Top BFCM Tips For Multilingual Shopify Stores

Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is without a doubt one of the biggest holidays in the eCommerce calendar. This once all-American shopping event is, however, making its way across the waters to countries all over the world. This presents a tantalizing opportunity for e-merchants that are currently selling in foreign markets as well as those who wish to.

Get ready to find out all the actions you’ll need to take to create a sales-churning multi-language store for BFCM.

BFCM: A Sales-Boosting Opportunity For Multilingual Stores

BFCM is truly going global. Around 50% to 60% of countries participate in BFCM in some shape or form. What’s most interesting, though, is the increasing involvement of consumers from non-English-speaking countries.

Leading countries searching for Black Friday in 2021 (Source: Statista)

In fact, these shoppers are likely to lead the pack when it comes to BFCM spending. A survey by Shopify reveals that 86% of Italian consumers and 65% of German shoppers plan to participate in the BFCM shopping frenzy. This is pretty impressive considering that American participation sits at 67%.

BFCM sales on Shopify in 2021 (Source: Shopify)

Moreover, participation from foreign consumers is on the rise whereas, in the US, it seems to be stagnating. This means the most successful stores during BFCM will be the ones that make it easy for consumers from all over the world to shop. Additionally, as BFCM searches from non-English countries are on the rise, stores with a solid international SEO strategy will prosper.

International eCommerce merchants will have a real leg-up this holiday season thanks to the evolving shopping habits of consumers. That being said, accommodating customers from varying countries with multiple languages is no easy task. To help take out the pain of this, we’ve compiled some helpful tips to get your multilingual Shopify store ready for BFCM.

Best Practices For Multilingual Shopify Stores During Holiday Season

Translate every inch of your store with Langify

The most crucial thing you’ll need to do is translate your entire Shopify store. A huge turn-off for international customers is the inability to shop and see content in their native language.

(Source: CSA Research)

It’s simply not enough to just translate navigation and product details. Consumers also want to be able to read other purchase-decision-making content, such as product reviews.

The easiest path to translating your Shopify store into multiple languages is with the help of a translation app. This is where Langify comes in.

What is Langify and how can it help my multi-language store?

Renowned for its quality service, Langify is a great option for international eCommerce stores. This powerful app will translate your entire store in an instant. This includes the homepage, products, collections, notifications, checkout, cart, and navigation.

What's more, the app integrates with review apps like Judge.me so no stone is left unturned when you use it.

Choose from a whole host of languages in Langify

The app can be used to automatically translate stores into up to 20 languages including German, French, Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic. If you’d rather use your own translations, you can import them as a CSV or PO file right within the app.

On top of translating your entire store, Langify also works its magic on your international SEO.

The app converts your meta title and meta description into your chosen languages and gives each foreign iteration of your store a country-specific domain. Moreover, Langify makes use of hreflang tags. This enables search engines to know a specific language is being used so the relevant international version of your store surfaces in searches.

All of this lends a hand to making your store more discoverable in multiple languages.

You can also rest assured that visitors from across the world will be able to shop in your store in their native language. Another handy feature of Langify is its ability to pick up where a shopper is visiting from and redirect them to their native language store.

Allow shoppers to search in their native language

Another must-do for your multi-language store is to make sure visitors can perform search actions in their language. This includes the search bar, the search results, and the filtering options.

Visitors to your site should be able to type search queries in their home language, surf relevant results in their mother tongue, and have filter and search options translated. This will ensure a smooth customer experience and help make your products easy to navigate through.

You’ll be pleased to know that Boost Product Filter & Search integrates with Langify. This alliance will help you unlock the ability to translate your filter trees and products into preferable languages.

In addition to allowing shoppers to input search terms in their language, your search function also needs to be privy to localized differences between English-speaking countries. For instance, where Americans will search for pants, Brits will search for trousers. In fact, when Brits search for pants they’re actually looking for underwear!

Considering that 43% of visitors to retail sites start at the search bar, having a localized strategy for search is crucial. Moreover, you’ll find yourself in a much better position to increase conversions by as much as 70%.

Adapt your visuals for each market

Translation is so much more than adapting your written content. The imagery you use as part of your BFCM promotion also needs attention.

The imagery you use should reflect an understanding of the country’s values, culture, and identity. For example, collectivist countries such as China will resonate more with images of people in groups. Conversely, individualistic cultures such as the US will connect more with images of a singular person.

The Nike homepages in China (left) and the US (right) take into account cultural differences.

