Language is the visible part, not the hard part
Translating the interface is straightforward and it is a small share of what entering a market requires. The difficult parts are commercial and legal.
Businesses that translate and expect sales are usually disappointed, because the barriers were elsewhere.
Currency and payment
- Pricing in local currency, set deliberately rather than converted daily
- Local payment methods, which vary enormously and materially affect conversion
- Invoice formats meeting local expectations and requirements
- Handling exchange rate movement in your own margin planning
Displaying a converted price that changes weekly reads as unprofessional. Set local prices, review them periodically, and absorb the movement in between.
Tax is where the surprises live
Digital services taxation varies by jurisdiction and frequently requires registration once you exceed thresholds. Getting this wrong accumulates a liability quietly and is expensive to unwind.
Take advice per market before selling into it, and choose a billing provider that handles the tax calculation and evidence requirements for you.
Data residency and legal requirements
Some markets and some customers will require data to stay in a region. If your architecture assumes one region, that is a project rather than a configuration change.
Design for it early even if you do not need it yet: make region a property of a tenant, and you keep the option open cheaply.
Support hours and expectations
A market whose working day does not overlap yours will experience your support as poor, however good it is. Decide in advance: extended hours, a local partner, or clearly stated response times.
Understating this is a common cause of early churn in a new market, and it is entirely predictable.
Enter one market properly
- Pick the market with the clearest existing demand — check where your traffic and enquiries already come from
- Do currency, tax, payment and support properly for that one
- Measure for two quarters before adding another
- Then repeat, using what you learned