How to Build a Multilingual Shopify Store: Step-by-Step Guide

8 minutes read
How to Build Multilingual Shopify Store- Step-By-Step Guides

As the world becomes more interconnected and globalized, expanding your business to reach customers from different regions and language backgrounds is essential. In the world of e-commerce today, it’s smart to build a multilingual Shopify store to reach more people and make more sales.

Shopify facilitates e-commerce business owners to create a multilingual store. This allows you to expand your business to a global market while providing customers with a localized experience.

In this guide, we will take you through the step-by-step process of building a multilingual Shopify store.

A. What is a Multilingual Shopify Store?

A multilingual Shopify store is an online store available in more than one language. This means that customers from different countries and language backgrounds can easily access and navigate through the website in their preferred language. Developing a multilingual Shopify store can benefit your business in several ways.

B. How Can You Take Advantage of Shopify’s Multilingual Capabilities?

Multilingual Shopify Store can provide immense benefits to merchants and customers alike, as it can help to increase sales and reach a larger global audience. Multilingual stores can also help to improve the user experience, as customers can shop in their native language. This makes online shopping easier and more enjoyable.

According to Shopify, 73% of shoppers are more likely to buy a product if the information is in their native language. Plus, localized stores can see up to 4X more sales growth. Localizing a store can be a powerful tool for increasing customer engagement and driving sales.

Here are a few advantages of a multilingual Shopify store:

  • Expands your reach to a wider audience, potentially leading to increased sales.
  • Builds trust and credibility with customers by showing that you understand and care about their needs.
  • Improves customer experience by making it easier for customers to navigate and understand your website.
  • Boosts your Local SEO efforts by attracting more organic traffic from different countries.
  • Increases conversions by eliminating language barriers and making customers feel more comfortable with their purchasing decisions.

C. Identifying Your International Target Markets for Successful Expansion

Different countries have varied browsing and purchasing habits. So, it’s important to research and identify the markets that best align with your product or services.

A targeted approach to selling can be much more effective than trying to reach everyone, everywhere. Focusing your efforts on a specific audience or region can help you maximize your resources and increase the chances of successful growth.

D. Setting Up a Multilingual Shopify Store

With a multilingual Shopify store, you can easily reach customers across the world and increase your revenue. We can guide you on how to develop a multilingual Shopify store.

Let’s make the world your marketplace!

Step 1: Log into Your Shopify Account

Before we begin building a multilingual Shopify store, we first need to create a Shopify account or log in to your existing Shopify store.

Once you have successfully logged in, navigate to the Settings section located at the bottom left side of the screen.

Create Shopify Account

Step 2: Create a Market

After logging into your multilingual Shopify store, you need to create a market or a target region where you want to sell your products.

To do this, click on the Markets option located on the left side of the screen. From here, you will be able to add the Market (Country) you wish to sell your products to.

Add A Market

Now, simply enter the market name and select the countries/regions from the list. You can select multiple countries/regions from the list.

Market Name

Additionally, you can define the continent and add multiple countries to it. Defining your market is essential as it will help you tailor your products, pricing, and content to fit the target market’s needs.

Step 3: Set Up Localization for Each Market

A multilingual Shopify store makes it easier to start selling your product in different markets, all you need is to set up basic localization features for each market. Here, you have three options to represent your website in the market.

a) Domain

Make the market your primary market with the primary domain-only option, assign a custom domain, or set folders with subfolders.

  • Domain: By setting up a multilingual Shopify store you can make a market your primary market by setting up your website on the primary domain.

For example, if you want to sell your product in the US, you can set up your website on the primary domain “myproduct.com”. This means that when visitors from the US visit your website, they will see the website on the main domain without any subfolders or custom domains

  • Custom Domain: You can assign a custom domain to create a more localized experience for visitors from a specific market. Creating a multilingual Shopify store is made easier with custom domains, enabling customers to access the store in their preferred language.

