We live in a hyper-connected world where borders are slowly vanishing into thin air and the globe is becomes smaller by the minute. Where all the knowledge in the given universe fits into the palm of your hand, those of us who work in the digital world are racing to keep up with everyone else.
I was invited to record a podcast on this very subject with Branden Moskwa of Nadimo, where we tackled the questions behind taking your e-commerce cross-border strategy and how to localize that strategy to respond to your target markets.
When building a cross-border strategy, it’s important to:
- Adapt your store to the look and feel of your target market: your UX needs to be just like a store that you’d find in the market that you’re trying to penetrate. Don’t assume the layout of your domestic store will work. In that same vein:
- It should automatically adapt to their currency: Who wants to spend time calculating how much their currency is worth on a site while shopping? Your customers certainly won’t take the time to figure it out- and not being able to tell them exactly how much their order will cost will be a big problem.
- Your site should respond to your consumer’s needs: What kind of information do they need to know about your product, and how much information do they need? Are your product photos and marketing visuals responding to their culture? Is your communication really speaking to your target customer?
- The language needs to be localized-and correctly: Don’t think you’ll just run it through Google translate and it will be fine. While online translation has come a long way, it’s still far from choosing the best words that will ease the navigation of your site, position your SEO optimally, and convince your customer to purchase from you.
Want to know more on killing that cross-border strategy? Jump on this podcast!