Amazon.com is releasing out a Spanish language option

The first time it has offered a language other than English

In the 20 plus years since it launched, Amazon.com has been available in just one language: English. But over the next few weeks, the US site is rolling out the option to switch everything, including listings, into Spanish.

Changing from English is simply a matter of accessing the language drop-down menu near the “Accounts & Lists” option. As noted by CNET, it’s a feature that's likely to be appreciated by many in the US – the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world – which at last count had 41 million native Spanish speakers and 11.6 million bilingual Spanish speakers.

"Customers will be able to shop, browse and search for millions of products, view their shopping cart, and place orders in Spanish on Amazon.com and through the Amazon Mobile Shopping app," a spokeswoman said in a statement.

There are localized versions of Amazon in many countries around the world, including Spanish-speaking areas such as Mexico (Amazon.com.mx) and Spain (Amazon.es), but this marks the first time that Amazon.com will be available in anything other than English.

The move is part of Amazon’s strategy to attract more Spanish-speaking users to its platform. On Tuesday, the retail giant launched its popular Prime membership service in Mexico, giving customers benefits such as free shipping for $46 per year.

Offering a Spanish option to Amazon.com customers doesn’t come as much of a surprise. The Guardianreports that when it comes to native Spanish speakers, only Mexico has more (121 million) than the US, which is ahead of Columbia (48 million) and Spain (46 million). The language is also the third most widely used on the internet, though less than 8 percent of traffic is in Spain