Localisation and Customer Service: 2 Overlooked Aspects of International Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Localisation and Customer Service: 2 Overlooked Aspects of International Expansion

If you’re an online retailer or brand planning international e-commerce expansion, does it seem that your number of considerations seems to increase as plans progress? It’s to be expected that hurdles will appear throughout the development stages, but with each one that’s managed, new and greater challenges will emerge.

Two of the most integral factors to an international project are often overlooked. Without sufficiently accounting for localisation (not to be confused with translation) and customer service, your brand and products won’t be taken seriously in new markets.

LOCALISATION

Many brands and retailers confuse localisation with translation, but they’re not the same. Here’s a look at their definitions, according to the Oxford English Dictionary.

Translation: A written or spoken rendering of the meaning of a word or text in another language

Localisation: The process of making something local in character or restricting it to a particular place

Localisation and Customer Service: 2 Overlooked Aspects of International Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

So what does this mean in practice?

One of the biggest mistakes a company can make when introducing their products to new marketplaces is to overlook how products are typically received by consumers in that location. A great example of this is in sizing and measurements. In the case of shoes, size 6 in the UK would be a size 7 in the US. This is already a problem, and we haven’t even broached the subjects of language and cultural differences yet.

Price Conversion

When selling into a new country, you’re obviously going to have to factor in currency conversion. Consumers tend to shy away from products advertised in a foreign currency, as they become concerned with exchange rates (‘what is this really going to cost me?’) and commissions (‘who is doing the conversion?’). This may lead them to seek out a local supplier, even if the price is slightly higher.

An easy solution is to allow marketplaces or plug-ins to convert your current pricing into the local currency, but this could lead to further problems. The converted prices will often look like auction prices, which are unappealing to customers (e.g., a product selling in the UK for £19.99 that’s converted to €27.53).

Attaining the best exchange rates is another important consideration. Numerous companies offer this service as their mission, with varying commission rates.

Shipping & Returns

The logistics of international expansion is where all too many companies come undone. Shipping rates, measurements and weights will all need to be converted, and you’ll also have to factor in and adjust for differences in time zones, languages and cultural expectations. And don’t forget that the mail carrier needs to understand the address to deliver your product!

You’ll also have to consider the legal and tax requirements that come with exporting goods to other countries. Do you have to pay tax in two countries? What are the customs requirements? What happens if the item is returned?

There’s simply no point in translating the product description if every item sold is returned due to inaccurately converted sizing.

Numbers ending in .99 or .00 look better and allow for currency fluctuations

Localisation and Customer Service: 2 Overlooked Aspects of International Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Certain marketplaces require vendors to provide a local returns address. Thus, if you want to start selling in various European countries, you’ll have to source and organise return locations in each of them as part of your startup planning.

Branding

Your brand or product name isn’t going to work in every country or culture. This is particularly true with wordplay or references to cultural history. Even worse than a missed reference is a name that’s taken the wrong way. Be aware that a literal translation without localisation could cause offense in another culture.

Furthermore, the lack of localisation of a product can often mean that it’s missed entirely. If, for example, you were selling children’s toys with a ‘Sleeping Beauty’ theme, the literal translation of this would be completely missed in Germany, as the German name of the classic fairy tale is ‘Dornröschen’ (loosely translated to English as ‘A Little Rose with Thorns’).

Target

Your target market in one country could be entirely different to the target market in another, so your product could still be relevant in a country you had previously written off. For example, a towel that you might market to a country renowned for its beaches as a ‘beach towel’ could still be marketed in a landlocked country like Austria as a ‘swimming pool towel’ or ‘holiday towel’.

Similarly, you might be able to market a ‘summer jacket’ from Britain as an ‘autumn jacket’ to countries with a warmer climate.

Keep an eye out for companies that can help you with these problems. You’re not the first company to come across these hurdles, and you definitely won’t be the last.

Localisation and Customer Service: 2 Overlooked Aspects of International Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Cross-seasonality

Speaking of seasons, localisation can also mean being able to sell seasonal products all year round by catering to the differences in weather in the opposite hemisphere.

Categories

Despite online marketplaces’ attempts to unify and standardise their categories across countries, you’ll still find that categories vary from country to country. You’ll need to find a native speaker who is knowledgeable in the marketplace to find the most fitting category.

A great example of this can be found on Amazon Germany. The category ‘Bootschuhe’ refers to ‘Boat Shoes’, not ‘Boots and Shoes’, as a native English speaker may presume. The ‘Trousers’ category is another example (think ‘Pants’ for US): On eBay UK, there are only three subcategories, as opposed to the seven on eBay Germany. The lack of a clear one-to-one equivalent exposes inherent weaknesses in automated categorisation tools, tripping up even a skilled non-native speaker. As a seller, you risk missing out on potential sales if your products aren’t categorised correctly.

