Take full advantage of the global marketplace with an e-commerce CMS built for international growth. Here’s how.
Content is the bedrock of e-commerce. It draws a crowd, articulates a need, and expedites a purchase.
From product images, product descriptions, FAQs, tutorials, blogs, and social posts—your content is why customers visit your website.
Once you create content for an online store, you can’t simply leave it on the virtual shelf to gather digital dust. High-performing content is dynamic, continually changing and deployed with dexterity and precision.
This is where a Content Management System (CMS) proves its worth.
A CMS enables an e-commerce site owner to structure and populate their website with a constant flow of up-to-date content through a user-friendly interface.
But how can a CMS cope in today’s multichannel, multilingual, and multicultural global marketplace? Here are five key capabilities every modern CMS should possess.
1. Multilingual Functionality
An article published in the Harvard Business Review concluded that a company creating e-commerce content in a range of languages will both build customer loyalty and accelerate their growth in those countries:
- 4% of consumers would be more likely to buy a product with information in their own language
- 2% of consumers say the ability to obtain information in their own language is more important than price
- 42% of Europeans never purchase products and services from a website in a language other than their own
Additionally, according to recent research by eMarketer, global e-commerce sales are projected to increase from $2.29 trillion in 2017 to $4.479 trillion by the end of 2021.
This year-over-year growth presents a huge opportunity for e-commerce companies that can create and manage content in each market’s native language through a multilingual CMS.
2. Localization Abilities
Your e-commerce content must uphold your company’s brand standards in every language. This requires more than simple word-for-word translation—which would inevitably mean some loss of nuance at the very least. You must fully localize your e-commerce content.
To translate a crisp piece of compelling copy from English into Arabic, for example, without any loss of the original impact, requires a deep understanding of the syntax and semantics of the language.
On top of that, there are cultural and geographical issues that affect the way people perceive content. For example, an image that’s acceptable in one region may be inappropriate in other parts of the world.
There are also more technical elements to localize. Format time, dates, and currencies to each region, and consider local rules and regulations.
A CMS with the facility to fully localize a variety of written and graphic material in this way will generate content that feels ‘native’, wherever the reader is in the world.
3. Source Text Flexibility
A truly global enterprise should not restrict itself to content supplied from just one country or language.
An e-commerce website’s localized content should be supplemented by source content created in local markets. For example, a blog written by a local writer about a regional issue would enhance a site’s local credentials.
A CMS that can handle multiple source languages allows an online retailer to make use of translated content originating from all over the world.
4. API Integration
Complex software programs are made more user-friendly with the addition of an application programming interface (API). An API is like a waiter in a restaurant: a calm, clear, and obliging interface between the user and the frenetic activity going on behind the scenes.
A CMS that is compatible for API integration is sometimes called a “headless” CMS, because it has no front end, just direct access to the inner workings of the program’s “body”. Developers are free to design a variety of front ends, customized to the needs of the user.
A sophisticated CMS with an integrated API, therefore, is an efficient and easy way to take control of every aspect of a site’s content. It could enable the control of all content from a single hub; content to be published via a number of selected channels; and the seamless integration of other software tools.
5. Multi-Platform Capability
The impact of content on your customer is as much dependent on its ease of accessibility as it is on the content itself.
A shopper is unlikely to browse through lengthy product descriptions on a mobile phone, for example, if they must zoom in to the point where only a fraction of a sentence is seen on the screen.
A CMS with multi-platform capability ensures content looks great on any device, from a mobile phone to a desktop PC. It allows users to track content, generate analytics, and carry out general website management across each platform; and it gives an e-commerce enterprise flexibility and room to grow.
Implementing a Multilingual Content Management System
Catering to different markets around the world is essential in today’s economy. There are unlimited growth opportunities to tap into, provided the retailer can communicate with each target market in their own language with an innate understanding of cultural and geographical considerations.
A modern multilingual CMS provides the means for e-commerce companies to achieve this goal. Choosing the right CMS for your business and gaining the most value from it, however, requires specialist knowledge.
With years of experience at the intersection of multilingual e-commerce and cutting-edge technology, Summa Linguae Technologies (SLT) is perfectly placed to provide the best advice.
So, if your e-commerce business could benefit from a high-performing, multi-language CMS, contact SLT today.
