When a design or furniture business decides to expand into overseas markets – Germany, France, the Netherlands and Belgium, say – translation is usually the first thing that comes to mind. That’s understandable: your content is in one language, these markets speak others, and the problem looks linguistic.
But anyone who’s been through this kind of expansion knows translation is the easy part. Everything else is where the real work lies.
At a glance
- The problem with treating localisation as translation: Translating descriptions isn’t enough when buyers, distributors and specifiers expect different technical specs, certifications, documents and presentation styles in each market.
- The cost of parallel catalogues: Running an independent version for Germany, France and Benelux multiplies manual updates, and over time leads to errors, omissions and mismatched information on the same product.
- The single data core solution: Separating shared data from market-specific elements keeps the catalogue up to date and lets you expand your international presence without a proportional rise in operational work.
What localisation actually means
Localising a product catalogue means more than translating descriptions into another language. It means adapting product information to each market’s expectations, conventions and specific requirements.
In Germany, for instance, technical specifications often carry more commercial weight than they do elsewhere. A German buyer or specifier working on a contract project expects precise, verifiable data: tolerances, load ratings, certifications recognised in the local market, and compliance with specific standards. A product sheet built for your home market — more narrative, more focused on telling the product’s story — can come across as thin or unreliable to a German audience used to different standards.
In France, relationships with architects and interior designers follow their own dynamics. Product presentation needs to reflect communication conventions that differ from one market to the next, even where the underlying design values are similar.
In Benelux, where distribution channels tend to be more structured and buyers work through formal approval processes, how complete a product sheet is can be decisive during supplier qualification. That includes downloadable technical documents, environmental certifications and compliance codes.
The underlying operational problem
Managing all this effectively means being able to work on product information market by market, without creating independent parallel versions of the catalogue that, over time, become impossible to keep aligned.
The risk is ending up with one catalogue version for the German market, one for France, and one for Benelux – each with its own translations, adaptations and local documents. Then a product changes – a new finish, an updated certification, a different dimension – and someone has to remember to update every version. Someone who usually has other things to do, and who often updates the main version while forgetting the local ones.
Six months later, the German and French catalogues show different information for the same product. Not through anyone’s fault, but simply because the system was never built to handle market variations in a structured way.
How to manage catalogue localisation properly
The approach that works starts by distinguishing what’s common across markets from what varies. Core technical data – dimensions, materials, product codes – stays the same everywhere. Descriptions in different languages, local certifications, any price variations, and market-specific commercial terms are the parts that change.
A well-structured Product Information Management system keeps a single, up-to-date information core for the product, then adds localised layers for each market. When something changes in the core, that change propagates through every localised version. When something changes for one market only, you edit just that layer, leaving the others untouched.
This isn’t just an operational nicety. It’s what makes it possible to expand into more markets without having to grow your catalogue management team at the same rate.
When translation becomes a symptom of a structural problem
Many businesses only discover they have a structural problem when they try to expand. Up to that point, managing the catalogue was complicated but still manageable. Once overseas markets enter the picture, the existing system stops holding up.
The cost isn’t just time. It’s the quality of your presence in the market: incomplete catalogues, outdated information, and product sheets that don’t meet local expectations. All of this translates into missed commercial opportunities – often invisible, but real.
Frequently asked questions about product catalogue localisation
What’s the difference between translating and localising a catalogue?
Translation moves text from one language to another. Localisation adapts the whole set of product information to the target market: terminology, technical specs, certifications, documents, conventions and presentation style. So a linguistically correct description still isn’t enough if the sheet doesn’t contain what buyers, distributors or specifiers expect to find.
Why isn’t it worth creating an independent catalogue for each market?
Completely separate catalogues tend to drift apart. Every change to dimensions, materials, finishes or certifications has to be manually copied across every version, increasing the risk of errors and outdated information. It’s more effective to keep a shared core and manage separately only the elements that genuinely vary by language or market.
Which information should be localised?
Descriptions, commercial terminology, locally recognised certifications, technical documentation, prices and sales terms can all vary. Core product data – codes, materials, dimensions – should come from a single source, though. Exactly where you draw that line depends on your catalogue, your sales channels and the requirements of the market in question.
Is your catalogue ready for more markets?
At MON-KEY, we treat catalogue localisation as a data structuring project first, and a translation project second. If you’re looking at how to strengthen your presence in overseas markets – or you’re already dealing with the headaches of managing parallel catalogue versions – get in touch for an initial assessment.