English is the most widely spoken language in various contexts in the world and it has been the global language of trade for a long time. This still holds true especially for meetings, negotiations and contracts yet, when it comes to online sales, the scenario is rather different these days. As most of the action in today’s export industry takes place online, offering a multilingual experience becomes central to any efficient marketing strategy. Several studies have demonstrated that, on average, 75% of people want to purchase products in their native language and 92.2% want to make purchases in their local currency. In this perspective, having a language-targeted website for a specific market is necessary if companies wish to increase their customer engagement and conversion rates. 

Japan has been one of our main markets since the very beginning of Alifood, when our company started off with a Japanese partner. Twenty-five years later, Japan keeps providing us with a remarkable turnover. It is for all these reasons that we recently launched the Japanese version of our website. This is not just a translation of the original one already available in English, Arab, Chinese and Russian: it is a brand-new customer experience, built around the commercial needs and cultural expectations of our local interfaces. 

Since it is the first website of this kind for the Japanese market, we aimed at creating a truly welcoming user experience, making sure that everything – from product descriptions to the checkout process – is personalized. In order to offer a truly customized purchase journey, the development of the website proceeded in parallel with the selection of the products that would best suit the needs of that market: high quality and made in Italy are still the pillars on which we developed our new offer but now that includes smaller portions and products that keep their original freshness for a longer time, thanks to the advanced technology we use and the efficient supply chain we managed to build over time.