How localisation enables market opportunity

The era of standardization is dwindling. Now, consumers are soaring in diversity.

To drive profitable business within their markets, organizations must decide what level of localization they should be carrying out for their content, and for their solutions.

The Market Opportunities that Come with Localization

Market opportunity can greatly influence localization requirements. Correctly localized key elements of your business can help to generate the highest possible sales and the lowest possible costs.

Take Best Buy as an example. After examining local demand patterns and demographics, the company created stores that appeal to its identified consumer clusters. For example, in some of the store locations, busy residential mothers were found to be an untouched segment that offered the potential for major expansion. To attract those mothers, Best Buy set about designing stores that featured wide aisles and uncluttered layouts along with personal shopping assistants, warm lighting, more space for household appliances, and even technology-related toys for kids.

The Opportunities Don’t End There

Best Buy is not the only business biting into the localization and market opportunity pie. Many large chains have opened so many stores that they are running out of room for expansion. Thanks to the likes of new technological advances and new data, stores not have more opportunity to localize their services and products.

One of the leaders in localization is consumer products bigwigs, VF, a billion-dollar apparel maker that owns popular jeans brands like Wrangler and Lee and a few other well-known labels. VF uses a range of data sources to identify its customization opportunities. And, its localization efforts have seen as much as a 50% improvement in sales while also serving to reduce markdowns and store inventories.

So, what’s VF’s secret? Reportedly, the organization combines lifestyle data and third-party geodemographics with thorough consumer research and daily store-level sales data, along with competitor analysis to come up with localization strategies with retailers. One thing that VF seems to have discovered through localization is that while a group of its consumers are looking for lighter-weight denim, male Hispanics tend to prefer heavier denim items.

Here’s another example of its findings: women in southern California seem to buy shorter denim skirts to norther Californian women. What’s more, stores in communities that are home to larger immigrant populations have greater demand for smaller clothing sizes than those surrounded by non-immigrants.

The Growth of the Internet and Market Opportunity

The USA enjoys an internet penetration rate in the region of 88%. There are more than 40 million native Spanish speakers living in America, and Spanish is reportedly the third most common online language. Further, 7.30% of the worldwide online market is Spanish.

US companies have already led the way in shaping how our globe shops, and even eCommerce marketers can take advantage of market opportunities that are offered by multilingual content.

Taking the time to localize your offerings can truly pay off. Reaching your customer base in their native language builds trust, reputability, and brand-awareness, and can help dramatically improve your profits.