For example, if we want to sell our product in France, you could assign the domain name “myproduct.fr” to create a localized experience for French visitors.

  • Subfolder: You can create subfolders under your primary domain for each language in a specific market.

For example, if you want to sell your products in Spain, you could create a subfolder for the Spanish language with the name”/es”.

This means that when visitors from Spain visit your website, they will see the website on the main domain with “/es” at the end, where “/es” represents the language code for Spanish.

Setting up these basic localization features for each market ensures that visitors from different regions have a localized experience when using your website. Don’t forget to leverage the benefits of Local SEO here.

b) Language

If you have multiple languages enabled in your store’s settings, you can assign individual languages to each of your markets. To do this, simply navigate to the ‘Languages’ page
Add Language

in your multilingual Shopify store.

Once you have added a language, you can use the Shopify Translate & Adapt app to translate your store into that language. This will help ensure that your customers have a smooth and localized shopping experience.

c) Products and Pricing

Managing product pricing is an essential part of running an online store, and it doesn’t have to be complicated. With a multilingual Shopify store platform, you can easily adjust prices for your entire store or individual products.

You can also select the currency for each market. To make price adjustments, simply select the currency dropdown and change the price to your desired amount.

Products and Pricing

Products and Pricing

d) Duties and Import Taxes

You can specify the duties and import taxes for individual markets, provided you meet the eligibility criteria. Multilingual Shopify store offers you greater control over taxes through its features.

Duties and Import Taxes

e) Shipping

You can configure Shipping rates for your markets from the Shipping and Delivery settings. Simply navigate to Settings > Shipping and Delivery to access the list of already configured Shipping rates.

f) Payments

Payments are an essential part of any marketplace, and the multilingual Shopify store provides a range of options for customers in various countries. You can configure the available payment methods for each store to ensure that customers can choose the method that best suits their needs.

Step 4: Launch Your Multilingual Store

Once you’ve set up all the necessary configurations for each market, you’re ready to launch your multilingual Shopify store. Make sure to test your store thoroughly in each language before launching to ensure everything is working properly.

Step 5: Monitor and Optimize Your Multilingual Store

As your store grows it is important to monitor its performance and optimize it for each market. This may involve adjusting your pricing strategy, marketing tactics, and other optimizations to ensure your store is successful in each language market.

Set up Google Analytics 4 to your Shopify store to track and analyze the traffic and performance. Learn how to set up GA4 eCommerce tracking on Shopify.

Keep an eye on sales, customer feedback, and analytics to identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes. Monitor and Optimize Your multilingual Shopify store for optimal performance.

Step 6: Provide Customer Support in Multiple Languages

To provide the best possible experience for your customers, it’s important to offer customer support in the languages you’re targeting. Make sure your customer support team is equipped to handle inquiries in each language and provide timely and helpful support to your customers.

Step 7: Continually Update and Improve Your Multilingual Store

A multilingual Shopify store requires ongoing maintenance and updates to ensure it remains up-to-date and relevant to your customers. Continually review and optimize your store’s content, pricing, and marketing strategies to ensure you’re providing the best possible experience for your customers in each market.

In Conclusion

Creating a multilingual e-commerce store is now simpler than ever! With the multilingual Shopify store, you can access a global or domestic audience without needing any extra plugins. Leverage the features and get started today!

The features included in the platform are designed to help you efficiently reach customers across the world, enabling you to expand your business and tap into new markets. With the right solution, setting up a multilingual store no longer needs to be a daunting task.

At E2M Solutions, we make it easy for our clients to set up a multilingual Shopify store. If you need help with any aspect of the process, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We’d be happy to assist!

  • Prapti Gajjar is a Delivery Head and Partner of the eCommerce Division at E2M. She handles client co-ordinations and manages web development projects from conceptualization to workable solutions. With 11+ years of experience, Prapti specializes in languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and development platforms such as WordPress and Shopify. Her childhood love of drawing and painting inspired her to venture into web designing.