How to instantly get more customers for your online shop

You already have customers visiting your shop. You just don’t know it yet.

Every day, people from different countries land on online shops by accident — through Google search, a shared link, a Pinterest pin, or a Facebook ad. They arrive, they look around for maybe three seconds, and then they close the tab. Not because they didn’t want to buy something. Because they couldn’t read a single word on the page.

That’s a real sale you lost. And it happens hundreds of times a day.

The problem no one talks about

Most shop owners focus on getting more traffic. More ads, more SEO work, more social media posts. But they completely ignore one thing: what happens when someone from Germany, Brazil, or Japan actually lands on their English-only shop?

The answer is simple. They leave.

A study by CSA Research (formerly Common Sense Advisory) found that76% of online shoppers prefer to buy products in their native language. Another finding from the same research:40% of shoppers will never buy from websites in other languages. These aren’t small numbers. These are the majority of potential customers you’re currently invisible to.

The fix is not complicated. If someone sees your shop in their own language, something clicks immediately. They slow down. They start reading. They check the product description. They look at the price. They think “this actually looks good.” That mental shift from “I don’t know what is it” to “probably I need this” happens in about two seconds — and it changes everything.

What people actually buy, depending on where they’re from.

Before we talk about translation, let’s look at what’s actually selling in different parts of the world. If you sell any of these things, you are already sitting on a goldmine of untapped international customers.

United States and Canada

Americans are huge buyers of home improvement products, fitness gear, and electronics accessories. Items like standing desk converters, cable organizers, smart home gadgets (Alexa-compatible switches, smart plugs), and gym equipment like resistance bands and foam rollers sell extremely well. Supplements and protein powders are also massive. If you sell anything in these categories, there’s a real US market for you.

Germany

Germans are well-known for being practical buyers. They love high-quality tools, garden equipment, kitchen appliances, and energy-saving home products. Solar panel accessories, energy monitors, and anything with a strong environmental angle sells very well. They also have a strong market for children’s educational toys — wooden toys, Montessori-style learning materials, puzzles.

Japan

Japanese buyers are extremely interested in skincare and beauty products. Serums, face masks, SPF products, and anything with a clean or minimal aesthetic performs well. Japan also has a strong market for stationery — notebooks, pens, planners, washi tape. Small decorative items for the home (what they call “zakka”) are consistently popular. Gaming accessories also have a big following.

South Korea

K-beauty is already known globally, but Korean shoppers themselves are heavy buyers of skincare, haircare, and cosmetic tools. LED face masks, gua sha tools, and hair straighteners are popular. Fitness clothing — specifically tight, compressive workout wear — sells very well. Technology accessories, phone cases, and wireless earphone cases are also big movers.

Brazil

Brazil has a massive market for fashion — especially casual, colorful, and beach-style clothing. Flip-flops, swimwear, and lightweight dresses are popular year-round due to the climate. Hair products and styling tools also do very well, as hair care is taken seriously in Brazilian culture. Sports merchandise, particularly anything related to football (soccer), moves fast.

Saudi Arabia and UAE

Luxury goods, perfumes, and high-end watches are extremely popular in Gulf countries. Oud-based fragrances and Arabic perfume accessories have local demand but also attract buyers who want authentic products. Modest fashion — abayas, hijabs, and modest sportswear — is a growing global e-commerce category. Gold and silver jewelry, prayer accessories, and high-quality dates and gift boxes also sell well online.

Poland and Eastern Europe

Poles are practical online shoppers who look for value. Car accessories, tools, home textiles (curtains, bedding), and children’s clothing are popular. There’s also a growing market for hobby supplies — craft kits, model building, and DIY electronics. Outdoor gear like camping equipment and hiking accessories is increasingly popular.

Netherlands and Belgium

These markets love cycling products — accessories, clothing, and maintenance tools for bikes. Eco-friendly and sustainable home products do well. Design-focused home decor, minimalist furniture accessories, and plants (yes, people buy plants online in the Netherlands) are popular. Specialty food items, coffee equipment, and tea accessories also have strong demand.

Australia

Australians shop online heavily for outdoor and sports gear — surfboards, beach accessories, camping equipment, and UV-protection clothing. Pet products, especially for dogs, are very popular. Wine accessories and BBQ equipment are consistent sellers. There’s also strong demand for health and wellness products — vitamins, natural supplements, and organic skincare.

Clothing sells differently depending on the country.

Fashion is one of the most country-specific categories in e-commerce. What’s a bestseller in one country can be completely unsellable in another.

Linen clothingsells very well in hot climates — Mediterranean countries, Southeast Asia, Brazil, and Australia. Light, breathable fabrics are not just preferred, they’re needed.

Wool and layered knitwearare strong sellers in Scandinavia, the UK, Canada, and Northern Europe during most of the year. Chunky knit sweaters, wool hats, and fleece-lined products move well.

Modest fashion— loose-fitting tops, long skirts, wide-leg trousers — is growing in markets across the Middle East, Southeast Asia (especially Indonesia and Malaysia), and increasingly in Western countries too.

Streetwear and oversized fitsare consistently popular in South Korea, Japan, the US, and among younger audiences in almost every country.

Formal and business clothingstill sells well in countries with strong office culture — Germany, Japan, the UK, and the US. Blazers, dress shirts, and formal trousers are stable products internationally.

If you already sell clothing, you probably have products that would be perfect for customers in 5-10 different countries. The only thing stopping those customers from buying is that they can’t read your website.

You also need to ship there

Translating your shop is a big step, but it’s not the only step. If someone from Poland wants to buy your handmade candles, they need to actually receive them.

The good news is that global shipping is very accessible right now. Services likeDHL Express, FedEx International, andUPS Worldwidecan be connected directly to most e-commerce platforms — Shopify, WooCommerce, and others have direct integrations. There are also carriers likeEasyshiporSendcloudthat aggregate multiple shipping options and let you offer competitive rates to different countries automatically.

If you haven’t set up international shipping yet, this is worth doing before or at the same time as translating your shop. There’s no point showing someone a product they can’t receive.

The SEO bonus you didn’t expect

Here’s something most shop owners don’t realize. When someone visits your shop and actually reads through pages because they understand the language, they spend more time on the site. They visit the about page, the product pages, the FAQ. They don’t bounce immediately.

Google notices this. Time on site, pages per session, and bounce rate are all signals that Google uses to understand whether a website is valuable. When international visitors actually engage with your content — because it’s in their language — your overall site metrics improve. This can lead to higher rankings, not just for international searches but sometimes for your main market too.

And there’s more. A properly implemented multilingual setup addshreflang tagsto your website. These tell Google which language version of a page to show to which users. Without hreflangs, Google might show your English page to someone searching in French. With hreflangs, Google routes users to the right version. This directly increases the chance of ranking in foreign language searches.

How translate.js can help your shop reach international customers

This is whereTranslate.jscomes in. It’s a tool built specifically to add multilingual support to websites and online shops without needing a developer or a full rebuild.

You add one line of code to your website (or install the WordPress plugin), choose which languages you want to support, and the tool handles the rest. Translations are applied automatically, but you can also edit them manually if the automatic version doesn’t match your brand voice for a specific product.

The SEO side is handled automatically too — hreflang tags, translated meta titles, meta descriptions, and canonical tags are all updated correctly. This means Google can properly index your shop in multiple languages, which means you can actually start ranking in other countries.

The customers are already out there, searching for what you sell. Some of them have already found your shop and left because they couldn’t understand it. Translating your shop is one of the few changes you can make that costs very little but opens your business to an entirely different group of buyers who were already interested.