7 Ways Geo Targeting Can Help an E-Commerce Store

Posted on May 26th, 2017 by Quertime Writer in Make Money Online

Geo-targeting is an impressive method of localizing the website for the users according to their geographical locations that are recognized on the basis of their IP addresses. It is about removing the hurdles for the end users to easily understand the content and get familiar with the website.

An online store is often started with a generalized form of content and products, but with the passage of time, it expands to a different locality. The popularity and reach to different localities compel the merchants to break the uniformity and come up with personalized versions for different locations. Here comes the geo-targeting to rescue the merchants from a challenging state of mind.

It recognizes the users’ location and molds the design and content is a preferred way so that the company enjoys ultimate conversions. To help you understand the significance of geo-targeting, the following are some of the unbelievable ways it can help an eCommerce store earn a name and capture a fair market share.

1. Display relevant products

Serving people with what they need the most is the challenging task. Most of the eCommerce websites have visitors coming through different countries and regions, but they don’t have a set of products to serve them. In result, they remain the visitors only and can never convert into buyers.

With geo-targeting, merchants can set up a storefront that boasts products for a specific community or region. They are all set to browse and buy products that are specifically showcased for them. For example, an online jewelry shop can add a product line of pure gold rings in addition to the white gold for visitors from the Asian countries. It will help them offer something local to a specific region and improve sales.

2. Transpose prices to local currency

Geo-targeting aims to facilitate the end consumers with a hassle-free shopping experience. Merchants can automate changing product prices from a global to local currency. Most of the eCommerce websites use US dollar as a base currency, which is a bit ambiguous for people visiting from different regions because they have to convert the price manually in their local currency.
The foreign exchange rate of a base currency varies between countries. Showing them a fixed price in the international currency will not help them in knowing the actual price. To cut the process short, an eCommerce website can automate the process of changing product pricing to the local settings of the users and save the leads.

The merchants who aim to expand their business across the boundaries and reach out to people of other regions have to create multiple store views with local currency and language settings. Generally, they promote URLs of the respective currency in a region or let the users manually switch to a preferred currency view. but with the help of geo-targeting, they can automate it for the ease of end users.

The automation depends on the eCommerce application they use. It could be Magento, PrestaShop, or WooCommerce. Magento is a dedicated platform and supports the creation of multiple store fronts. Merchants can either modify the code or install tools like Magento Store Switcher to auto recognize the location of the users and redirect them to a store view that shows product prices in local currency.

3. Change global language to a familiar one

Language is yet another barrier in making the users understanding the product and its key features. The online buyers are highly careful in educating themselves about products before they finally place orders. But, what if they do not understand how exactly a product works in the language you use?

The English language is widely used across the globe, and it is selected by default in most of the online stores. But, there are several communities who prefer to browse and shop in a native or national language, or they are simply ignorant about the international languages.

The online stores that are targeting local communities who are not familiar with a base language, they can create a dedicated store view for an exceptional experience. For example, a Canadian web shop that aims to expand to Quebec that is a highly populated by French speakers, then it will need to storefront with the French language as well.

4. Calculate tax accordingly

The business and taxation law changes between countries and states, and one cannot charge a fixed percentage to every customer. The online buyers always want to pay taxes in agreement to the rules defined by their state. For example, the sales tax rate in Los Angeles is 9.98%, which is said to be applicable to its residents. An online store that is operating in the jurisdiction of Los Angeles will apply the same tax rate to a customer ordering from Wyoming where the tax rate is only 5.40%.

With geo-targeting, the users of an eCommerce website are encouraged to make purchases because they are charged a justifiable tax rate. Merchants are using auto-switching applications that change the tax rate, according to the geographical location of the visitors. So, they are never taxed more than what is allowed.

5. Offer free shipping

Dispatching products in the same city are often cheap and affordable. What if an online store recognizes the local visitors and offers them free shipping without any condition? One of the major reasons for the increased number of cart abandonment is the shipping charges. It is a kind of burden for the users in getting the products delivered at the doorstep.

Merchants can unleash the usefulness of geo-targeting by recognizing online users of the same city where they operate and let them avail free shipping. Waiving-off the shipping charges allow the sellers to remove one of the major constraints for the users in completing an order.

6. Navigate to the nearest stores

A great majority of online buyers likes to find the nearest stores of an eCommerce brand so that they can visit personally and grab the required stock. In the conventional websites, the users were required to search for a store by a city or postal code. But, the advanced technology of geographical recognition, one can easily navigate users to the nearest stores that is based on their IP-based locations.

The eCommerce websites that are operating in a state or country, or have branches in different regions may be finding it difficult in referring users to specific store manually. Hence, the geo-targeting plays a vital role in guiding the users instantly about the nearest outlets from they can avail the services.

By navigating users to the stores nearest to their home or office location, an eCommerce can save a lot of management time and cost in dispatching products. A person living in a city is no longer required to request products from a store that is available around the corner. The orders are fulfilled within the locality, thus the cost and time of courier are saved for better.

7. Restrict user groups

An eCommerce website is not necessarily created for everyone around the world to roam and get to know about the products they are not interested. Geo-targeting gives you the freedom to restrict a user group from visiting your website. You can select countries, form a region, and ban them from populating the traffic without any reason.

Generally, every website owner loves to see increased traffic. But, when it comes to calculating the accurate conversion rate, every visitor count. If most of the visitors are from the unwanted region, the analytics are more likely to present a distorted image of leads and conversions.

Final thoughts

Geo-targeting is transforming the way for the eCommerce websites to interact with local customers. It customizes a generalized appearance of a store that a local one that is more appealing and engaging for the concerned community. Merchants can utilize geo-targeting to facilitate the users in finding nearest stores and the products meant for them, rather than going through a hectic shopping experience. In fact, it is redefining web search and internet shopping with a friendly approach.

Author: Simon Walker

Simon Walker is a professional eCommerce Consultant with over 7 years of experience. He is currently working for Fmeextensions.ae, a premium Web Design Company. He is also consulting businesses to help increase their online exposure and conversions.