Sales channels are more than just an easy way to reach your customers, they are also integral to building a global market. One of the most popular sales channels? The Amazon Marketplace, and it’s one of the easiest ways to curate a successful eCommerce business. Amazon has become a global phenomenon and with the Amazon Marketplace, it is a seamless transition for third party sellers to join the ranks. According to Venture Beach, nearly half of all online shoppers (roughly 44 percent) go directly to Amazon for product searches and reviews, and with Yahoo reporting that two billion products were purchased from Amazon Marketplace Sellers in 2014, it’s no wonder every internet retailer wants to share some of the power.
Amazon has a list of benefits, but a major one for consumers, especially international shoppers, is convenience. It’s incredibly easy to find anything you’re looking for, no matter what language you speak or country you are in, and the Amazon shopping experience is consistent. But if you’re attempting to globalize your own eCommerce business, you’ll need to know the importance of translations across the Amazon International Marketplace.
Translations are Key to Success in the Amazon International Marketplace
On the fence about translating your product information? Then don’t expect to see any serious global growth. According to a survey conducted by Common Sense Advisory, businesses that translated their information in order to communicate and connect with their international consumers were 2.67 times more likely to see an increase in their revenue.
Why the increase? It’s simple — consumers want to purchase items in their own language. A separate Common Sense Advisory survey found 72.1 percent of web consumers claimed to spend all or most of their time on websites in their own language and 72.4 percent of those surveyed said they were more likely to buy a product if the information was available in their own language. But the most surprising information found from this survey? 56.2 percent of web consumers, over half of those surveyed, claimed that the ability to read the information in their own language was more important to them than the price of the product.
Bottom line — you need translations to be successful in the Amazon International Marketplace. Your consumers want it and it puts you ahead of your competition, even if your prices vary.
Building a Confident, Trustworthy Brand
A huge aspect of any internet retailer is their customer service. Think of all the bad reviews you’ve read about a specific product or seller. Many times, the customer was unsatisfied with the customer service they received. Now imagine trying to buy a product in a language you don’t understand — there would be virtually no customer service.
By translating your Amazon International Marketplace product information, you’re not only giving your consumer the trust they want from an online retailer, but you’re also building confidence in your brand. When working with a professional translation company, your content can be localized and adapted to a specific target audience’s language and culture. In some countries, the phrases you use to sell your product could be deemed as offensive and inappropriate. By taking the time to translate your Amazon International Marketplace content and localize all of your information, you’re telling your audience that you are a company that cares and you’re building customer loyalty for your brand.
Translate Your Amazon Seller Listings
Think of all the online shoppers accessing Amazon and then keep in mind that Amazon reported a 22 percent year-over-year jump in international sales back in 2014. That alone should motivate you to translate your Amazon seller listings.
It’s especially important considering how much time and work you put into your listings. By translating and localizing your seller listings, your content and marketing materials are adapted to the specific culture and language of your target audience. And Google translate? It’s an easy choice, but it’s not exactly reliable. The translations are far too literal and will not individualize your product or connect you with your consumer. You’ll need to reach out to a professional translation company to localize your Amazon seller listings.
Benefits of Working with a Professional Translation Company
Accurately localizing your content, providing your audience with the culturally adapted information they need, and keeping your product information consistent are just some of the obvious benefits of working with a professional translation company for your Amazon International Marketplace success. But there’s also one other huge benefit — translation memory.
Think of all the descriptions you have written for your brand and products. Chances are there is a lot of similar phrases, words, and terminology. With translation memory, your brand remains consistent as translation memory recognizes any words that have previously been translated. With a professional translation company, you are going to reap these benefits. What is translation memory? It is a technology used by native speaking professional translators to conduct the translation. This is NOT machine translation; however by doing translations within a translation memory tool, it enables the translators to build a database of terms per client per language. Over time, future projects will reference translations that were already completed specific to your listings. This keeps the translation high-quality, but also cuts down on your overall costs. Even when you update your information, you can translation memory enables translated terms to be consistent and accurate. There are even terms that won’t be charged for once they have been translated and remain in the same context in future listings.
Translation Mistakes That Can Damage Your Amazon International Marketplace Success
You know why you should reach out to a professional translation company for your Amazon International Marketplace growth, but you might assume that your simple product descriptions will be just fine with a machine translator. Not so, especially if you’re getting creative with your content descriptions.
For example, imagine you’re describing a pair of shoes to sell.
Your words are simple, to the point, and have a little creativity. You’ve translated it into French and you’re sure that it reads well. But when you implement that French translation into a new online translator, you see that this is how it reads.
Do you see how off-putting this could be to an international customer? Not only does your creative phrase become lost in the translation, but it also doesn’t read well because the words weren’t translated in context. Throughout the years we have come across many surprising examples of poorly translated terms, such as the word ‘may’. It sounds simple enough, but it has been translated out of context as the month of May rather than the verb. Other examples include the word ‘pumps’ in a product description being mistranslated as the word ‘pumps’ in a manufacturing context rather than shoes. It may not seem like a huge deal, but to a consumer looking to spend money, all of this reads as unprofessional and not trustworthy.
Translate Your Amazon International Marketplace as a Team
When you joined Amazon International Marketplace, you were preparing to become an independent seller on the world’s largest global selling platform. But every internet retailer needs a team to maintain their success and growth, like working with Extensiv Order Manager in order to integrate your channels to increase your revenue, profit, and give you a chance to work with channels you might have been intimidated by before. Don’t think of your translation needs as a weakness or an outsourcing of work — it’s part of your marketing team and it’s essential to global growth. The last thing you want to do is provide a poor impression to a multilingual speaker. Think of translations as another necessary part of your marketing strategy — when done correctly, these translations will be an investment that will pay off tremendously with global buyers.
Also, check out our guide on multilingual customer support for more info on how to support customers in other languages.
About Interpro Translation Solutions:
Interpro provides professional translation and localization services into over 80 languages for retailers, businesses and non-profits worldwide. Headquartered in Chicago’s Research and Development Corridor, Interpro is a diverse team of linguists, project managers, desktop publishers, software engineers and account managers who passionately work in partnership with its clients. Contact us today to discuss how we can help as a partner for multilingual success.
Want to write a guest post for Extensiv? Email rtrindade@extensiv.com
