German shoppers expect everything in German, including your product images. Shopify translates text but leaves images untouched. Here’s the fix.
TLDR: Ready to show your German customers images they can actually read? Install Product Image Translate Easy and close the localization gap.
German shoppers are picky. They want everything in German: the product title, the description, the checkout, and yes, the images too. Miss any piece and you look like an outsider trying to sell into their market.
Most Shopify merchants nail the text translation. Shopify Markets and Translate & Adapt make that relatively painless. But open your store in German and look at your product images. That size chart? English. Those feature callouts? English. The infographic explaining your product benefits? You guessed it.
Shopify translates your words but leaves your images untouched. For German customers who expect a fully localized experience, this disconnect kills trust and conversions.
Shopify’s localization tools have improved dramatically. Shopify Markets handles multi-currency, regional pricing, and market-specific domains. The Translate & Adapt app manages text translation across your store. Together, they create a solid foundation for international selling.
But both tools share a common limitation: they work exclusively with text content.
When Translate & Adapt scans your store, it finds text strings: product titles, descriptions, collection names, theme elements, checkout copy. These get translated. When a German customer visits, they see German text throughout.
Product images exist outside this system. When you upload an image to Shopify, it’s a media file, a JPEG or PNG that displays identically regardless of customer language settings. Translate & Adapt can’t see inside images. It can’t extract text from your size chart graphic. It can’t swap one image for another based on language.
Your German customers see German text and English images because that’s exactly how Shopify’s localization is designed to work. Text gets translated. Images don’t.
For more on this limitation, see our detailed breakdown: Shopify Translate & Adapt Doesn’t Translate Images – Here’s What Does.
You might think customers will overlook English image text if the rest of the page is localized. They won’t.
German customers have expectations. When they switch your store to German, they expect a German experience, not a partially German experience with English graphics.
The disconnect is particularly jarring because modern product images contain substantial text. Size charts with measurements and fit guidance. Feature infographics explaining product benefits. Ingredient lists on supplement or cosmetic labels. Spec sheets for technical products. Care instructions and usage guides.
This isn’t decorative text. It’s information customers need to make purchase decisions. When they can’t read it easily, they either work harder (unlikely), contact support (costly for you), or leave (most common).
Germany represents one of the largest e-commerce markets in Europe. German consumers are sophisticated online shoppers with high expectations for localized experiences.
German also presents a specific localization challenge: text expansion. German text typically runs 20-30% longer than equivalent English text. Words like “Produkteigenschaften” (product features) or “Größentabelle” (size chart) take significantly more space than their English equivalents.
This means localized German images often need design adjustments, not just text swaps. Your English size chart layout may not accommodate German labels without reformatting.
Additionally, German consumers expect metric measurements. A size chart showing inches forces your German customers to convert mentally, friction that costs sales. The size chart localization challenge is significant enough that we’ve written a complete guide to translating size charts for international customers.
You can’t easily measure lost sales from localization gaps. Customers don’t tell you “I would have bought but your images were in English.” They just leave.
But you can measure proxies. Higher bounce rates on product pages from German traffic. Lower add-to-cart rates compared to your domestic market. Elevated return rates from sizing confusion. Support tickets asking questions that are answered on your images, just in the wrong language.
If your German conversion rate is significantly lower than your domestic conversion rate, localization gaps are a likely culprit. And image localization is the gap merchants most often miss.
As we cover in 5 localization mistakes that kill conversion rates, untranslated images are typically the first mistake merchants make, and often the last one they notice.
The solution requires a tool specifically designed for image localization. Product Image Translate Easy fills exactly this gap.
The app integrates with your existing Shopify setup and monitors customer language selection. When a customer browses in German, it automatically serves your German product images instead of the defaults.
The workflow is straightforward. You create German versions of your text-heavy images, size charts, infographics, labels. You upload these to the app and map them to German (language code DE). From then on, German customers see German images automatically.
No duplicate products fragmenting your inventory. No theme code modifications that break with updates. Just language-appropriate images displayed to the right customers.
Start by auditing which product images contain text. Not every image needs localization, simple product photos without overlays can stay as-is. Focus on images where text conveys important information.
For each text-heavy image, you’ll need a German version. If you have layered source files (Photoshop, Figma, Canva), swap the text and export. If your images are flattened, you may need to recreate them with German text.
Remember the text expansion issue. German text needs more space. Review your layouts to ensure German labels fit without looking cramped or requiring tiny fonts.
Use metric measurements in all German size charts and specifications. German customers expect centimeters, not inches.
Have your German text reviewed by a native speaker. Machine translation works for basic labels, but awkward phrasing undermines the professional experience you’re trying to create.
If Germany is a significant market for you, prioritize German image localization ahead of other languages. You’ll see faster returns on your effort.
Start with your top-selling products in the German market. Check your Shopify analytics to identify which products get the most German traffic.
Prioritize high-information images. Size charts are usually the most critical, German customers need sizing information they can actually use. Feature infographics come next, especially for products where benefits aren’t obvious from photos alone.
Consider products with high German support volume. If German customers are asking questions answered in your English images, those products need localization urgently.
Image localization is one component of serving the German market well. For maximum impact, ensure your broader German experience is solid.
Pricing should be clean. €47.23 looks like currency conversion. €49 looks like deliberate German pricing.
Payment options should include local preferences. German customers often prefer invoice payment (Kauf auf Rechnung) or SOFORT over credit cards.
Shipping costs and times should be clear. German customers expect transparency about delivery.
Returns should be straightforward. German consumer protection laws are strong, and German customers know their rights.
With text translation, image localization, and operational elements aligned, your German store feels native rather than adapted.
While this article focuses on German customers, the same gap affects every language market. French customers see English images. Spanish customers see English images. Japanese customers see English images.
The principles are identical. Translation tools handle text. Image localization tools handle images. You need both for complete localization.
If you’re expanding beyond Germany, apply the same approach: identify text-heavy images, create localized versions, map them to appropriate languages. Start with your highest-volume markets and expand from there.
See our pillar guide for the complete picture: How to Translate Product Images on Shopify (The Easy Way).
Ready to show your German customers images they can actually read? Install Product Image Translate Easy and close the localization gap.