Internationalisation

CobbleWeb has internationalised various aspects of our clients’ platforms to make them more accessible to a larger audience:

• Payment systems that support multiple currencies.
• Page content, error and success messages, and email templates offered in multiple languages.
• User generated content in multiple languages. For our client MobyPark we added a Google Translate button so that users can translate listings into their preferred language. This works similar to the ‘see translation’ links found on platforms like Facebook. Another client allows sellers to upload manual translations of product descriptions in similar fashion to Etsy.
• Shipping models that allow sellers to use local shipping providers instead of a universal UPS API. This helps sellers to cater for different buyer locations and offer extra value such as bespoke packaging.
• Platforms and sellers can set different tax rates (e.g. VAT) for countries, states (e.g. US) and product types (e.g. VAT exempt items).
• UX elements such as additional address fields (e.g. zip codes in the US) and alternative navigation options for languages like Arabic.
• Allowing users to set their currency and language preferences, with defaults based on the IP address. 
• Embedded currency converters.
• Data segregation. Nestify operates in multiple countries and wanted their employees to only have access to the data of the country they work in. 
• Work allocation. Affordable Art Fair wanted sellers to be automatically assigned to different onboarding teams based on their location.

For a more detailed discussion about timing cross-border expansion, deciding which aspects of your marketplace to internationalise, and how to avoid some of the pitfalls, read our in-depth blog post on marketplace internationalisation.