31: Beyond Checkout: How Localization Drives Global e-Commerce Growth with ESW

Michael Hubacher: 00:00:00

So over the last 16 years or so, what we've done is we've built a collection or a suite of solutions and services that essentially simplify the complexities of cross-border e-commerce.

Intro: 00:00:12

Step into the future with shipping smart. Outside the box is where the journey starts. From borders to buyers, we break it down fast. Nick and Jason deliver knowledge that lasts.

Insight, innovation. Wherever your brand goes, we'll guide your growth so your global reach flows. Tune in, lean in. Let's unlock the way.

Go outside the box with Asendia USA.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:32

A podcast. Live from Manifest: 2026

Jason Rowland: 00:00:39

Hey, everybody, welcome back.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:40

We have a very special guest today, Mike. I feel like I'm going to say your last name wrong, but here we go.

Michael Hubacher: 00:00:45

Hubacher.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:45

Hubacher.

Jason Rowland: 00:00:46

Got it.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:46

Okay.

Jason Rowland: 00:00:47

Would have got that wrong. Thank you.

Nick Agnetti: 00:00:49

Good job. Senior Director of Sales, ESW. So we're going to talk right now about, let's see, shopper experience going global and the importance of localization.

All right, this is powerful and heavy stuff. So, Mike, big stuff, introduce yourself, Please tell everybody who you are a little bit about ESW and your focus at ESW.

Michael Hubacher: 00:01:10

Yeah. So, Mike Blacker, first of all, thanks for having us here. Excited to be in Vegas. Right.

I'm on the sales side here at ESW, so my focus is looking at strictly new business almost, driving those conversations, bringing those into the business, and then hopefully bringing on new customers when the opportunity is right. So a little bit about ESW and what we do. ESW is a cross-border e-commerce solution.

We've been around since: 2010

Jason Rowland: 00:02:14

That's great.

Nick Agnetti: 00:02:15

You mentioned risks. Yeah, just get into it. What risks would a brand take by going, or at least do they assume they're taking by going cross-border?

Michael Hubacher: 00:02:23

Yeah, it's a great question. So there's a couple of risks there.

You know, I would say, you know, first and foremost, you know, we act as a merchant of record, so we eliminate the risk of, you know, fraud in that element. So that lives with us. So as a brand, you don't have to worry about those concerns. That can be very costly, obviously, for a brand.

Nick Agnetti: 00:02:42

Sure.

Michael Hubacher: 00:02:43

But then that also Ties to, as you mentioned in the beginning, localization. Right. So we bring in all those localized payment methods, currencies, languages. So it all kind of ties together.

I think the other element of risk is the risk of not growing. I think one of the biggest challenges is.

Jason Rowland: 00:03:02

I like that.

Michael Hubacher: 00:03:03

Yeah, right. I mean, that is a risk.

Nick Agnetti: 00:03:04

That is a risk.

Michael Hubacher: 00:03:06

We're all under pressure as brands and retailers to grow and find new areas of growth. And so a lot of conversations we have where brands try to do it on their own, they find that actually it's having the reverse effect.

Costs are going up, they're not growing their customer base as fast as they'd like to. So they need support, they need help to do that. And that's where we specialize. So we step in.

Nick Agnetti: 00:03:31

Love it.

Jason Rowland: 00:03:31

Okay, that's great. So a little bit. Before we get a little bit more further into it, can we explain a little bit about the relationship between ESW and Asendia?

Because in a lot of ways, we are two sides of the same coin.

Michael Hubacher: 00:03:41

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we're a wholly owned subsidiary of Asendia.

I think what's magic about this relationship is the way I think about it is we're basically the tech arm of a premium logistics company. So we work really in symmetry in that way. And so I think it's a beautiful relationship.

Nick Agnetti: 00:04:05

Love it. I'm going to tech arm of a premium logistics company. That's smooth. That is smooth. You must be in sales.

Michael Hubacher: 00:04:12

I must be. I must be.

