Turning Black Friday Into Gold

Late November news reports are quick to emphasise the commercial potential of “Black Friday” for British and American retailers. What began as an exclusively American Thanksgiving tradition has now been embraced far more widely. As a translation partner of choice to the retail sector, Absolute Translations keeps a close eye on this annual event. Every high street and shopping mall seems to have anecdotes of customers being trampled underfoot as retailers keep their doors open until midnight. But online shoppers are just as busy.

In recent years we’ve seen the websites of UK retailers such as Argos; Currys; Tesco Direct and John Lewis almost grind to a halt on the day after Thanksgiving. With buyers stuck in endless virtual queues. But the biggest lesson of November 24^th won’t be how long people have to wait in virtual queues but how many of them are lining up to do it. Retail analysts are forecasting that year on year online trade will increase by as much as 500%. Giants such as Amazon have begun cutting prices of flagship products early, whipping up consumer excitement for the big day.

With both the United States and Britain increasingly multilingual, and with retailers increasingly reaching out to new markets in all corners of the globe; how can we smooth the path for happy customers and profitable retailers?

Looking at Europe, of the half a billion people currently residing in the EU, approximately 433 million are active online. With multitaskers surfing as they watch TV or carry out other secondary tasks, online shopping grows and grows.

Almost 80% of internet users in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Luxembourg and Finland purchase online. While many of them speak good English, far fewer are entirely comfortable making buying decisions in a second language. Further afield, the e-commerce market for the APAC region is predicted to exceed £1 trillion per annum by the end of this decade. The key element of any transactional relationship is trust. With shoppers alert to security issues; aware of competing vendors offering similar services and eager to read and understand the “small print”, do you really want to put up another barrier to buying?

The right language service partner will make your website the prime sales tool you need it to be, ready to generate revenue among the consumer groups of your choice. Absolute Translations offers you an insight into the thinking of buyers and sellers and seamless communication between the two. Satisfied customers including The Body Shop; United Colors of Benetton; Timberland and Liberty London tell the story of our success in turning what’s possible into what’s profitable and helping you turn Black Friday into gold.