Shoppers who speak English as a second language (ESL) face a lot of pain points in the retail sector, whether they’re shopping in-person or online. About three in four people prefer to browse online in their first language, but research suggests that just 5% of websites provide a solid multilingual experience.
That means that better multilingual support capabilities should be a top priority for retailers around the globe. Here’s how AI is helping both e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores create a competitive advantage through a better ESL shopper experience.
Instant Response in Retail
The online retail industry already provides some accommodations to the world of ESL shoppers, thanks to the assistance of Chrome’s and other browsers’ built-in translation services. However, browser-based translators like Google Translate hover between 80 and 90% accuracy. Imagine reading text in which 20% of the words were incorrect. It would get frustrating pretty fast.
Fortunately, there are better options for accurate translation on demand. AI tools in the form of large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Microsoft’s Copilot, and Google’s Gemini all perform better than legacy translation tools like Google Translate. The only trouble is, the LLMs haven’t been integrated widely across browsers and retail websites. So most shoppers are still left to rely on Google Translate or the like, or to manually input text into ChatGPT.
The situation is even worse when it comes to customer support chatbots. Although some retailers have already switched over to multilingual tools like ChatGPT, many others are still relying on old-style bots with very limited, pre-programmed responses exclusively in English. Meanwhile, in-store ESL purchasers have their own problems. Without access to instant translations, things like product descriptions, self-checkout kiosks, and customer service all become more challenging to navigate.
Language barriers are just one of the issues facing foreign shoppers. The other top issue is that time zone differences make live chat with customer support agents entirely unavailable for some demographics. If, for example, a U.S. company mainly has agents available between 9:00 AM and 5:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, those agents won’t be available for many overseas website visitors.
From Chatbots to Avatars
Retailers have already started solving foreign shopper pain points with the help of new chatbots that have integrated AI capabilities, such as those from Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude, Microsoft’s Copilot, or OpenAI’s ChatGPT. These new chatbots are equipped to handle multiple languages: ChatGPT effectively operates in more than 80 languages. Companies can fine-tune versions of these bots to work directly on retail websites and provide 24/7 text translation capabilities while also using AI to answer more nuanced questions than traditional customer service bots.
More recently, AI avatars – artificially generated visual and auditory representations of humans – have begun acting as customer support agents for both in-store kiosks and websites. These avatars are equipped with natural language processing (NLP) software in the form of ChatGPT or other LLMs, but their purpose is to provide an accurately translated auditory and visual experience as opposed to strictly text-based support.
These avatars can guide users through product pages, checkout processes or customer support interactions, eliminating the frustration caused by unclear translations. Some AI avatars can even instantly detect a shopper’s language preferences and switch to it without the need for manual selection.
Plus, AI avatars don’t need to sleep. This resolves the issue of e-commerce buyers being left in the dark when live agents aren’t available due to time zone differences. AI avatars can handle everything from basic queries to complex return issues. This way, if a customer in Australia has a problem during what would be off-hours in the U.S., an AI avatar can handle the issue. If the avatar encounters an especially complex problem, it can escalate the issue and inform the customer of the next steps to make sure that no one is left waiting for answers.
Retailers can even customize AI avatars to reflect regional differences and make the shopping experience feel more personal and tailored. Regionalization includes adapting product recommendations, holiday promotions and marketing messages to align with local customs, currencies and time zones.
AI can track all those cultural nuances and preferences so that retailers can connect better with foreign shoppers and build trust in markets that demand personalized experiences. For example, an AI avatar interacting with a customer in Japan can present gift recommendations during local holidays or special events like Golden Week, while customers in the U.K. could receive suggestions timed for Boxing Day sales.
A Better Experience
Whether it’s translating product descriptions, offering personalized recommendations, or providing live assistance, AI avatars ensure that foreign shoppers can engage with retail websites and in-store brands as easily as native speakers. This will help brands increase their overall customer base and better address existing pain points.
