With billions of online shoppers worldwide, you have more opportunities than ever to reach new customers through cross-border ecommerce. Did you know that more than half of ecommerce shoppers buy from online stores in other countries? So, how can you tap into this global market using ecommerce search and personalization? 

Achieving worldwide expansion goes beyond adding new languages and currencies to your ecommerce store—you need to step up your search and merchandising game as well.

Ecommerce search: The foundation of global success

Advanced tools and technologies will have the biggest impact on which ecommerce companies succeed in their global expansions. Some trends to consider include: 

Automation: You can automate your ecommerce search experience—from tailoring results based on inventory levels to adjusting merchandising strategies automatically. Use a search automation tool that can analyze user behavior and optimize results without manual intervention.

Artificial intelligence (AI): Enhance your search capabilities with machine learning that understands natural language queries, recognizes synonyms, and learns from customer interactions. AI-powered search can interpret complex queries, handle misspellings, and deliver increasingly relevant results over time.

Data integration: As your store expands globally, integrated search analytics can connect customer behavior with your product catalog. When shoppers in different regions frequently make specific search queries, your store should recognize these patterns and adjust results accordingly—delivering market-specific relevance while still maintaining your brand experience.

Personalized shopping experiences: Transform generic search into personalized discovery by delivering results that reflect individual shopping histories and preferences. Intelligent search adapts to each customer, prioritizing products they’re likely to purchase and reducing the steps between search and checkout.

Personalized search powers global market entry

Expanding your ecommerce presence to other parts of the world can be a substantial investment of time and resources. It can also involve some risk, so it’s essential to ensure that you have the right search strategies and tools in place from the outset. 

Start by researching new markets and understanding the differences between your current customers and prospective audiences. When it comes to adapting your ecommerce site to new markets, the right AI-powered tools will do much of this work for you. However, learning about the market will help you decide whether it’s a good expansion location and help you make effective product and marketing-related decisions. 

Consider these aspects of a potential new market to decide whether they’re a good fit and how your site may have to adapt: 

Local culture: Search patterns vary significantly across regions—effective search needs to interpret cultural nuances in query phrasing and product expectations to deliver relevant results that align with local shopping behaviors.

Regulatory requirements: Search filters must adapt to regional regulations as well, showing only compliant products and clearly indicating restrictions in search results to avoid customer frustration.

Economic conditions and influences: Economic factors impact search behavior. Your search function should adapt to recognize price sensitivity in certain markets and feature affordable alternatives when economic indicators suggest tighter consumer spending.

Currency risk and conversion fees: Your search results should display accurate pricing in local currencies, including any conversion fees, so customers don’t encounter unexpected costs after finding products through search.

Clothing and shoe size variations: Size equivalencies vary across regions, so your search should adjust accordingly. For example, when a customer searches “size 8 shoes” they see properly converted results relevant to their local sizing system.

Local trends and buying preferences: Train your search algorithm to recognize and prioritize trending products by region—what’s hot in search queries in one market may be completely different in another.

Local language, vocabulary, spelling, and messaging: Your search should comprehend regional language differences, recognizing that a “jumper” in UK search queries means a “sweater” in US terminology, with spelling variations handled automatically.

Time zone and seasonal differences: Your search function should also be seasonally aware: it should prioritize weather-appropriate items based on the shopper’s location—ensuring winter gear doesn’t dominate results during a local summer season.

Necessary taxes, tariffs, and duties: Configure search filters to include tax-inclusive pricing options, and allow customers to search specifically for products that won’t incur additional import duties in their region.

Shipping and return expectations: Enable search filtering by shipping speed and return options, letting customers find products with the delivery and return terms that matter most in their market.

Product recommendations guide international growth

Effective product recommendations are crucial when expanding globally. Each market has unique preferences that affect how customers respond to suggested products. Here are the most common recommendation challenges to address for international success:

Not understanding market differences in product preferences: Anticipate and avoid challenges by examining how product preferences differ across markets. Properly setting up your recommendation engine now will save you time and money in the future, ensuring customers see products they’re likely to purchase.

