German ecommerce translation for Indian brands: sizes, product details and returns

Before translating an Indian online store into German, assemble the product facts that a shopper needs to choose, receive and, where applicable, return the right item. Start with one complete product family: descriptions, measurements, variant labels, care information, delivery messages and the actual returns process. A fluent product paragraph cannot repair an ambiguous size chart or contradictory checkout message.

Start with the product record, not the marketing paragraph

Separate facts from promotional language. For a shirt, the facts might include fibre composition, available colours, garment measurements, care instructions and the identifier connecting each size to stock. Keep those identifiers unchanged across the translation files. Ask the product owner to resolve missing or contradictory facts before they become polished German copy.

The US International Trade Administration distinguishes translating a website from adapting it to a particular market. That distinction is useful here: German wording is one part of a usable shopping experience. See its website internationalization guidance.

A size label needs a measurement definition

Do not assume that an Indian size label has one dependable German equivalent. Keep the seller’s actual measurements and explain how they were taken. A measurement around the body is different from the width of a garment lying flat. If a chart says only “chest: 52 cm”, the translator needs the product team’s definition; doubling the number without confirmation would introduce a new product claim.

For example, a hypothetical shirt record could distinguish “garment width, measured flat” from “recommended body chest circumference”. The purpose is not to invent a conversion table. It is to prevent two different measurements from sharing one unexplained heading. Check the translated chart on a phone, including units and any instructions for taking measurements.

Use a handover table that exposes missing decisions

Keep returns wording tied to the real process

Give the translator the current approved policy, including the destination of returned goods and the way a customer starts a request. Do not ask the translator to fill in an absent return period, shipping charge or eligibility rule. Those are business and potentially legal decisions. Have the appropriate business and legal reviewers approve the policy separately from the language review.

Trace the customer’s journey across the product page, checkout, order email and returns page. If one page tells the customer to email and another sends them to a portal, reconcile the process before translating both. A useful discrepancy log records the two source passages, the question to resolve and the person responsible for the answer.

Test the translated store with one real product journey

Select a product, change its size, add it to the basket and inspect the order confirmation in a test environment. Check truncated buttons, missing accents, line wrapping and labels that have remained in English. Keep a screenshot and the product identifier with each issue so the developer and translator can find the same screen.

Resolve one inconsistent product before translating the range

Consider an illustrative product export in which the title says “linen shirt”, the materials field says “linen blend” and the care sheet belongs to a previous version. The translator cannot determine the actual composition from these competing descriptions. Mark the product identifier, list the conflicting fields and ask the product owner which record is authoritative. Apply that answer to every affected variant before the German version is approved.

Keep a change log when the source changes during translation. Identify the product, old value, new value and date rather than resending an entire catalogue with no indication of what changed. If only the size chart has changed, the reviewer can check the corresponding chart, product description and variant labels together. This prevents a correction in one file from leaving a conflicting value elsewhere.

Define what the completed translation package includes

Agree whether delivery means a spreadsheet of translated fields, an import file, direct entry into the store or a checked preview of the published layout. Keep technical identifiers separate from customer-facing text: a translated label must not accidentally change a stock code or break an import column. Ask the developer to test the import on a small sample before applying it to the whole catalogue.

Finally, assign separate owners for product accuracy, German language review and storefront functionality. One person may hold several roles, but each question still needs an answer. Is the measurement true? Is the wording appropriate? Does the correct variant reach the basket? A completed translation file is only one part of that release decision.

For a German ecommerce translation enquiry, provide representative product records, the target market, the platform or export format, the number of variants and the pages surrounding checkout. This allows the work to be scoped around the whole customer task, rather than just the visible description. Start with German business translation when discussing the commercial content involved.