What Language Do You Speak?

May 14th, 2007

What language would you prefer to do your shopping in? Don Depalma, chief research analyst at Common Sense Advisory, has an interesting insights on global e-commerce. Even for consumers who feel comfortable in English, many prefer buying in their own language, he says, and most want customer support that is similarly accessible.
“With sites lacking local currency or transaction support, many non-native speakers discover that buying from English-language sites is literally an impossible undertaking. Global e-commerce adds a ‘localization’ concern to navigation and forms. Visitors who decide to buy may find that data forms on the site haven’t been adapted to their country.”

Some of the logical structure  or functions of the English-language site are missing or not translated, he explains, and consumers might discover, after filling out a form, the site won’t accept  their credit cards or ship to their country. Global firms investing in English-only sites should have no trouble seeing what is not working — it’s the assumption that people in other countries will use English, he concludes.

English is still the dominant business language, but Depalma makes a good point: it’s not necessarily the dominant shopping language. E-commerce vendors who want to cash in with international shoppers may need to go global in more than one sense of the word (no pun intended).

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