Expect more and more E-commerce companies to launch Indic language interfaces this year. Rakesh Kapoor, MD of Summit Information Technologies, at the #NAMA Indic "Digital Future of Indic Languages" event, said that with most e-commerce purchases coming from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, every e-commerce company wants to go Indic. "They (consumers) want to see descriptions in their own language," Kapoor said. Summit was among the first companies to develop Indic language technologies, in the 1990's, and Kapoor mentioned that activity in the Indic space has picked up over the past year or so, after a long lull. "Apps are launching very, very soon," he said. Snapdeal had launched Hindi and Tamil translated sites earlier this year. Need to close the loop with Indic language advertising Kapoor's point was validated by Lijo Isac, DGM (Product Management & Marketing) at Homeshop18. Isac said that "Publishers have to think at a level above the click-through rates. We (e-commerce companies) are getting traffic but it isn't converting." Homeshop18 advertises in Indic languages, partnering with niche publishers. The clickthrough rates are very high, but "it doesn't convert in the end. The person who clicks on the (Indic) ad and comes to the site, sees it in English. If I put Rs 100 in Google, I have to get Rs 200 back. Online marketing is a profit center." Isac believes that while publishing might be the first phase for (Indic) languages, transacting will be the last phase. Responding to our query on whether there is a…
