One of the greatest dreams every business owner has is to operate globally. I bet it’s your dream as well, if you own an ecommerce or any other business type, isn’t it?
Thanks to the fast development of internet coverage and usage all around the world, it’s now possible to sell your products worldwide with just a few clicks from the users’ side. Even though it sounds quite easy, operating internationally needs a huge load of marketing activities to introduce your brand globally. In addition, an ecommerce website must provide some specific facilities to international customers, which is not normally needed for an ecommerce that is targeting its local geographical region.
One of the main features, such ecommerce websites need to have, is multicurrency payment option. There are many benefits associated with such an option for users from regions that use currencies which are different to the main currency the ecommerce is doing business with.
Multicurrency Payment Option; who to use and who to not
The option to pay in different currencies is always a good idea for ecommerce websites who operate internationally. Users from all over the world prefer to pay in their own national currency to prevent being charged for extra fees by their banks. Besides, users are not tolerant enough to convert currencies to see how much they have to pay in their own currency, when facing a single currency payment option. Therefore, multicurrency payment options will bring more traffic, more customers and consequently higher conversion rate.
In addition, ecommerce websites that are operating locally but in a popular tourism destination are recommended to add such payment option for the same reason mentioned above. For example, think of an ecommerce selling perfumes in Dubai only. There are many visitors in Dubai from all around the world who might be interested to buy perfumes online, due to the price advantage. For such users also, being able to pay in their national currency would be an attractive offer that can raise their interest to purchase from your ecommerce. However, for ecommerce websites who focus on their regional market only, it is not needed to add multicurrency payment option into their website.
Essentials to be considered for a multicurrency ecommerce
There are many elements to be considered carefully, when you decide to add multicurrency payment option to your ecommerce website. Proper accounting software, international transaction and currency conversion fees, taxes and duties and security regulations are a few out of many essential elements, when it comes to add multicurrency payment option to your ecommerce website.
One of the elements that we are discussing here in this article, is to create different domain name based on the users’ geographical area. As an example, think of a website with .com which is based in Dubai. The multicurrency payment option can be added to it without creating subdomain names, so users will be able to select their desired currency for payment. The other option is to create subdomain names for your website and redirect users from a specific area to the relevant domain. For example, if a user enters into your website from the UK which can be identified by his IP address, he will be redirected to .co.uk. Likewise, a user from the US, will be redirected to .us and so on. Hence, the currency that users are able to pay in .co.uk will be GBP and in .us will be in USD only.
Which option works best?
It is possible to add multicurrency payment option to a single domain name ecommerce website with no subdomains. One of the biggest websites with single domain name and multicurrency payment option is booking.com. This website provides accommodation service all around the world. In this website, people are able to book accommodation everywhere in the world by paying in their desired currency.
However, it is recommended to create subdomain websites, if you want to sell internationally. The most important reasons are from an SEO perspective.
As you are aware, creating quality content is the main building block of a successful SEO plan. Google considers multiple factors to identify quality contents and rank them higher on search results. One of the very important factors is copyright. Google is strongly against duplicated contents and penalized websites who use duplicated contents. However, Google crawlers are able to identify the contents that are posted on two subdomain names. In other words, you can post the same content on your UK and US webpage at the same time, without being penalized by Google. This is the beauty of having location-based subdomain names for your ecommerce website, from an SEO point of view. The other benefit of having subdomains based on visitors’ location is website speed optimization. If you are running an ecommerce with tons of products, photos, videos and contents, keeping them all on a root domain will negatively affect your pages loading speed and consequently your SEO, if your website is approached by many users from all around the world. Adversely, by creating location-based subdomain names, requests from a particular geographical area will be redirected to the relevant subdomain, so less pressure will be on the root domain.
Conclusion
As outlined above, it is possible to develop your ecommerce website on a single root domain name as well as on location-based subdomain names. It all depends on your needs, your business plan and how you are planning to run your business.
In order to make the right decision, you must consult with an experienced and reputable web design and digital marketing service provider, so any potential risk associated with an inappropriate decision will be mitigated.
One of the best web design and digital marketing service providers who is equipped with more than 10 years of experience in Dubai digital market is Websima DMCC. They have been in the market long enough to create a proven track record of delivering high quality projects to happy clients, so they are able to provide you with very valuable consultation and advice, if you are planning to add multicurrency payment option to your ecommerce website
You can book a free consultation meeting with the Websima team to discuss your plan in detail and they will get back to you with an offer that suits your business most.
