Multilingual markets in Shopify

This is for:

Developer

A multilingual Shopify market lets you provide localized product content to customers who use different languages. When the languages are correctly published and associated with the market, the Coveo app for Shopify can sync the translated catalog into the corresponding language-specific source.

When to use multilingual markets

Use multilingual markets to:

  • Make translated products searchable in the storefront.

  • Apply the expected field and facet configuration to each language-specific Coveo source.

  • Use the same translations across markets while keeping simple language paths, such as /fr.

  • Provide market-specific translations or catalog experiences through locale-specific paths, such as /fr-ca and /fr-fr.

Note

This article uses French as the secondary-language example. The same guidance applies to other secondary languages configured in Shopify.

Prerequisites

Before syncing a secondary language: * Consult Prepare Shopify for Coveo. * Assign the language and base currency to a market. * Publish the language, and give it a unique URL.

Multilingual market setup options

Use one of the following options based on the storefront’s intended URL structure. Both configurations work with the Coveo app for Shopify.

Note

Once the configuration changes have been made, it is important to reindexed the catalog.

Option 1: Use common language paths across markets

Use this option when the same languages and translations apply across markets. For example:

  • English: example.com

  • French: example.com/fr

In this configuration, attach the secondary language to the existing primary domain. Don’t create a market-specific subfolder.

Example

A Canadian retailer sells the same products across Canada and uses the same English and French content for every customer. English is the default language at example.com, while French content is available at example.com/fr.

Since the retailer doesn’t need different French translations for individual markets, it can associate French with the existing primary domain. This keeps the storefront URL structure simple while allowing Coveo to sync the French catalog.

Consult the Shopify documentation on managing languages for instructions on how to configure this option.

Option 2: Use locale-specific subfolders

Use this option when a language has different translations or catalog experiences for different countries or markets. For example:

  • Canadian English: example.com/en-ca

  • Canadian French: example.com/fr-ca

  • French for France: example.com/fr-fr

In this configuration, assign the secondary language to the appropriate market-specific subfolder.

Example

An international retailer operates storefronts in Canada and France. Both markets use French, but the product selection, terminology, promotions, and other localized content differ between the two countries.

The retailer can use example.com/fr-ca for Canadian French and example.com/fr-fr for French customers. Associating each language variant with its market-specific subfolder lets Shopify and Coveo use the appropriate content and product URLs for each market.

Consult the Shopify documentation on using subfolders for instructions on how to configure this option.

Troubleshooting

An incomplete or mismatched configuration can prevent the secondary-language catalog from synchronizing correctly or cause storefront product URLs to stop matching in the Coveo index.

Context and symptoms: The secondary-language catalog isn’t synced

Cause 1: The language is published but isn’t associated with the market.

Publishing a language at the store level doesn’t automatically make it available to every market. If the secondary language isn’t associated with the Shopify Market used by Coveo, the language-specific source may be missing, outdated, or incomplete.

You may notice that:

  • Translated products exist in Shopify but aren’t indexed in Coveo.

  • A secondary-language source isn’t created or updated.

  • Field or facet configuration changes appear in the default-language source but not in the secondary-language source.

Resolution 1

Associate the language with the appropriate market and domain, and then sync the catalog.

Cause 2: The catalog isn’t reindexed after the URL structure changes.

Changing the language or subfolder configuration changes product URLs. If the Coveo catalog isn’t reindexed, the index can continue to contain the previous URLs.

As a result:

  • The storefront catalog may display no products.

  • Search results may point to outdated or unavailable URLs.

  • The secondary-language source may appear out of date.

Resolution 2

After changing a market’s language or URL configuration, be sure to sync the catalog.

Context and symptoms: The storefront uses an unexpected URL structure

Cause 1: The wrong URL structure is selected.

Selecting Add subfolder can change a storefront from common language paths, such as / and /fr, to locale-specific paths, such as /en-ca and /fr-ca. This change is valid when locale-specific URLs are intended. However, it can be disruptive when the storefront, catalog configuration, or links still expect the previous paths.

Resolution 1

Before adding the language, confirm whether the storefront should use common language paths or locale-specific subfolders.

Cause 2: The language configuration differs between environments.

If production, testing, and development stores don’t use the same market, domain, language, and subfolder configuration, a setup may work in one environment and fail in another.

Resolution 2

Compare the Shopify Market and language settings in each environment before assuming that a successful test applies to production.

What’s next