Translations are becoming increasingly important, especially in the e-commerce sector. Sure: If you have a physical store somewhere in Germany, then your price tags and other texts in the store will most likely be in German. Tourist hotspots such as Berlin or border areas may then still have English or the respective language of the neighboring country on the program – but that’s about it.

However, thanks to globalization and the Internet, you can now sell your products anywhere in the world. However, so that people from Japan, Brazil or South Africa can also find the right product in your shop, you should do an online shop translation and the respective language. A good start – as it is internationally understandable – is at least a translation into English.

Why online shops should be translated

Suppose you have a thriving watch hands webshop. Professionals as well as hobby watch hobbyists are happy to come to you to order exclusive models in all materials, colors and shapes. You have also summarized exciting background information in a blog and, of course, numerous texts on frequently asked questions, legal matters (data protection conditions, terms and conditions, etc.) and category texts, which rank very highly on Google thanks to SEO.

Now you no longer only have customers from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, but also increasingly international customers who appreciate your expertise and unique selection. So the potential is there. The analysis shows that, in addition to French and Americans, an improbable number of South Koreans and Brazilians access your website

These reasons speak for a translation of the online shop

Of course, you shouldn’t be making every language and every dialect on the planet available as a translation in your online shop. Maybe English is already enough for you as a translation in e-commerce. In order to find out whether and which language would be helpful for your company, a precise target group analysis is a good idea: Where do your customers come from, what language(s) do they speak? For example, if you sell accessories for a certain car brand and have many customers from Russia, then a Russian language version of your online shop is a good idea.

You get these advantages with an online shop translation:

• More potential customers of each language
• Customers have more trust in you because they “feel understood”
• Increased sales

Online shops in different languages ​​vs. online shops in different languages

Admittedly, the title of this paragraph is a little awkward. But it quickly becomes clear what is at stake: you have to ask yourself whether you want to offer an online shop in several languages ​​or whether it is better to have different online shops in one language each. The products (or services) specified here are decisive for an online shop translation. If you want to sell the same product all over the world, different language versions of the shop are sufficient (with possibly adapted payment and shipping options, as well as general terms and conditions). However, if you also have other products depending on the country/continent/cultural area, then it probably makes more sense to create different online shops in different languages ​​from the outset. By the way: A combination is also conceivable.

Various systems ensure optimal translation

There are numerous ways to translate online shops. It is often decisive whether you have a shop specially programmed for you (rather rare and then only in large companies) or a modular system. For the latter, we briefly present the two most common variants – the Shopify translation and the WooCommerce translation.

Translation at WooCommerce

WooCommerce Multilingual is a plugin for WordPress. We often find it on websites that do not rely solely on their shop. If you think of our watch hand shop, it could be an information portal about watches that primarily provides knowledge, but also sells a little something (watch hands, specialist magazines, etc.). Such websites are often built with WordPress and complemented by WooCommerce . This has the advantage that you can carry out an online shop translation here in exactly the same way as you would with a simple WordPress translation.

The translation of Shopify

Shopify is a modular system that works in a similar way to WordPress. You have an account there, a so-called theme (basic structure/design of your online shop) and can then create individual items (product images, product descriptions, stock levels and options). If the theme supports multilingualism in your web shop, you can add new languages ​​in the settings area with just a few clicks. Shopify then assists you with the translation by showing you the content to be translated and allowing you to edit it in turn. You also have the option of integrating multilingual CSV files – which you have received from a no.1 translation agency in UK, for example – into Shopify.

What about SEO in online shop translation?

When it comes to SEO – i.e. optimizing your own website for search engines – the start page, blog texts, FAQs, guides and many other informative sub-pages of your website play a more important role than the shop. But you can’t get around it. Because your products and services should also be found by Google & Co and placed as high as possible. Therefore, you should not only pay attention to a linguistically correct translation of product descriptions, but also to relevant keywords.

There was something else after all – language in customer contact

That’s right – the customer service! Many shop operators have excellent translations of their products and shops made on the Internet. Then the products can sold not only in English-speaking countries, but also in France, Italy, Poland and so on. The customers there order and pay with just a few clicks and the sellers ship their goods. So far so good. But what if a customer has a question or a complaint? In which language does the communication take place? So keep in mind that you can also cover the respective languages, at least for answering e-mails. Ideally also for customer chats or other contact and service offers. Because the communication beyond the ordering process should also be considered in the concept of an online shop translation.

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