through the trouble of translating the amount due to their own currency. In a move to make payments easier, you should provide payment methods that are commonly used by the locals whether crypto currency, Visa, Mastercard, etc. Similarly, adopt your website to show the amount due to the customer’s currency.

Translate Customer Reviews

The power of customer reviews in affecting customer decision making cannot be underestimated. Customers need to know what other people who have dealt with you before have to say. For instance, if a potential customer needs to know whether you deliver products on time, they will rely on the experience of other customers.

They may also seek information about authenticity, quality and durability of the products that you are selling; user reviews will come in handy in convincing the potential buyers. However, they need to understand those reviews hence the need to translate the reviews into a language that the potential customer will understand.

Obtain an International Warehouse

When operating on a global scale, you cannot have one warehouse serving all of your customers. For instance, if you have a warehouse in the United States but need to serve a customer in South Africa, delivery will take a long time,and you will incur a lot of shipping costs which might mean that you will have to sell your products at a higher price. However, these problems can be solved by buying a warehouse closer to the customers.

Choose a Reliable Shipping Service

When serving global markets, you cannot do it without a shipping service. You need someone to deliver the products from your warehouse to your customers. When selecting a good shipping service, you will need to make sure that the service is reliable, affordable and fast.

You need your products delivered to the customer on time, and while in good condition. Take your time when settling for a shipping service;it will affect your customer return rate.

Create a Multilingual Customer Support System

Ideally, you will need a customer support system in which you will effectively communicate with your customers concerning various topics. For instance, customers may have questions concerning the products or even payment methods. Similarly, a customer may need to inquire about the progress of their shipment. Some of the best ways to communicate with the customer include live chats, phone calls and e-mails. Regardless of the support method, make sure that it adopts the native language of the customers.

Use Influencer Marketing

Customers trust what the most influential people in their society endorse. Influencers may include individuals or known brands. When you collaborate with local influencers, you are likely to boost your sales by a big margin. This is because some customers will buy your products simply because an influential local individual endorsed them. Influencer marketing is one of the simplest ways of boosting sales.

Build Relationships with Local Enterprises

You should not restrict yourself to selling products online only, simply because you are an e-commerce business. There will be a lot of opportunities for you if you explore other avenues such as partnering with local wholesale and retail business.

The wholesalers will make your products easily accessible to retailers, whereas the retailers will make your products to customers. Moreover, you will eliminate the need to spend money on shipping services if you partner with local businesses because the customers will get your products at such stores. The local businesses that you may partner with include:

  • Wholesalers;
  • Chain Stores;
  • Distributors;
  • Retail Stores.

Stay True to Your Brand but Also Adapt to the Environment

While it is important to stick to the original business plan, such as packaging, distribution and so on, you need to take care of the cultural norms of the market. For instance, the way you will package chips to an African market may be different from how you will package the same product for an American market. As such, make sure you adapt to your customer’s needs.