Not adapting recommendation algorithms for local payment preferences: Your recommendation engine should understand payment method popularity in each market, prioritizing products that align with local payment expectations and filtering out those that don’t support preferred regional payment options.

Recommendations with poor translation quality: Product recommendations lose effectiveness when descriptions are poorly translated. Customers may ignore recommended items that appear with awkward phrasing or confusing translations, reducing cross-sell opportunities.

Recommendations aren’t localized or personalized: Product recommendations should reflect shoppers’ regional preferences and individual behavior patterns. Feature products based on real-time user activity and regional popularity. Use recommendation tools that highlight items frequently bought together in specific markets.

Recommendation engine isn’t integrated with your tech stack: Your product recommendation system should work seamlessly with inventory, pricing, and customer data. This integration ensures you only recommend in-stock items at correct regional prices with appropriate delivery options.

Not localizing recommendation strategies by region: Shoppers should receive recommendations that reflect local buying patterns and cultural preferences. What works as a complementary product suggestion in one market may be irrelevant in another.

The more you can tailor product recommendations to the behaviors and preferences of your particular buyers in each market, the more successful your site will be. That level of recommendation customization would be impossible to implement manually, but the right tools will help you create personalized suggestion experiences that navigate cultural, economic, and regulatory challenges.

Smart recommendation strategies leverage both search data and merchandising rules to create a cohesive discovery experience. Shoppers receive suggested products that are likely to appeal to them based on their purchase history, browsing behavior, and similar customer profiles in their region.

Building a product recommendation engine for global scale

Since tools are the key to today’s online retail success, some planning is required to achieve the right tech stack for international ecommerce. To ensure your online store can handle increased transactions and international traffic, look for tools that work together and can scale as your business expands. 

Advanced, AI-driven search and retail merchandising software, in particular, help your store connect with buyers and vice versa. Examples of popular, effective ecommerce integrations include HubSpot CRM, Stripe for payments, Quickbooks for accounting, and Maropost Merchandising Cloud. So, how do you find ecommerce website solutions that are smart and scalable enough to facilitate international market expansion? Features to look for include:

Intuitive interface: Tools should be easy for developers, designers, and managers to use as often as needed.

Fully customizable: It should be easy to make sure your storefront represents your brand and suits the way your customers want to shop.

AI-driven capabilities: AI can improve product discovery and enable natural language processing (NLP) for more human search results.

Merchandising tools for local market success

Some parts of your tech stack will play a larger role than others in international expansion. For example, search and merchandising tools are crucial in helping ecommerce businesses engage with a specific market. 

AI-powered search and merchandising tools are especially useful for driving expansion in new markets because they enhance the shopping experience, improve product discoverability, and tailor offerings to support local shopping preferences. Real-time personalized search, product recommendations, and smart collections in shoppers’ languages help build connections and stickier customer relationships. These are some ways you can engage with customers in a new market and create better shopping experiences:

Localized search capabilities: Ensure shoppers don’t see search results for products that aren’t available to them, which creates a negative experience. Shoppers can search for items in terms familiar to them and are more likely to see products that are locally popular.  

Personalized merchandising: Using customer data, the tool’s AI continues to learn about local preferences and trends and makes individual recommendations.  

Dynamic promotions: Smart tools optimize offers for different markets, considering local holidays, events, seasonality, etc.  

Inventory management: With insights into which products are more likely to sell in different regions, manage local inventory more easily and effectively. 

Data and insights: Gathering data about customer behavior by market allows you to optimize your store and marketing and sales campaigns. 

Expanding your store to reach new customers, languages, cultures, and continents is an ambitious effort. It requires new goals, strategies, and tools. Fortunately, technology has never been better, with the ability to simplify and automate tasks. The challenge is choosing the right set of tools.