Foreign sites that want to get online sales from the US need to have their pages translated into English. To attract consumers from a given country, a straight translation is not enough, localization is what is needed. Localization takes into account cultural habits of the target market, such as local currency, local date formats and even local slang.
An example of a successful localization is Saveur du Jour , an eCommerce site that manages to sell lots of French products to North American consumers. Even though the products are French the North Americans appreciate the value of the gifts, the food or the souvenirs because all of the wording is in English and includes American expressions. There may be a French term here and there, but there is a definition on the site to allow the customer to know what those French terms mean.
When it comes to obtaining sales from the English-speaking world, foreign companies need to pay extra attention to blend in. Saveur du Jour used its own internal experts to localize its site, however many companies outsource the localization effort. A good translation company that handles localization handles different types of formats to make it easier for the business owner. Some translation companies will even keep the pages up-to-date for the owner. The owner has to send in there up-to-date files to the translation company, which will allow the owner to check the status ever so often to make sure the translators are translating it correctly.
At the company's site, there is a number for North Americans to contact the company. Very often consumers want to be able to speak to a real person. Localization enables the French to translate their number into a number for the English to use. In fact, localization translates images and numbers, as well as text.
Foreign companies that want to improve their own online sales should invest in localization. A foreign company would be surprised at what North American taste is. Another thing that makes localization better is support for the local currency, USD in this case. Also, Saveur du Jour allows North American consumers to pay for products the way they are used to paying for them when purchasing online, such as credit and debit card and PayPal.