When expanding into new markets, online retailers must adapt their store to local needs, and translating the website is often the first step. Localization lets a business provide highly personalized content and speak the customer's language.
Roughly 55% of websites are written in English, yet English speakers make up just over 20% of the world's population. At the same time, 56% of Common Sense Advisory respondents stated that language matters more than price when it comes to purchasing decisions.
Choosing the right ecommerce localization service is a must for any cross-border retailer, but the decision means weighing several alternatives. It's important to understand that localization is an ongoing cycle, not a one-time project — there will always be new text, updates, and content to localize.
There are two core approaches to localization: machine translation and human translation. This article looks at the key factors retailers typically weigh when selecting an ecommerce localization service, software, or localization testing tool for their platform.
Shopping Cart Integration
Before anything else, retailers check whether the localization software integrates with the shopping cart and other sales channels they use. Why? First, integration with shopping platforms like Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, and other platforms lets a translation tool seamlessly collect and post translated content. Second, it keeps websites in sync and tracks changes in near real time.
There are two ways to build this kind of integration: develop separate integration modules in-house for every sales channel — which is highly time- and money-consuming — or rely on a ready-built third-party solution such as API2Cart. Whenever a change is made, the new content is automatically collected and placed in the translation workflow, keeping stores in multiple languages in sync. This is especially useful when a retailer sells across many ecommerce marketplace services and shopping carts at once, without building and maintaining dozens of custom connectors.
Shopping Platform Integration for Localization Software
Download this guide and explore how to develop the integration between your localization software and multiple shopping platforms and marketplaces easily.
International SEO
SEO keywords are rarely a literal translation of their English equivalents. That's why SEO optimization is another essential capability retailers expect from an ecommerce localization software provider.
Translating content helps international search engines index it, which improves organic traffic results in each target market. A reliable ecommerce localization service should be able to analyze the most popular keywords in each national market and suggest relevant local synonyms instead of literal translations.
International Shipping
Localization usually means a retailer is entering new territories, so it will need support for cross-border order fulfillment and delivery. Combining accurate translation with popular local shipping options is one of the keys to succeeding with retail localization services in a new market.
Payments
Entering foreign markets requires adapting to the local financial and economic system. Make sure the localization service correctly converts currencies and displays accurate prices, including taxes. A localized checkout is just as important — careless mistakes here can directly affect the retailer's revenue.
Location
When comparing the top localization services for cross-border stores, two location-related factors stand out. First, how close the localization company is to the retailer — never underestimate the value of personal contact. Second, which countries the service specializes in, since native familiarity with local realities is vital for accurate results. Retailers also tend to value 24/7 support, or at least appreciate it as a bonus.
Cost Benchmarking
Retailers often compare several localization providers and weigh their pricing plans against each other. When looking for a reliable partner for product description localization, they typically ask:
- Do they offer competitive per-word rates, or value-added services and consulting that justify higher rates?
- Do they make appropriate and effective use of machine translation?
Weighing these factors helps retailers settle on the most cost-effective option. It's worth being upfront with clients that ecommerce localization pays off over time rather than overnight — it's a long-term investment, and there's no guarantee of an immediate sales boost just because a retailer decided to expand into a new market. Done correctly, localization does produce meaningful results, just not instantly.
Coming back to the point made earlier, API2Cart provides a unified API for numerous shopping carts and marketplaces at a single price, letting you integrate with almost any ecommerce retailer that has chosen you as their localization service. The same approach works whether you build a standalone e-commerce localization tool or a broader localization testing tool that checks translated storefronts before they go live. If you'd rather reduce manual setup even further, see how retailers can run their store with AI-driven tools without needing a developer.
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