What you will learn
- How catalogue translation differs from website translation
- What must never be translated: prices, SKUs, and variant data
- How checkout and legal text need market-by-market handling
- Which product fields change by market and which stay shared
- How to publish translations without breaking a live store
What this project is
A store catalogue is not a set of pages; it is a database of products, variants, options, descriptions, and media, and each piece has a different translation rule. Product descriptions and marketing copy get translated and adapted per market. Prices, SKUs, stock counts, and variant codes must never be translated, only displayed in the right currency and format. Product images may need market versions too, when packaging, models, or text inside the image differ by country. A localization tool that treats a catalogue like a blog will eventually translate a SKU or publish a product with the wrong variant options, and the error will surface at checkout.
Publishing is the second half of the problem. Translations arrive in batches, products go in and out of stock, and prices change, so the tool needs a publish state per product and per language: draft, translated, reviewed, and live. A product should go live in a language only when its description, options, images, and checkout text are all ready in that language. Partial publishing creates stores where a customer can browse in French, add to cart in English, and hit an error message in a third language, which reads as a broken store rather than a translated one.
Core features
Build the catalogue model first: which fields translate, which stay shared, and which change per market. Everything else depends on that model being right.
- Catalogue field mapping that separates translatable text from prices, SKUs, and stock data
- Translation memory and glossaries tuned to product names and category terms
- Per-product, per-language publish states from draft to live
- Variant and option handling so size, colour, and bundle options stay correct in each language
- Currency, number, and date formatting per market, applied at display time
- Checkout, shipping, and returns text managed per market with legal review states
- Bulk import and export for catalogues with thousands of products
How it is built
Start with one store platform and one market, prove that a product can move from draft translation to live sale without data errors, then add platforms and markets.
- Map the catalogue model and connect the first store platform
- Build translation workflows for product fields with memory and glossary support
- Add per-language publish states and a pre-publish completeness check
- Add checkout and legal text handling per market
- Add bulk operations, reporting, and additional store platforms
Tech considerations
Catalogue data is messy: missing descriptions, inconsistent options, images with embedded text, and third-party feeds that change without warning. The tool has to handle incomplete data gracefully and stop a bad publish, rather than publish first and explain later.
- Catalogue feeds with missing, duplicate, or inconsistent product data
- Variant options whose translations do not match the available stock combinations
- Images containing text that needs a market version or a text-free alternative
- Legal and tax text that differs by market and cannot be translated generically
- Performance on catalogues with tens of thousands of products and many languages
- Store platform limits on how translations are stored and published
Challenges and honest limits
The failure to prevent is a live product page that looks translated but sells wrong: a price in the wrong currency, a size option that does not exist, or a checkout step in the wrong language. A completeness check before publishing, covering description, options, images, and checkout text per language, is not bureaucratic overhead; it is the control that keeps a translated store trustworthy.
- Product pages published with untranslated options or checkout text
- Prices or SKUs altered during translation or import
- Marketing copy translated without adapting measurements, sizes, or local terms
- New products published in the default language only, leaving other markets stale
An ecommerce localization tool does not set prices, taxes, or shipping rules, and it cannot fix a catalogue whose source data is already inconsistent. It translates and publishes what the store gives it, so source catalogue quality and market legal review remain separate responsibilities. Confirm platform and market scope with a quote for your catalogue size.
Who it is for
This project fits stores selling in several markets, marketplace sellers with large catalogues, and agencies that manage store localization for multiple brands.
It is not a good fit for a small store with a handful of products in one extra language. A translator working directly in the store admin will finish that job faster than setting up a dedicated tool.
Frequently asked questions
What should never be translated in a catalogue?
Prices, SKUs, stock counts, and variant codes are data, not text. They should be displayed in the right currency and format per market, but never translated as words.
Why do product pages need a publish state per language?
A product is only ready in a language when its description, options, images, and checkout text are all ready in that language. Publishing without that check creates mixed-language pages that lose sales.
How are measurements and sizes handled?
Measurements, sizes, and local terms are adapted per market, not translated word for word. A size system or unit that differs by country needs a market rule, not a dictionary entry.
Can machine translation handle a catalogue?
It can draft descriptions, but product names, options, and legal text need human review, and brand terms need a glossary. Unreviewed catalogue drafts create the errors customers notice first.
What happens when a product changes?
The tool should flag the changed fields for re-translation in each language, so an updated product does not keep selling with an outdated description in one market.