Nick Agnetti: 00:04:14

I love it. All right, so let's talk about the global e commerce space today. So there's several companies helping brands with duty and tax calculation.

You know, many at this show today when it comes to duty tax calculations and remittance, and even some of them taking on the role of merchant of record. So how does ESW really set itself apart as an integrated partner in the global e commerce space?

Michael Hubacher: 00:04:37

Yeah, I think it's a great question. I would say that certainly the checkout merchant of record is one element, one piece.

I think one of our strengths as a business and what we've done, just the expertise that we have over the last 16 years is we've built this sort of collection of solutions and services that mirror the entire purchase journey of an international customer.

So everything from customer acquisition, obviously, which flows then down to checkout localization, all the way through, you know, supply chain and logistics, and then into post purchase, like branded tracking, proactive communication on where a package is at any given point, all the way down to a branded returns portal, which Drives customer lifetime value and has incremental impact on revenue. So we really cater to the entire customer journey, if you will, rather than just a singular area.

But certainly tariff mitigation, our merchant of record framework. This is definitely an area for us that, that sets us apart from, from our competitors.

Jason Rowland: 00:05:48

Yeah. And that, that's fantastic.

And one of the things you mentioned a little bit earlier about growth and it kind of, kind of brings back that like Ricky Bobby thought to my head of you're not first, you're last. Right. So if you're not growing, you're shrinking. So how do you, how does ESW help those brands grow?

Nick Agnetti: 00:06:03

Right. How does that happen if you ain't first, you're last.

Michael Hubacher: 00:06:06

Okay, that's exactly. It's an excellent question.

And I talk about market share all the time in cause because that's obviously the way they think about their business, right. Is looking at market share and how do we gain more market share to market at a market level.

But I would say that the biggest strengths that we have in assisting growth is around our strategic support that we bring to our customers. Again, tying in that expertise that we have for so many years.

Our strategic customer success team is so knowledgeable and they bring all of this incredible opportunities that they see see across the collection of our customers, obviously in an anonymized way, of course.

But there may be opportunities in markets, you know, emerging markets where a brand should maybe invest a little bit more in marketing because we're seeing high ROAS coming out of a particular channel. Right. We'll bring those insights as recommendations for that particular vertical. So just as a quick example.

So a lot of these elements on the strategic side we bring to our brands and our brands and retailers love those kind of insights because they're not in it day to day like we are.

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:22

So when you talk about an insight, you know, just in being in the cross-border space, so you know that there may be a massive shopping day in let's say Australia that we certainly don't have here in the United States. Right. It's kind of like I don't know if the whole world celebrates Christmas in July, but I would assume no. So, you know, something like that.

I would assume.

Michael Hubacher: 00:07:42

How can that be?

Nick Agnetti: 00:07:43

It's America. You know, we do what we want. But you know, is that kind of what you're absolutely.

Michael Hubacher: 00:07:50

100%. You know, we know the different. I mean we have a team that specializes.

It's our marketing services arm that you know, brands can, you know, we have different levels that the brands can Utilize that team. But that's exactly the type of insights that we can bring. And obviously you're going to drive huge results.

And I think a lot of that is understanding our customers and knowing where budgets are at the time.

So we sure the more knowledge we have and where that customer is at that point, based on what we know, we can then bring the right recommendations forward.

And that's what we work really, really hard to do, is we want to be that extension of your team and understand what are those gaps, those challenges, those opportunities and then we'll bring forth some proactively, some ideas to help find unlock opportunities.

Jason Rowland: 00:08:40

Yeah, so a lot of that for helping your customers is helping them grab a bigger portion of that market. So with so many brands out there and what's becoming a more saturated environment for you?

Like are there other things in the domestic market that you're doing to set yourself apart?

Michael Hubacher: 00:08:59

That's a great question.

You know, I think what we're seeing if we look at, if we look at cross-border global e-commerce, we're seeing that the rise in cross-border e-commerce is about twice as fast right now than domestic. So about 55%. That's what I like to hear. Right.

