With eCom (E-Series) Instant Site, you can create a multilingual site without hiring a developer. The layout and design remain the same across languages, only the content changes per language. When translations are published, visitors can navigate between site versions through a language switcher in the site’s header and footer.

You can also add translations to your eCom (E-Series) online catalog and webstore on Instant Site or any other website platform. 

Content in the eCom website and online catalog is not auto-translated. You need to manually translate all the content to localize it. You use online translators, professional localization services, or ask your multilingual friend for help.

Enabling additional languages for eCom

After enabling additional languages, you can add translations for your Instant Site content and online catalog. Additional languages are used for eCom only and are independent from your Retail POS (X-Series) language.

To enable additional languages for eCom:

1. From Retail POS, go to Online > Settings > Regional settings:

   

2. Click Language Settings in the Language block.
3. Check that the correct language is set as the main (default) language for eCom.

4. Click +Add Languages in the Additional languages section:

   

5. Select a language from the drop-down box.
6. Click Add Language.

7. This language will appear in the list of additional languages:

   

Repeat the above steps to enable more languages for eCom.

After you enable additional languages:

• You will need to manually add translations to localize all your Instant Site content.
• You will need to manually add translations to localize your online catalog and webstore content (product names and descriptions, product options, category names and descriptions, etc).
• eCom will automatically translate default texts in the online catalog and webstore interfaces for you (texts like "Add to Bag" or "In stock" on product pages,  texts on checkout, in invoices, mail notifications, customer accounts, etc).

Translating Instant Site content

After you enable additional languages for eCom, you can translate your website content into them to make  Instant Site multilingual. Customers will be able to navigate between translations using the language switcher. By default, the site will be shown in your default language, disregarding visitors' preferred browser language.

You create your site once in your main language, then add a translated version for each language directly from your site editor. Your Instant Site consists of pages and sections, e.g., About Us, Customer Reviews, Feature List, etc. Each section includes content you can translate: cover headings, navigation menu, buttons, and basically all text elements of your site.

When you add a new section, it's automatically added in all languages – you just need to adjust the translation to your target locale. If you don't add translations, the section will be shown in the main language.

To translate your Instant Site content:

1. From Retail POS, go to the Online tab > Webstore > Edit Site.
2. Click Settings (or the gear icon) > Languages & Translations.
3. Click Manage Translation under the language name.

4. Fill in the translation fields in the right column:

   

   While you are adding translations, they are not visible to your customers, only to you.

5. (optional) You can click Preview at the top to see how the content looks in another language.
6. Once you are done adding translations, click Back.
7. To make a translated site visible for customers, turn on the Visible for customers toggle under the language name.
8. Click Publish.

If you've enabled several languages for eCom, repeat the steps above to add translations for them.

You can hide translations from customers if you no longer need your site in one of the additional languages. The language switcher for the language you hid will no longer be shown on your website, and visitors won’t be able to browse your site in that language. Still, all translations will be saved in your Instant Site editor in case you want to display this language on your site again.

To hide a translation from Instant Site:

1. From Retail POS, go to the Online tab > Webstore > Edit Site.
2. Click Settings (or gear icon) > Languages & Translations.
3. Turn off the Visible for customers toggle for the language you want to hide.
4. Click Publish.

Optimizing Instant Site SEO for language versions

Instant Site lets you translate your SEO title and description. That helps your site rank higher in the search results and makes search results and sharing on social media look more relevant for audiences with different browser languages.

Please be aware that each translated version of your site has its own subdomain with a language code displayed in the site address. For example, if your site is https://YourSite.com, the French subdomain would be https://YourSite.com/fr. Search engines consider each subdomain site as unique and distinct from your main site. You need to optimize each version to make it higher ranked in search results.

To localize site title and description for SEO:

1. From Retail POS, go to the Online tab > Webstore > Edit Site.
2. Click Settings (or the gear icon) > SEO & Sharing and add SEO title and description in the main site language.
3. Click Settings (or the gear icon) > Languages & Translations, then click Manage Translation under the language name.
4. Scroll down to the bottom and enter the corresponding translations to the Site title and Site description in the right column.
5. Once you are done adding translations, click Back.
6. To make a translated site visible for customers, turn on the Visible for customers toggle under the language name.
7. Click Publish.

Translating online catalog and webstore content

After you enable additional languages for eCom, you can add translations for your online catalog and webstore content on Instant Site or any other website platform, including:

• Product names and descriptions
• Product options and attributes
• Category names and descriptions
• Shipping and payment method names and custom descriptions/instructions at checkout
• The "Order comments" field and custom fields at checkout
• Product and category page titles and meta descriptions for SEO
• Alt texts for product, category, and subcategory images
• Your store’s legal pages
• Custom texts in your store’s emails, invoices (printable orders) and tax invoices

Fields for online catalog and webstore texts in additional languages appear in your eCom Admin Panel next to text fields in the main language.

For example, to add translations to your product names and descriptions in eCom:

1. Navigate to your eCom Admin Panel.
2. From the side menu, click Catalog > Products and open a product for editing. You will see the product management page.

3. Scroll down and add the translated product name and description to the respective language section under Translations:

   

4. Click Save.

For product name and description translations, as well as for SEO page title and meta description‍, you can click the AI icon above the text field to generate translations automatically.

You can learn more about adding translations for individual online catalog and webstore content types from the eCom (E-Series) help center.