Amazon sellers all over the world are provided with an opportunity of extending the business to an international marketplace. But no matter how the platform helps sellers to grow, the market of each country requires a certain preparation that consists not only in launching the PPC advertising but also in a whole product listing adjustment.
When the seller enters a new marketplace, an important task is to introduce the product to a wide audience and PPC advertising completes it. However, the job here is not done. The PPC model leads buyers to the product and then the mission of a well-built listing including expert translation attracts relevant customers and convinces them to purchase.
The first steps to selling internationally
Amazon.com supports a wish to sell on the international marketplace. Amazon Global Selling (AGS) is a program that lets businesses grow and trade in any country where the company is located.
The initial actions are simple: the seller decides which country is perfect for the business expansion, registers, provides payment, and creates a local account. Afterward, the products for the sale have to be listed and that is where sellers learn about the new marketplace particularities.
International sellers know that creatives´ requirement, marketing originality the same as search terms differ from one country to another not simply because of the language, but also because of cultural specialties, dialect, slang, etc., and the specialists` goal is to take into consideration all of those factors to not lose the PPC advertising results.
Keywords and Search Terms
Sellers are required to prepare all product listings in a local language, but basic translation in this case is not an option. The same rule refers to the keywords. While adapting keywords vendors need to consider:
Language
This point seems obvious, however, it may be forgotten that certain countries include autonomous communities with their language or languages and, as a result, their search terms. Ignoring those keywords can cause a loss of relevant customers.
For example, the Spanish word for “butter” is “mantequilla” or “monteca”, nevertheless, the search term “mantega” in the Catalan language is a popular search term on Spanish Amazon.
Dialect
A dialect is a form of standard language and Amazon users who talk in dialects often prefer to look for products with help of this linguistic expression.
This term refers not only to a specific geographical area (geolect) but also to a social class (sociolect), ethnic group (ethnolect), etc.
All countries where Amazon.com is localized have certain linguistic varieties.
In particular, when American buyers usually search for rain boots, British customers look for wellies and Australians for gumboots.
Slang
Even so, slang is an informal type of language and more used in speech than in writing, in some countries slang terms are commonly used for a product search.
For instance, slang keywords “gitch” or “gonch” are relevant keywords to underwear listing on Canadian Amazon.
Neighboring countries
Amazon corporation is not limited by the countries where it is placed. The shipping is often spread to nearby countries and it has an effect on search terms diversity. Even if language is the same, as was mentioned above, dialects and other possible linguistic varieties are playing an influential role in keywords` development and variation.
As an example, Amazon is not located in Austria. Nevertheless, the shipment in Austria from German Amazon is available. That is why the search term “papiersackerl”, which is an Austrian word for a paper bag, is quite common on German Amazon.
International and popular languages
Besides the official languages in countries are spoken popular languages, the languages of other different nations living in the country and not only.
Customers can often find desired product typing in English search terms in the Amazon search bar.
Other important product listing parts
The most relevant keywords are included in the product title, bullet points, and description. Other written and visual parts of the listing have to be translated competently and meet all the requirements of each country where the business is planning to sell. In fact, in China it is forbidden to include superlatives “the most” and “the best” in the advertising, violators are punished with big fines.
Each country has numerous requirements, rules, and characteristics. Sellers invest a lot of time and nerves to follow all of them. A good way to deal with this painstaking work is to hire specialists. They can handle these troubles and the seller will not miss any important details.
Listing creatives are also not an exception and not only requirements need to be taken into consideration. What can be perceived in one country as normality in another might turn out offensive.
The process of selling on Amazon is a complex work where the success of the whole operation depends on control of every single detail.
Vitalii Khyzniak is the Chief Growth Officer at Profit Whales – Amazon Business Accelerator that cooperates with sellers to develop marketplace potential and reevaluates the PPC advertising approach to help businesses reach the highest levels. He is also the host of Dr. Amazon Podcast – the channel for Amazon FBA Private Label Sellers, where he talks to top Amazon experts.