In summary, if you’re expanding abroad, a standard translation company simply won’t do the trick. Unless you have the expertise in house, aim to find someone that can offer native speakers who specialise in e-commerce and can provide localisation and optimisation of your listings to maximise your sales potential.

Think outside the box with your products – just because an item has one use in your domestic market doesn’t mean there aren’t other possible uses for it elsewhere!

Have a native speaker specialised in the field optimise your listings to make sure they can be found by as many buyers as possible.

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CUSTOMER SERVICE

The better your products are localised, the fewer problems you’ll encounter. No matter how great your listings are, however, you should always strive to provide high quality, localised customer service.

The localisation of your customer service is just as important as it is for your listings. You shouldn’t underestimate the difference a native speaker can make when representing your company to your customers. Being able to communicate fluently and with an accurate understanding of the customers’ tone and cultural expectations can help to alleviate additional frustration. This leads to a more efficient response and eventually a better customer experience. Even the differences between a native speaker and fluent non-native speaker can be noticeable in these situations.

Many customer service teams will use template responses but these are often too generic and can frustrate customers who expect a more tailored response. Detailed customer enquiries require a personalised answer, and this is often something only a native speaker will know how to handle. Plus, certain marketplaces, such as La Redoute in France, require sellers to offer telephone customer service before they can list. Needless to say, it’s important to have a native speaker answering calls in such cases.

It’s a good idea to localise your customer service hours to meet the needs of customers in time zones other than your own. In some countries, if people write an email, they expect to receive an answer in a matter of hours or minutes, even on the weekend or during the holidays. Replying a couple of days later may result in unhappy customers.

Every customer is different, but these differences are intensified when customers come from different countries. These cultural differences play a fundamental role in customer service. Japanese customers, for example, often pay close attention to details such as packaging and how a product is presented. They typically dislike template answers and appreciate a customised response in their native language. They want to receive personalised clarification about their specific inquiry and know that the person assisting them is taking particular care.

Chinese buyers, on the other hand, tend to prefer customer service representatives to reply immediately via chat. As a result, if you sell to China, online customer service representatives should be available around the clock, or at least during the peak hours in Chinese local time. Other marketplaces require sellers to have their customer service team available during certain timeslots every day. It’s also common for Chinese customers to negotiate the price with the customer service representatives.

It’s not the majority of the easily answered questions that you should be concerned about; the problematic minority result in negative feedback.

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Good customer service is important in ensuring healthy feedback, which will ultimately lead to a strong account and therefore more customers. On some marketplaces, negative reviews will not only prevent potential customers from buying from you, but can also lead to account suspensions in the long run. As customer service is the first and most regular representation of your company that customers will deal with, it’s vital they receive a professional and thorough experience, regardless of the country they are from.

If you’ve read through this far, you may have realised there’s actually a lot more to factor in to your international expansion project than you had initially considered. You wouldn’t be the first to feel daunted.

The great news is that today there’s an entire industry (separate from the translation field) built around helping businesses expand across borders efficiently while getting the best possible ROI. There are various companies with varying levels of service, deliverables and costs to help take your business into your next target market.

Once you’re there, however, one of the most important things you can do is to offer good, comprehensive service in each country. Failing to do so can result in negative feedback, often bringing a premature end to a fledgling account.

So what’s the answer to this problem? If you don’t already have skilled native speakers in house, you can either:

1. Go down the road of hiring two translators (remember – you’ll need a backup to cover for sickness and holidays) for each of your target countries and hope that:

a. They have enough e-commerce experience to be familiar with marketplace rules and policies, and appreciate the nature of your business

b. You make enough initial sales to justify keeping them on board

Or

2. You can outsource your customer service needs to a company that has a pay-as-you-go customer service option, allowing you to use someone else’s existing resources, as and when you need them.

This means that when you have no questions, complaints, returns or comments to worry about from your buyers, you can rest easy knowing that you’re not wasting company resources. On the other hand, if you’re inundated with all of the above, you’ll be confident that the company you outsourced to has the resources in place to help you handle and resolve issues as they unfold. To get the most out of outsourcing, you can look for companies that offer other e-commerce services as well. That way, you’ll ensure you have all the processes in place to make your international sales expansion a success.

Ensuring positive feedback is especially important in new accounts. Remember that account suspensions can be difficult to reverse, so it’s better to offer great customer service from the start.

Should you hire an external company to handle customer service?

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Localisation and Customer Service: 2 Overlooked Aspects of International Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

About InterCultural Elements

InterCultural Elements (ICE) helps your online business to grow domestically and internationally by expanding your sales to new marketplaces. ICE’s A to Z solution includes: international marketplace expertise, e-commerce targeted translations, technical conversion of your listings, foreign language customer service and returns collection. In short, ICE enables you to expand your business and diversify your risks, all from your ChannelAdvisor account.

Website: www.intercultural-elements.eu

E-Mail: info@intercultural-elements.eu

Tel.: +49 (0)341 869 66 70