How DeepL helps retailers speed up global expansion

What you need to know about how DeepL is aiding retail expansion:

• Effective, accurate content localization is a must for global retail companies
• DeepL’s AI translations help retailers enter new markets with speed and efficiency
• Retail and e-commerce giants like Alza and Kazar use DeepL to boost revenue and improve customer experience

From post-pandemic shifts to economic pressures to the rise of AI, retailers are dealing with countless challenges. To not just survive but thrive in today’s retail environment, companies need to be faster and more competitive than ever before. They need to go global.

So, how does a company speed up global expansion and enhance customer experience in one go?  They localize their content. 

According to a recent study from Weglot, “nearly 73% of customers prefer to purchase a product or service from a site that offers information in their own language.” Another 40% stated that they wouldn’t buy products from websites in other languages. What’s more, according to FTI Consulting’s survey, U.S. online retail sales were projected to reach $1.14 trillion in 2023—a 10% increase from 2022. 

Without a doubt, the retail industry is growing—and localization is the key to success. In fact, our own localization research found that 96% of respondents reported a positive ROI from localization efforts. 65% reported an ROI of 3X or greater. 

But, like any worthwhile business strategy, localization takes time. That’s where DeepL’s AI translation comes in. With DeepL, retailers can localize content at scale and speak to customers in their own language—for a faster, more streamlined localization process. This allows retailers to prioritize high-impact, high-growth regions.

To further explore why DeepL is the best choice for retailers with ambitious international expansion plans, keep reading or visit our DeepL for retail page.

Supercharge localization with DeepL: 90% reduction in translation time and €2.79 million in efficiency savings

Entering a new market is a heavy lift for localization teams. From product descriptions to customer reviews to marketing materials, there’s so much content retailers need to localize. Add in the fact that this content is often dynamic and changing, and it’s understandable why some localization teams struggle to keep up.

What’s more, localization can be a tricky process. It’s not just about translating text from one language to another, but adapting to different markets’ cultural and linguistic differences to really resonate with your target audience. Basically, translation is a part of the more complex localization process—and that’s where DeepL makes a big difference.

Using DeepL’s AI translations as a jumping-off point for localization allows retailers to increase efficiency, save time, enhance quality, and improve alignment. In fact, according to a recent study DeepL commissioned from Forrester Consulting, DeepL decreased translation time by 90%. This led to a 345% ROI and €2.79 million in efficiency savings over three years.*

The same study found that DeepL reduced translation workloads by 50% and resulted in process cost reductions of €227,430. This study clearly highlighted DeepL as a strategic investment for the interviewed organizations. What could your teams do with all that extra time?

DeepL for retail: consistency, quality, and scalability

When taking your retail company global, it’s vital to prioritize:

• Consistency across brand and product terminology
• High-quality translations
• Scalability and time-to-market speed 

Let's take a look at how DeepL stacks up.

1. Consistency

With DeepL’s glossary, you can easily keep your brand- and product-specific terms consistent across languages. For international retailers, it’s important to standardize brand names, technical jargon, and product documentation. That way, when you expand to new markets and languages, you know everyone is on the same page.

Our glossaries also help retailers reduce costs and save time on manual editing. And with shared glossaries, it’s even easier to ensure consistency for teams and companies across international markets.

2. Quality

Accuracy is everything when localizing content. High-quality translations are critical for earning customer trust, complying with regulatory requirements, and improving multilingual communication. 

According to blind tests, DeepL is over 3x more accurate than its closest competitors. This is in large part due to DeepL’s cutting-edge neural networks and Language AI models, which allow for more nuanced, natural-sounding translations.

3. Scalability 

A successful market expansion strategy requires localization to keep pace, and DeepL allows retailers to translate content at scale. Instead of translating everything from scratch, retailers can use DeepL’s AI translations to get a head start. 

This, in turn, allows retail organizations to speed up time-to-market—accelerating global growth and keeping up with the competitive industry landscape.

How retail giants like Alza and Kazar use DeepL to conquer new markets

Many retailers are already using DeepL to enter new markets and expand globally. Among them are big-time retail companies like Alza and Kazar.

Alza: improving revenue and customer experience with localized content

Dubbed the “Czech Amazon”, Alza is an e-commerce company with markets all over Europe. After expanding to the U.K. and Central Europe, Alza needed high-quality translations that wouldn’t overburden its localization team. Enter DeepL. 

With DeepL API, Alza was able to translate large volumes of user reviews. This gave ‌customers quality assurance while shopping online and significantly increased its conversion rate. 

According to Jakub Kalina, Alza’s Head of Localization, DeepL has helped the retailer increase output volume, saying:

“Thanks to a significant cost reduction and freeing up our translators’ time, we can now take on new translation projects, so it looks like our translation volume will continue to grow—it could even double or triple in the coming months.”

Kazar: launching new markets with high-quality AI translation

Kazar, a Polish online fashion brand, had a goal to expand to new European markets, such as Greece, the U.K., and Bulgaria. Here, Kazar recognized the need for a robust translation API that could quickly localize its product feed. 

After testing multiple translation options, Kazar determined that DeepL had the highest quality. According to Radomir Kiepas, Kazar’s B2B Development Partner and Marketplace Project Leader, DeepL API allowed the retailer to launch in new marketplaces and increase European order volume. 

When asked what he’d say to other companies considering machine translation, Kiepas stated:

“Trust that the DeepL API is at the highest level. I would say, don’t be afraid and just try it.”

Boost your global retail growth with DeepL’s AI

Accelerating market expansion while providing a consistently high-quality customer experience isn’t easy. But using transformative AI translation tools like DeepL to streamline localization helps retailers navigate global markets with greater ease.

To learn more about how DeepL Pro can help your company reach new customers and scale more efficiently, check out our DeepL for retail page.

*Data from a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of DeepL in 2024.