Foreign sales rising nearly twice as fast as domestic at Art.com
Sales to foreign consumers are increasing sharply at Art.com, which ships to more than 150 countries.
“International is growing almost twice as fast domestic,” co-founder and chief strategy officer Mike Marston tells Internet Retailer.
Although Art.com has served international markets for several years, foreign sales are becoming more important to the retailer’s overall strategy as more foreign consumers gain access to the web and begin shopping online, Marston says, adding that competition for overseas markets is also growing and creating pressure to better serve foreign consumers. “There’s definitely a sense of urgency,” he says. “It’s a critical strategy for us.”
Although Art.com uses mostly home-grown technology, about a year ago it implemented a currency translation tool from E4X Inc. that has helped to drive up conversions by automatically translating Art.com’s pricing into a foreign shopper’s local currency. Art.com currently uses the tool for 14 foreign currencies.
In the past, an earlier tool would take longer to convert pricing after a shopper arrived on Art.com and requested currency translation. The E4X tool is designed to recognize the IP address of a shopper and automatically translate the currency before the shopper views an Art.com page.
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