Localising a WordPress webshop

Localising a WordPress webshop is more than translating strings. The checkout, the legal text and the payment methods all have to fit the market.

Translation is the smallest part

Interface strings are the easy layer. What decides whether a localised store feels native is the checkout flow, the payment methods offered by default, the address format, the returns policy and the tone of the transactional emails.

What to localise

• Checkout field order and address format
• Payment methods offered by default in that market
• VAT treatment and display of prices including tax
• Legal pages: terms, privacy, returns, cookies
• Transactional email wording and sender identity
• Date, currency and number formatting

What to keep shared

Product data, the design system and the analytics taxonomy. Forking those per language produces stores that cannot be compared and a maintenance burden that grows with every market you add.

Review before you launch

Have a native speaker complete a real order in the localised store, including a failed payment and a return. That single exercise finds more problems than reading the translated strings ever will.