Building Scalable Localisation Workflows for Retail and E-Commerce

With e-commerce sales expected to reach $8.09 trillion by 2028, retailers and e-commerce brands face increasing pressure to deliver new products and seasonal campaigns across global markets quickly.

However, deadlines often slip because workflows are structured around manual steps, making translation the bottleneck. For localisation managers, that means missed launch dates, duplicated effort, and extra stress when campaigns and product updates don’t go live on schedule.

The solution is to connect tools and platforms so content moves smoothly, with automation handling repetitive tasks and people stepping in where accuracy and brand control matter most. Getting there means linking the systems that hold product data, campaign assets, and translations so they move together to handle more content more efficiently.

Where Retail Localisation Loses Time

Localisation professionals will tell you that delays first show up as content is passed between systems, leading to scheduling issues and errors. For example, SEO can lag behind product launches, leaving translated sites invisible in search until localisation catches up. Product data is often manually copied from an e-commerce platform, pasted into translation tools, and copy-pasted back into the CMS before it can be published. Each pass takes time and increases the likelihood of mistakes.

Timelines can slip further when multiple teams or vendors handle different parts of the content. Product descriptions, campaign assets, and SEO metadata often move on separate tracks, slowing coordination and risking version mismatches.

The pressure intensifies during large launches. Managing thousands of SKUs or complex seasonal campaigns can overwhelm existing processes, and last-minute product changes or long approval cycles extend delivery times even further. The result is schedules that look solid on paper but slip as content starts moving between teams and systems.

Why Integration Speeds Up Retail Localisation

Scalable localisation relies on a stack that combines AI with human expertise. Automation clears the heavy volume of catalogue fields and campaign snippets, while people oversee outcomes, applying judgement where accuracy and brand control matter most.

But even the best stack breaks down if systems aren’t connected. Passing information between too many systems is what slows down launches, with product data in one place and translations in another. Without direct links, every release means more manual exporting, reimporting, and checks.

At The Translation People, we connect directly with many leading e-commerce platforms so content can move from source to translation and back efficiently, without the need for manual copy-pasting or file transfers. We support integrations with platforms such as:

• Shopify: Integrations include fields like URL slugs and metadata, so translated sites are ready for search as soon as they go live.
• Adobe Commerce (built on Magento): Frameworks for bulk catalogue translation keep product attributes consistent across markets, and integrations reduce the overhead of managing large catalogues.
• WordPress: Powers brand and campaign sites, where plug-ins simplify the translation of pages, posts, and metadata.
• Weglot: A plug-in for multilingual websites that works with multiple platforms, giving smaller retailers a quick way to localise content.

For retailers managing thousands of SKUs, a product information management (PIM) platform keeps launches organised. Leading PIM systems track which attributes are finished in each locale and prevent half-done records from reaching customers, so catalogues stay consistent across markets. By reducing manual steps, retailers let automation handle the heavy lifting while humans focus on oversight.

Scaling Retail Localisation Volume with MT, LLMs, and Connectors

Even with connected systems, volume remains the hardest part of retail localisation. Catalogues contain thousands of short fields, while campaigns add headlines, snippets, and creative copy on top. Human effort alone can’t keep up with this scale.

Machine translation (MT) tools such as DeepL and SYSTRAN are well suited to repetitive catalogue fields like attributes and care instructions, especially when combined with post-editing by linguists. While general-purpose engines like Google Translate are widely known, most retailers prefer enterprise MT tools with stronger integration and security features.

Large language models (LLMs) ChatGPT and Google Gemini can support shorter creative text like campaign snippets, although these usually require human review. Connectors route each type of content through the right path so everything returns ready for review in the same system, without the extra steps that usually create bottlenecks.

Some retailers use third-party applications such TranslatePress or Polylang to add multilingual functionality at the site level. These provide plug-and-play localisation but still benefit from human oversight to protect accuracy and consistency.

By combining tools, AI and humans into a single stack, retailers can match the right method to the right content for scalability. Catalogue fields can be managed at scale while creative campaign material remains under human control, so localisation managers gain speed without losing oversight.  

Where Human Review Matters

Automation clears volume, yet it can’t safeguard accuracy or consistency at scale. Search performance depends on product names and attributes being translated the way buyers actually use them. Campaign content often includes short, high-impact text where mistakes can disrupt launches. Even routine fields, like sizing or care instructions, can cause delays and rework if they’re wrong or vary from market to market.

The safeguard is to build oversight into the workflow. Catalogue fields that repeat across thousands of records can still move quickly through MT and post-editing. For creative campaign and promotional materials, nuance and persuasion can’t be automated, so they stay with human translators. Quality gates hold content back until it’s complete and consistent, preventing errors from slipping through in the rush to publish.

At The Translation People, we design workflows so that automation handles scale where it makes sense, while linguists step in when human judgment is essential. Every step is backed by our ISO-certified processes, providing retail teams with systems that are both fast and dependable.

How Scalable Localisation Pays Off for Retail Teams

Scalable workflows change the way localisation fits into retail planning. Instead of losing time to manual workflows and delays, localisation managers can plan launches knowing every market will go live on time. That predictability gives merchandising and marketing teams the confidence to coordinate global campaigns without leaving some regions behind.

Efficiency shows up in smoother workflows, reduced manual effort, and earlier error detection. Issues are caught and corrected before release, rather than surfacing later. The same flow also keeps SEO fields aligned with product data, so translated sites are searchable as soon as they go live.

The payoff is flexibility, whether it’s a small update or a large revision. A seasonal campaign or a 10,000-SKU catalogue refresh can follow the same processes and finish on schedule.

Designing Localisation That Keeps Pace with Retail

Global retail planning depends on every market launching together, and scalable workflows give localisation managers that certainty. With integrated systems, automation handling volume, and humans guarding quality, campaigns go live on schedule and products reach every market at once. Outcomes that, according to Shopify, support higher conversion rates, less cart abandonment and stronger visibility in each locale. At The Translation People, we build localisation workflows fuelled by AI and powered by people. Contact us to discuss a process that keeps your retail launches on time and on target.