You should also look into the types of imagery that may be culturally inappropriate. As a general rule of thumb, steer clear of religious iconography and anything that may be viewed as controversial.

Another point to note is that your customers will connect better with your products and deals if they can see people that look like them. This enables them to have a more personal context of your products and gives the impression that they were made with them in mind.

Colors can also carry some significant meanings in certain cultures. Red, for example, represents luck and happiness in most Asian cultures. However, in some African countries, it’s a symbol of grief.

In the US (left) the red represents the festive season. Nike seldom use red in their Egyptian store (left) as the color represents it can have negative connotations.

These nuances are something you need to pay attention to if you want to foster positive associations with your brand. Blue is a good color of choice as it generally has a positive association across the world.

Now, let’s move on to the text on your BFCM images. These, of course, will need to be translated too with Langify. The app can also translate the alt-text so your visuals will surface in local searches.

Aside from the wording on your images, the date format will also need to be adjusted if you’re including this in your BFCM visuals. Some countries put the month first whilst others expect to see the month second. Do some research into the date conventions used for each of the countries you’ll be selling in to avoid major confusion from your customers.

Localize your marketing strategy

It’s not going to be one-size-fits-all when it comes to your BFCM marketing strategy. The preferred and most impactful methods of communication will vary from country to country. This is especially true when it comes to social media.

(Source: Vincos)

Make sure you reach out to your potential customers about your BFCM sale on their most active platform. It’s also a good idea to dig into the social media trends making waves in the countries you want to sell in. See if there’s a way to incorporate them into your BFCM campaign, and make sure your hashtags and post text are in the local languages.

It’s also best to have your social media ads translated into the local language as it can boost your conversions by 20%.

Finally, use the localized images we spoke about earlier in all of your communications via email and social media.

Include multiple currencies and payment methods

Giving visitors to your store the ability to see their home currency from the get-go is another step on the road to success. With 76% of cross-border shoppers actively seeking out sites that price products in their local currency, it’s an opportunity you can’t afford to miss.

Wildbounds uses Langify’s currency switcher to display product prices in varying currencies

Local currencies need to be visible from your homepage all the way through to checkout. Langify comes with a currency switcher that will automatically price your products in foreign currencies. Once a shopper lands on the checkout page, they’ll see everything priced in their home currency.

Alternatively, you can use Langify to implement Shopify currencies in one click. This is a great option should you prefer to set rounding rules or product prices for countries and regions.

But you shouldn’t stop there. Aside from providing multiple currencies, you also need to be attuned to how international customers will prefer to pay. Simply offering debit and credit card options will set you back greatly.

In Europe, there’s a growing appetite for alternative payment methods. The Dutch prefer to use iDEAL, and Klarna is gaining major traction in the UK, Sweden, and Germany. Step out of the western world, digital wallets such as AliPay in China are the norm.

You don’t want to lose your customers at the final hurdle, so be sure to mix up your payment options in line with their preferences.

Be clear about shipping every step of the way

Major concerns that international holiday shoppers are sure to have are delivery times and shipping costs. Remember, the items they’re purchasing are either a gift for the giving season or something they want to use during the holidays. Hence, they're pretty time-sensitive, and there’s likely to be extra caution taken from them.

To combat this, be crystal clear about expected delivery times and the cost of delivery at the first opportunity you have. Create a dedicated page that outlines this and the returns policy for each region you plan to sell in. It’s a good idea to add a link to it in a promotions banner at the top of your homepage. Don’t forget to have this page translated.

Clicking on the promotion's banner about free delivery directs customers to the Delivery and Returns page. Mavi separates this information by region.

You should also look into the possibility of providing local delivery options. This will not only drive down delivery times, but also delivery costs which is a win for you and your customers. Reach out to regional delivery companies to strike up a deal to work with them. If you have regional warehouses, consider providing local pick-up options in those areas.

Allowing foreign shoppers to track their delivery will also alleviate these worries and loosen frustration. When selecting your couriers, scout out the ones that have tracking in the local language included.

Make Big BFCM Gains With Your Multi-Language Shopify Store

Maintaining a multi-language store takes a lot of work, but the payoff is great. The readiness for shoppers to reach beyond their borders during the holiday season makes BFCM an exciting time for international e-merchants.

The number one thing you need to do to prepare your multilingual store for this event is top-to-bottom translation. Langify is one of the best tools you can get to help you do precisely that. Plus, with the help of Boost, your store will be in top shape for cross-border shoppers.

Equip your store with these trailblazing technologies for a fraction of the price as part of our BFCM deal.