Localizing Stores

A BigCommerce storefront can be customized to display in any one language of your choice. To fully localize a store into a language/region other than U.S. English, you will need to customize three areas:

1. Storefront theme pages

Translate static strings. This requires adding translation files for your chosen non-English languages, via Stencil CLI.

2. Checkout

Localizing checkout requires modifications both to theme files (in Stencil CLI) and to settings in the BigCommerce control panel.

3. Control Panel

Adjust other localization details via the BigCommerce Control Panel.

Translating Theme Files via Stencil CLI

The bulk of localizing a store is translating content on your theme’s page templates. You will need to abstract these templates’ literal text strings into {{lang}} variables, then provide per-language JSON files that define these variables in corresponding key/value pairs.

Localizing Checkout

Localizing your theme’s checkout and order confirmation pages requires customizations within:

• the corresponding templates (checkout.html and order-confirmation.html)
• each JSON translation file
• the BigCommerce control panel

Localizing Control Panel Content

The remaining localization options reside outside your theme and are accessible through the BigCommerce control panel:

• Product Catalog
• Currency
• Date Format
• Order Statuses
• Blog
• Static Web Pages
• Transactional Emails
• Gift Certificates

Localizing the Product Catalog

You must localize the store’s product catalog separately from its theme. Each entry within a catalog can be set up in only one language, so you will want to localize a separate version of your catalog for each single-language store.

For an overview of populating the store catalog – including options for bulk-importing content that you can localize outside the BigCommerce platform – see Adding Products (BigCommerce Support).

Localizing Currency

Each store’s default currency is configured in the BigCommerce control panel. For details, see Changing Your Default Currency (BigCommerce Support).

Localizing Date Format

You can set the appropriate date format for your store’s language/region in the BigCommerce control panel (under Store Setup› Store Settings › Date & Timezone. For details, see Changing Your Default Currency (BigCommerce Support).

Localizing Order Statuses

The order-status labels displayed on a BigCommerce storefront are configured outside your theme. You can translate each of these strings via the BigCommerce control panel under Orders › Order Statuses. For instructions, see Renaming an Order Status Label (BigCommerce Support).

Localizing the Blog

Blog entries are managed through the BigCommerce control panel under Storefront Content › Blog. You can add blog content in any language you choose. For details, see Creating a Blog Post (BigCommerce Support).

Localizing Static Web Pages

If you create static pages as Stencil custom templates, you can localize their content just like other theme pages’ content. However, if you create custom pages via the BigCommerce control panel (under Storefront Content › Web Pages), you must also enter their localized content via the control panel.

Managing Transactional Emails

BigCommerce does not currently provide native support for localizing transactional emails such as Order Confirmation or status updates. To fully localize a store into a language other than English, the simplest solution is to disable the sending of BigCommerce native emails.

To disable native emails, go to Storefront › Email Templates. Uncheck each email type that you prefer to customize. If you would like to localize transactional emails, see our Partner Apps, such as Conversio, for more details.

Managing Gift Certificates

The BigCommerce platform does not currently support translation of gift certificates into languages other than English. To fully localize your store, you can choose to disable gift certificates via the BigCommerce control panel.

Resources

Related Articles

• Basis for Internationalization
• Optimized One-Page Checkout
• Enabling Optimized One-Page Checkout
• Currency-Conversion Options
• Multi-Language Checkout
• Adding Products (BigCommerce Knowledge Base)
• Changing Your Default Currency(BigCommerce Knowledge Base)

Additional Resources

• checkout.html (BigCommerce Github)
• order-confirmation.html (BigCommerce Github)
• JSON translation file (BigCommerce Github)