It’s obvious why e-tailers want to develop their business internationally: ever larger national and international markets, ever more efficient cms, exponential growth prospects and so on.
But knowing how to effectively manage sales on a global scale requires knowledge of certain practices specific to this type of business.
In a previous article, we touched briefly on a few points concerning the development of e-commerce in new international markets, but here we’re going to look at how to manage sales effectively on a global scale, with a particular focus on Prestashop.
Language and SEO: adapting to an international sales environment
The first “barrier” you might think of when you want to develop your business worldwide is language, followed closely by currency.
Fortunately, Prestashop makes it easy to overcome the latter.
Adapting to foreign languages and currencies
Rest assured, you don’t have to manually integrate multiple languages into your Prestashop store.
In fact, the cms features automatic language management from its back-office.
In the “Administration” panel, you’ll find the “International” sub-category, then the “Localization” tab, from which you can modify and add “localization packs”.
These allow you to change the language of all the options, phrases and keywords specific to your website.
The language you want to introduce isn’t there by default?
No problem, you can add localization packs from the “Localization” section. All that’s left to do is select the language you want, then determine which types of elements (texts, units of measurement, states, etc.) you want to import, and Prestashop will automatically take care of the rest.
The same goes for currencies, which can be changed from the same tab, with exchange rates adjusted accordingly.
While Prestashop provides for automatic language and currency changes according to the visitor’s country of residence, it is still possible to manually modify the language of certain site elements from the “Languages” tab in the “Localization” section, where you can go to “Add a language” and modify the elements that interest you.
Adapting your SEO
Going international necessarily implies an impact on natural referencing: not the same keywords, not the same queries… But just as for languages, Prestashop integrates by default functionalities ensuring good international referencing, such as specific configurations for URLs and meta tags.
Prestashop also facilitates the creation of country-specific sitemaps, to help search engines understand a site’s structure regardless of its location.
However, to optimize referencing in specific geographic zones, it is advisable to create several domains and sub-domains, such as “fr.monsite.com” for France or “en.monsite.com” for the United Kingdom, for example.
This will enable automatic 301 redirection (when a visitor is directed to another URL without even realizing it) according to the geographical zone concerned.
Technical considerations and analysis tools required for global expansion
In addition to languages, currencies and SEO, which are largely handled automatically by Prestashop, other technical details need to be reviewed to ensure an optimal transition to global sales.
Integration of international payment gateways
Questions about payment are often crucial when you want to sell internationally.
Which platform is used in which country?
Are there any particular restrictions?
Which country prefers which payment method?
Fortunately, Prestashop comes with a number of payment methods by default, such as Stripe, Paypal, Worldpay and others that can be added as options.
Here you’ll find a page listing the preferred payment methods for a number of locations and countries, so you can adapt your e-commerce payment methods to suit your location.
Retrieve and use data segmented by country
Whether on a local or international scale, the basis for positive, sustainable growth lies in collecting and analyzing the data collected on your site: Which offers are the most popular?
Where do the most qualified prospects come from?
What is the conversion rate, and at what stage?
Which keywords and queries are the most profitable?
All these questions can be answered by implementing specific analysis tools, which become even more useful when sales start coming in from all over the world.
In addition to the classic tools to be integrated, such as Google Analytics, the analysis options offered by Prestashop already enable customization and therefore possible segmentation by geographical area.
In this way, it is possible to make informed decisions and determine strategies differentiated by country, in order to optimize sales in each of them through specific approaches.
In conclusion: Prestashop offers “international” tools, yes, but…
While for some novice e-tailers (or those with strong local roots) the desire to enter the international market may seem daunting, Prestashop as a cms makes this integration much easier, with language, currency, SEO, payment and analysis options available by default in the back-office settings.
However, just because these tools already exist on the platform doesn’t mean they don’t require a certain amount of training, depending on the sector or strategy desired for your ecommerce store.
It’s also important to bear in mind that there are other factors that need to be taken into account in order to sell successfully on the global market, such as all aspects of logistics and shipping, as well as regulatory aspects depending on the country.
I’ve been an e-commerce expert for 15 years, in particular on the Prestashop solution, and if you wish I can help you set up and/or develop your e-commerce store on the global market.
Please do not hesitate to contact me for further information.
