I am currently analysing an ecommerce site specialised in Catering in Poland. I am thinking about suggesting sales department changing the payment format from PLN to EUR, but I am wondering how is the users perspective on that?
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1Curious: Why would you want to display in EUR? If their local currency is not EUR, making them convert is just confusing. Not to mention that, in some countries, it could be illegal to display prices in anything but the local currency (e.g. in Germany, you must display in EUR and tax must already be included when selling to end users -- it's different for business-to-business sales)– uliwitnessAug 2, 2013 at 18:15
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(I'm simplifying a little -- the internet being international, there are rules what constitutes a web site that targets Germans and what isn't, and only the former has to adhere to this rule)– uliwitnessAug 2, 2013 at 18:16
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They don’t view. Poland doesn’t exist.– kinokijufAug 6, 2013 at 15:46
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Thank you for all the replies. What I want to check, above all, is the perception of the price itself. Polish users are somehow used to operate in euros, which is why I thought that 100 EUR would be seen as more ¨affordable¨ than 420 PLN, even if the local currency would be displayed above.– NatáliaAug 27, 2013 at 10:08
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@Natália No, they’re not. I speak from my own experience.– kinokijufOct 15, 2013 at 21:00
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4 Answers
You could consider displaying both currencies, like in my example below. This way you won't confuse your customers.
On the check-out page you could the exact same thing with the round up of total costs displaying in both Zloty and Euro.
Another option is to let users choose their currency. Large international ecommerce websites do the same thing.
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1Be sure to clear this with your lawyer. If you specify a price in two different currencies and the currencies drift apart, the user is otherwise guaranteed to get whatever price they prefer. So if your company calculates in EUR, you should show e.g. "100 EUR" in big, and something like "about 420 zl" to make it clear they pay the current exchange rate. Aug 2, 2013 at 14:52
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Uliwitness, you are right. Since exchange rates keep changing, it's better to add such a note. I will update the example.– JeroenemAug 2, 2013 at 15:03
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Yeah ± is a bad choice. Just drop the symbol, or use a tilde character (~ 100 EUR) to indicate "about". The above screen shot tells the user that it'll be between 0 and 840 zl. Aug 2, 2013 at 18:12
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You could add
Currently XXX EURunderneath to show it could change. Aug 5, 2013 at 8:33
I will first talk to some real end users and see what their preference is. Or if there is a way you can check which currency they paid in recent past, you can understand which currency end users are most comfortable with. It's always better to test than assume.
Having said that if you find users generally want to see Euro as well as PLN, I suggest you have a global option to switch currency. Just like the country selector you already have there up top. This way a user can switch to their preferred currency. Then you can use a cookie to set users preferred currency when they return to the site. But make sure you still have the currency switch visible.
An alternative is to show the amount in PLN on hover over. But this option you need to make sure most users prefer Euro and only minor percentage of users require amount in PLN.
I’d do the user research first and find end user preference.
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Do you mean "I would first talk to some real users"? Or do you actually mean you're going out and doing an end-user-usability study? Are you a colleague of user33264? Aug 2, 2013 at 18:18
User preferences aside, since Poland does not use EUR as their official currency it would be no good idea restricting all prices to a foreign currency. If you considing using EUR values to make it easier for travelling or international users (like a customer that would like to host an event in Poland, without actually being from there), I suggest to offer a global currency switcher on the website.
Show prices in: EUR
/ POL
Put the switcher somewhere in the site's header to allow the user to change and check the setting anytime. Not to be forgotten that the website might get more international reception.
I would suggest not to change it at the moment. Poland are still using Polish Zloty, and it will be confusing for a regular person that has Zloty in his bank account to see Euro.
The exchange rate is 1:4.20 so every time a person buys something they have to multiply the Euro balance by Zloty.
The idea is to make it easier for your client not harder.
Another way is to display both, thats what they do in high end shops.
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