Localization

Focus
in Cross-Border eCommerce that
the “five Ls” are the most important
drivers for online merchants that are
looking to make a successful entrance
into new markets.
A failure to tackle issues surrounding
law, legislation and logistics helps
explain why so many brick-and-mortar
and online startups fail to last more
than six months. However, the big two,
language and localization, are also key
components, and the reason why LSPs
are keen to work with startups and
eCommerce providers to construct
bulletproof, highly localized website
services.
The idea of embracing a technology
that offers quick, measurable
outcomes and is easy to manage
offers vendors and customers a new
world of opportunity. Timings and
costs can be easily managed, and the
ON THE MARKET SINCE 2007
CUSTOMER-ORIENTED APPROACH
MULTI LANGUAGE VENDOR
WITH FOCUS ON CZECH, SLOVAK
AND OTHER CEE LANGUAGES
ONE-STOP TRANSLATION
& LOCALIZATION SERVICES
PROOFREADING & IN-COUNTRY
REVIEW
INDIVIDUAL TERMINOLOGY
MANAGEMENT
POST-EDITING
MULTIMEDIA & VOICEOVER
EN 15038 and ISO 9001 CERTIFIED
Hosted solutions take the pain
away from buying office technology
and development staff. They offer
everything from design templates,
upgrades and multiple pricing
options, making it easy for the ambitious
startup to get selling online.
New extensions are appearing
every day and tend to fall into three
main categories: those that benefit the
customer, the back-office applications
to create efficient business operations,
and performance and analytic
software to monitor and interpret an
online retailer’s most valuable asset —
its customers. Having instant access
to and being able to analyze this kind
of priceless information can be the difference
between success and failure.
Payment processing solutions,
product cataloging tools, 3D visualization
applications, email marketing
and point of sale solutions, reporting
and accounting tools — the list
is seemingly endless. Storefronts
and themes, product and inventory
management systems, analytics and
accounting platforms — you name it,
it’s out there as an extension. Hosting
platforms even offer email, newsletter
and blog templates to make it easy
to maximize customer engagement.
However, what really sets apart
these hosting platforms is their preexisting
on-board relationships with
the big players in other industries.
Prebuilt or additional payment
gateways in association with the likes
of PayPal, social media optimization
through Facebook (extensions exist to
incorporate “like” functionality to individual
or group products), and basic
search engine optimization capabilities
through the likes of Google gives
startups more than a helping hand.
There are live chat applications,
label creation apps that are used by
the major couriers and review platforms.
Add to that the option to select
preferred dispatch/carriers such
as UPS or FedEx, or integrate your
website with the latest email mass-
Czech Republic | Slovak Republic
www.lexman.biz | localization@lexman.biz
wealth of options available makes the
idea of outsourcing your website to
a third party platform a very attractive
proposition. Third party eCommerce
platforms are often built using
open source technology and provide
online merchants with extensions
to layer everything from the look to
the functionality and content of their
store.
So who are the big players in the
third party eCommerce landscape?
The first iteration of Magento
appeared in 2008, Bigcommerce was
founded in 2009 while Shopify was
founded in 2004 — initially based on
earlier software written by its founders
for their online snowboarding
store. There are now hundreds of
hosts in the eCommerce space, each
offering a vast array of extensions,
plug-ins and layered on services.
44 April/May 2016