6 Best Practices for Chinese eCommerce Website Translation That Will Drive Traffic & Clicks

Recently updated on February 21st, 2024 at 08:27 pm

When you plan to expand your business internationally, the ability to present your product or service to your target market in their native language must be a critical part of your expansion strategy.

Don’t simply let the platform you are going to sell on provide the language service – they might be good at the commerce side, but some of the content we’ve seen and fixed suggests that it leaves a lot to be desired – you need to have this properly and carefully set up by a professional Chinese eCommerce website translation services provider.

6 Best Practices for Chinese eCommerce Website Translation

An effective online sales platform opens a door to potentially lucrative new markets.

Here’re some best practices for Chinese eCommerce website translation.

Register Intellectual Property

Before you embark on the e-commerce platforms, make sure you have your trademarks and names registered in China: Chinese e-commerce platforms usually require the sellers to have a merchant’s trademark registration certificate for the products and a letter of authorization to sell the products on their channels.

💡 Intellectual property rights infringement on eCommerce platforms is common in China. Registering your intellectual property is essential. The registration process for a trademark can take up to 18 months and can only be protected once the application process has been completed.

So, how to check whether a brand name can be registered in China?

Go to Trademark Office of China National Intellectual Property Administration, click “SISTM”, enter related fields, and click “search”.

Localize All Content

Simply translating an existing e-commerce store into Chinese will prove woefully inadequate in a culture that is so unique in so many ways.

What is required is a kind of ultra-localization that not only addresses every cultural, legal, and linguistic nuance but does so to such a degree that it practically reinvents the business as authentically Chinese.

Another challenge that comes with Chinese eCommerce website translation – whether you want to translate a website to Chinese, or any other language – is making the entire customer journey a seamless process.

This means that you’ll need to translate and localize all elements of your website up to and including your checkout page. You should also consider the need to present the items you’re selling in the local currency, make the units visible and easy to identify, and finally, you’ll need to localize all images and videos.

Optimize for Mobile Devices

According to Statista, 1.07 billion people in China have internet access, with more than 99% of them using a smartphone to go online. For ecommerce websites, this means most of the product descriptions and user reviews are created on and read on mobile devices.

Popular online shopping platforms, such as Alibaba, Taobao, T-Mall, Kaola, JD.com, and Xiaohongshu are an integral part of many Chinese people’s everyday life.

The vast scale of the Chinese commitment to e-commerce is demonstrated by Singles’ Day, the world’s largest online shopping event, which generates more revenue than the U.S.’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.

Optimize for Baidu

Integrate Online Customer Service

Customer service is another crucial requirement when you seek Chinese ecommerce website translation services.

💡 The Chinese love of product research and a personalized shopping experience is bolstered by a 24/7 online customer service. Therefore, your customer support staff needs to be adequately trained not only for local particularities but also for local customs and ways of life. In addition, your staff needs to be knowledgeable about the products you’re selling – whether it be pricing, colors, quantities, materials, fabrics, etc.

Be Social

Businesses must be familiar with China’s leading social media platforms, from both a marketing and a social engagement perspective.

💡 WeChat Moments, for example, offers users a platform where they can combine text messages, images, and video to engage and interact with everyone from individuals to big businesses.

When researching products and services, Chinese consumers tend to trust KOLs rather than official recommendations. They are highly active on forums – leaving reviews, offering recommendations, and sharing information. This content impacts businesses in another way as well.

Here’s a list of KOLs in 2022.

Here’s a list of Chinese social media platforms and video-sharing platforms in China.

Final Thoughts

Although you might be ready to take the online marketplace by storm with your catchy and innovative products, you’re only halfway there if you haven’t translated every piece of marketing material you have and localized it effectively for the Chinese market.

💡💡💡 If you want to translate a website from English to Chinese, you’ll need to go the extra mile to ensure your keyword research is accurate and applicable. Additionally, all pieces of content must be localized for your customers to have a satisfying customer experience.

English-Chinese Glossary of e-Commerce Terms

The following is a brief list of commonly used e-Commerce terms in Chinese website and APP localization.

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