E-com firms turn to local languages for better sales

Mumbai: Google is not the only company which is developing online content in languages other than English for India. E-commerce players, in a bid to win over more customers, are turning to local languages too.

Snapdeal which had put up content in Hindi and Tamil on its website, will soon introduce four additional native languages, namely Kannada, Telugu, Marathi and Bengali.

“The primary aim is to reach out to a wider consumer base making the site accessible to those who prefer to access content in regional languages. The motive behind introducing a multi-lingual interface is to enhance customer experience while reaching out to a larger section of shoppers across India,” said Ankit Khanna, Senior VP-Product Development, Snapdeal.

Snapdeal added that the multilingual platform built by it is highly scalable and hence can manage any number of languages.

Currently close to 70% of sales on Snapdeal come from tier two and tier three cities and the introduction of four more languages will further strengthen its leadership positioning in the Indian digital commerce market due to greater regional engagement.

The Nasdaq listed e-Bay is another player which is looking at going in for content in local languages.

“We are definitely thinking longer term where local language will be a key requirement in our future plans,” said Latif Nathani, MD, eBay India. Nathani refused to divulge further details. eBay which completed a decade of operations in India this March provides sellers education material in six popular languages.

While industry sources said Flipkart is also planning to introduce content in native languages, Flipkart declined to answer a questionnaire sent last week.

With Internet users in India going up from 50 million in 2007 to 300 million in 2014, India is set to becoming the world’s fastest growing e-commerce market. With over one-third non-English speaking internet users, ecommerce players see capturing customers in this segment as a next logical step.

Local language internet users are growing at 40% per year and with online shopping gaining nationwide traction, there is a large population that would be more at ease shopping in their native language. For Snapdeal, Hindi and Tamil versions of the platform has resulted in increased reach within the Hindi-heartland and Tamil Nadu.

Ecommerce players said content in local language would not only result in ease of shopping for customers but also aid in bringing the larger population of the country online. Browsing properties and product categories would be uniform across languages on the websites.

“It is always convenient to use native language when shopping as a single language will only speak to that market. If one has to become relevant and entice users, customisation and localising will be the key. Through these measures, ecommerce companies can cover the depth and breadth of the market,” said Sandeep Ladda, Partner, India Technology Sector Leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers.