1. Why Translate Your Retail Website? A Few
Factors...
This article was originally published on the Acclaro blog.
Category: Websites, Global Trends
The buying power of global audiences is no joke, and there is a reason why many US-based
retailers are including both website translation and search engine optimization for multilingual
sites in their budgets for 2010. In today's economy, you simply can't ignore potential
audiences — including native speakers of other languages within your own borders!
For instance, in the US alone, there are over 43 million Hispanics with a purchasing power of
more than $800 billion a year, and almost 16 million of them are on the Internet. Impressive
numbers like these have driven companies like Best Buy to launch Hispanic American sites. Blue
Nile and Yves Saint Laurent are also taking steps to reach consumers in other languages.
Page 1: Why Translate Your Retail Website? A Few Factors... Copyright © Acclaro 2012

2. Take note, however, that you should avoid choosing the language for your visitor; they know
what they prefer and should be able to choose it from a dropdown language menu. Automatic
redirects to particular language sites may put you at a disadvantage because they cause
frustration and that could decrease your site’s effectiveness, says SearchEngineLand. Just
because someone lives in Quebec doesn’t mean they prefer French over English. The same is
true throughout the United States, where many foreign language speakers might appreciate the
option of choosing their own language or English.
Here's something else to consider when it comes to website localization. You as a retailer may
never have even intended to sell your products abroad, but the international nature of the web
has put your products or services in front of those global audiences. There are a large number
of non-English speakers who will purchase goods from English-language sites despite the
language barrier, observes1upDigital.
So why translate your website? If they are buying from you already, why invest in localization?
It's all about upping that number of incoming traffic and increasing conversions, writes SEO
Translator. There are common sense factors, of course, like the nature of the new markets and
the current traffic data. But here are some questions to ask yourself when considering website
localization:
How many additional users do you expect to gain by localizing your site? (Try to be
conservative or at least realistic).
Now, imagining a conversion rate similar to your existing site, how much money will
those users mean to you? And what percentage of that income would be your net
earnings?
If the cost of the translation is greater than or even similar to your expected net earnings in one
year, then you might want to rethink localization. If, however, your expected net earnings are
several times the cost of such translation and associated work, then you are losing money
by not localizing, so you should probably get started!
One more note about website translation: take SEO into consideration while you are coming up
with your strategy, not after. Some companies think, why not just hire a bilingual SEO specialist
afterwards to come in and clean it all up? But why pay twice? Look for a translation agency that
can not only perform the translation but that will also make sure it is optimized correctly in the
target language.
About Acclaro: Acclaro is an international translation and localization company that
helps the world’s leading brands succeed across cultures. We translate websites,
marketing campaigns, documents and software to give clients an authentic voice in
key language markets.
North America: 1-866-468-5106 Worldwide: +1-914-468-0222
www.acclaro.comsales@acclaro.com
Page 2: Why Translate Your Retail Website? A Few Factors... Copyright © Acclaro 2012