So about 55% of all online shoppers globally have purchased cross-border, which leaves 45% of those shoppers out there waiting to make their first purchase. And so I guess to your question on the domestic side, we try to take the learnings and apply that to an international customer.

And through our solution, it doesn't have to be so complicated. We can simplify the entire process so that what's working well for you domestically can also work for you internationally.

And let's just apply it and then we provide the framework and able to do that.

Jason Rowland: 00:09:58

Interesting.

Nick Agnetti: 00:09:59

Okay, so I want to transition though over the importance of the language or site translation.

Michael Hubacher: 00:10:05

Yeah.

Nick Agnetti: 00:10:06

So Based on research ESW's done and several clients have helped. How does real time site translation impact brands looking to expand their global customer base?

Michael Hubacher: 00:10:16

Yeah, it's a great question. So certainly when we talk about translation, that's one element of localization. Localization, Right.

Nick Agnetti: 00:10:22

Okay.

Michael Hubacher: 00:10:22

Localization of currency, obviously tying in, you know, full transparency on pricing with duties and tariffs and then also obviously languages, which is a big piece.

So language translation, you know, we see typically that our customers, once they fully localize the site, they see it an increase of about 40% when it comes to conversions, which is a big difference.

Jason Rowland: 00:10:46

Homegrown technology.

Nick Agnetti: 00:10:48

Yeah. So we're talking if, you know, if you have 100,000 inbound, monthly, you know, visitors from India, whatever.

By localizing specific to that market, you could be looking at capturing 40,000.

Michael Hubacher: 00:11:04

Correct. And that's. And that's tying in also localization of payment methods.

Nick Agnetti: 00:11:09

That's a huge number.

Michael Hubacher: 00:11:10

But the language is a huge element. And the piece that I find very interesting is language specific. We're finding that 30% more time on site is also one of those results.

Just because you have customers who are more engaged with your brand because it's in their local language, versus, like, just trying to pick through based on just, you know, some words that they understand in English.

And then the other piece I would say is there's a huge impact in lowering card abandonment rates when you're localized with the right language, because there's a lot of confusion at that checkout point if you don't fully understand. So either someone says, you know what, I'll come back to this, or I'll get someone who can help me with English.

So there's certainly an impact on card abandonment rates as well.

Jason Rowland: 00:12:02

Okay. All right. Yeah. And so much of what we do relies on timing.

Nick Agnetti: 00:12:07

Right.

Jason Rowland: 00:12:08

The right time, the right product at the right time can make all the difference. So what are some things that makes an ESW perfect client, and at what point of their growth and their life cycle is the best time for them to engage?

Michael Hubacher: 00:12:21

Yeah, that's a great question. So, you know, we work with some of the largest brands in the world that you think they've. They're set up and they're. They're.

They can tackle any market.

There's always markets that, you know, they can use some support in, and maybe they don't have an entity in that particular market, or they just don't have the expertise there and they need help entering the market. So we work with some of the largest brands to do that, but then we also work with some of the, you know, the startup brands, fast growing.

We love working with brands that are committed to growing internationally, so they have some marketing dollars behind it. There's an effort to it. You know, size then for us is, you know, we're willing to talk to anybody if you have that commitment.

We love partnering with brands that are excited to grow around the globe.

Nick Agnetti: 00:13:10

All right, I love it. So that's. You know what? I think we covered a ton. Jason, do you have anything else that you want to.

Jason Rowland: 00:13:15

Oh, I think as the partnership between ESW and Asendia continues to grow and flourish, I think, you know, it's wonderful, and thanks for taking the time to sit with us today. Michael, it's been great. Thank you for producing ESW to the world.

Michael Hubacher: 00:13:30

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Nick Agnetti: 00:13:31

Thanks so much, Mike. All right, thank you guys for joining outside the box of Cindy USA Podcast.

Outro: 00:13:37

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