Expanding your business across the border
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Many Dutch web shop owners have seen their annual growth flattening out over the years. Especially the last 5 years. One of the reasons for this is that the market has become saturated. The last couple of years, the amount of web shops has been growing exponentially. There are so many suppliers that at some point, there just isn’t that much more room to grow. So businesses are looking for other ways to keep growing annually. Some expand their product range, while others look further than that and start looking for opportunities beyond borders. Enormous potentialAs you’re probably aware, the Netherlands isn’t that big of a market. With only 17 million inhabitants you can imagine that you will reach a certain ‘maximum’ after a couple of years. That’s why more and more Dutch web shop owners are looking across borders to expand their business to, for example, Germany or Belgium. In comparison to the amount of inhabitants in the Netherlands, ‘foreign’ countries offer a huge potential. But, before rushing into anything, there are some things that have to be taken into account before expanding. Translating your web shopIf you want to go international with your Dutch web shop, you obviously need to offer multiple language options on your website. People from Belgium could simply use your Dutch web shop, but how about people from Germany or other countries? They won’t understand a thing and will therefore leave to find another supplier. To be of service to them, the web shop has to be in German. There are multiple ways of realising this: · Use Google Translate · Hire a friend who speaks (mediocre) German · Hire a translation agency Each have its own up- and downsides. But, some cultures are more sensitive to incorrect grammar than others. Germany is one of them. If you choose to use Google Translate or hire a friend who (sort of) speaks the language, the risk of incorrect grammar and sentences rises exponentially. This will cost you customers. Obviously, this is something you want to avoid when you just start expanding your business across the border. Therefore it is very important that your website translations are on point. You don’t want (German) visitors of your web shop to leave because of your incorrect translations. Since translation agencies mostly work with experienced in-house native linguists, you’re ensured of high quality texts. |