Last year, Fortune magazine nicknamed Latin American countries such as Mexico and Colombia “the new BRIC.” Not long after, an article in the Harvard Business Review called the region “a modern marketer’s dream.” International business experts are all abuzz about Latin America these days. You should be, too—particularly as you expand to new markets in 2017.
Why? Data from consulting firm Americas Market Intelligence (AMI) paints a compelling picture. By 2020, the nations of Latin America will have a combined GDP representing 10% of the world’s total GDP (about $10.7 billion). By that time, the region’s population will also represent 10% of the world’s total.
This represents a huge opportunity for online businesses—e-commerce sites, especially. According to AMI’s report, the region will continue its economic upswing. This increasing stability, and other cultural factors, will generate a larger, more diverse and more affluent workforce. By 2020, Latin America’s middle class will be consuming more, and becoming more selective in the brands, services and products they support.
How can your company benefit from this international trend? If your website can fulfill overseas orders (or can partner with a reputable international shipping solution to cover this), you may win big.
We’ve found that companies that savvily launch Spanish-language websites for the thriving Spanish-speaking U.S. market generate a considerable amount of Spanish website traffic from visitors based in Latin America. In essence, the U.S. Spanish site becomes a veritable “gateway” for new international customers, all of whom are searching for products in their language of choice.
This effectively means that a single translated website can serve multiple Latin American markets. This wildly reduces translation costs. And with minimal effort, a website translation solution like MotionPoint can accommodate highly-localized content for specific international markets. Colombian visitors see relevant promotions for Colombia, Mexicans see their own market-specific messaging, and so forth.
Indeed, resonant online experiences in Spanish can drive far more traffic, engagement and sales from shoppers you never anticipated to transact with: online-fluent, and increasingly affluent, consumers in Latin America.
Want to learn more about the Latin American opportunity, and how launching a single Spanish-language website can serve an ever-growing number of cross-border consumers? Contact us for more information.
Last updated on December 26, 2016
