
According to a 2025 DHL study, 59% of consumers worldwide purchase from retailers outside their home country. This percentage is even higher among shoppers based in the UAE (74%), South Africa (74%), Sweden (71%), and Austria (69%). While giants like Amazon, IKEA, and Adidas dominate global eCommerce, smarter tech and logistics now give small businesses a real shot at going international.
Whether you're an established company or just starting out, you can build a website in multiple languages to enter new markets. This process is quick and easy if you use Wix along with a third-party app like Weglot Translate.
The alternative is to sell on global marketplaces, but the fierce competition and high fees pose significant challenges. Plus, you wouldn’t have full control over your brand.
While a multilingual website doesn’t guarantee success, it can make it easier to reach a global audience and grow your brand. Let's break down the potential benefits and their impact on business success.
Whether or not you should invest in a multilingual website depends on your business goals. A small online store that only sells locally likely doesn’t need one. The same goes for service providers like plumbers, nail technicians, or makeup artists who operate within a specific region.
Generally, any business looking to reach customers across borders can benefit from a multilingual site. Here are a few examples:
Suppose you sell courses on platforms like Teachable or Udemy. It's a good way to build your brand and reach a global audience, but it comes at a cost. These platforms charge a commission on every sale, as well as additional fees that can add up quickly.
Now imagine building a multilingual website with Wix and selling directly to customers. You keep 100% of your revenue and avoid competing with thousands of other creators in the same space.
A multilingual site can also be a valuable asset for online stores. Even if you only ship to a few countries, consumers from abroad are more likely to buy when they can browse in their language.
That’s right. CSA Research found that 40% of consumers would not purchase from websites in a foreign language, while 76% prefer product information in their language.
What if you're a freelance writer, web designer, or social media manager? A multilingual site can help expand your reach and position you for higher-paying opportunities.
Only 49% of the content published online is in English. The remaining 51% is in Spanish, German, Japanese, and other widely spoken languages.
If your website is English-only, you're likely missing out on potential customers and sales.
Someone in Spain or Italy might be interested in your products, but if the content isn’t in their language, they may never discover your brand. And even if they do, they might leave simply because they don’t have the time or patience to translate it themselves.
A multilingual website can also streamline your marketing efforts and support search engine optimization (SEO). Plus, it may improve the user experience, boost customer satisfaction, and reduce support inquiries.
Let’s take a closer look at these benefits—and a few others worth considering.
According to the DHL survey, 35% of global consumers buy from retailers in other countries at least once a month. That number would likely be higher if international brands offered perks like free delivery and returns, buyer protection, and pricing in local currency.
While cost savings are the main driver, shoppers are also drawn to broader product selection and other factors, as shown below:
Per CSA Research, 65% of shoppers prefer content in their language—even if the quality is subpar. 75% say they’re more likely to buy again from a brand that offers customer service in their language.
A multilingual website can help you reach these consumers and boost sales. For example, 60% of buyers prefer goods produced in Europe. If you’re a B2C manufacturer based in Sweden, Norway, or another European country, translating your site into multiple languages could significantly expand your customer base.
Successful companies like Starbucks, Zara, Ben & Jerry’s, Dyson, and Airbnb all started locally before expanding to other countries.
Take Starbucks, for example. Established in 1971, it began as a small coffee shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market, selling coffee beans, spices, and specialty teas. Its global expansion started in the late 1980s and continues to this day.
These brands might never have achieved global recognition if they’d stayed local. By entering new markets, they reached a larger audience, gained visibility, and built lasting legacies.
With a multilingual website, you don’t have to wait decades to expand globally. You can start selling to international customers from day one, laying the groundwork for a strong brand.
Multilingual sites often rank higher in local search results than their single-language counterparts, driving more organic traffic. According to a 2025 Weglot study, translated websites also gain up to 327% more visibility in AI Overviews—further boosting traffic and engagement.
For instance, someone might search for "protein bars" in Spanish. Naturally, search engines like Google prioritize results matching the user’s language. If your multilingual site is properly optimized, its Spanish version could outrank English-only pages for that query.
Making your website available in multiple languages can also enhance the user experience. Since Google’s algorithm rewards pages with strong UX, this can lead to greater visibility and organic traffic.
Approximately 1.3 billion people worldwide live with a disability—that’s 16% of the global population. Depending on what you sell, any of them could be a potential customer. If your website is available in English only, you risk losing their business.
Suppose you run an online store. A Spanish-speaking consumer with a visual impairment discovers your site and uses a screen reader to translate it. If your product descriptions are only in English, their device might mispronounce key details or skip them entirely.
A single-language website limits your reach. Visitors who don’t speak your language, as well as those with mental or physical disabilities, won't stick around if your content takes extra effort to understand. Instead, they'll move on to a competitor that puts accessibility first.
According to CSA Research, 73% of buyers prioritize product reviews in their language. And when it comes to product information, more than 90% of consumers in Taiwan, China, Korea, and Japan say they’d choose the option presented in their native language if given the choice.
Shoppers trust businesses that speak their language—literally. When product information, reviews, and customer support meet this requirement, it signals transparency and respect for cultural differences.
Beyond building trust, a multilingual website allows you to connect with your audience on a more personal level. This aspect alone can drive brand loyalty, repeat purchases, and lasting relationships.
Lumitos, a B2B marketing agency based in Berlin, reported a 22% increase in sales among clients who switched to multilingual websites. Moreover, the number of sales leads grew three- to fivefold with each additional language added to their site.
But that's not all. 66% of B2B consumers and 34% of B2C tend to spend more when product information is presented in their native language, according to a study cited by Lumitos.
One likely reason is trust. Another is that multilingual websites open the door to a larger audience, which often leads to higher engagement and conversion rates.
After analyzing 100 websites, Lumitos found that nearly half were either monolingual or bilingual. Meanwhile, other sources estimate that only 5% of all websites offer multilingual content—though this figure varies by industry.
By setting up a multilingual website, you’ll gain a competitive edge and stand out from the crowd. It’s one of the most effective yet overlooked ways to drive brand awareness and tap into new markets while keeping costs low.
Translating your website sets off a chain reaction: more languages mean higher visibility in local search results, helping you reach customers who might not have discovered your business otherwise.
Increased traffic drives clicks and engagement, which often leads to higher conversions. At the same time, you gain a competitive edge, raise brand awareness, and strengthen your market position.
The best part? You can build a multilingual site in just a few hours using tools like Wix or Weglot. While you may need to hire an SEO expert, the return on investment makes it well worth the effort.
The best way to understand the power of Weglot is to see it for yourself. Test it for free and without any engagement.
A demo website is available in your dashboard if you’re not ready to connect your website yet.