{"id":1737,"date":"2026-05-04T11:22:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T09:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/posts\/why-your-french-customers-in-canada-need-different-product-images-than-france\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T13:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T11:38:17","slug":"why-your-french-customers-in-canada-need-different-product-images-than-france","status":"publish","type":"marketing-post","link":"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/nl\/posts\/why-your-french-customers-in-canada-need-different-product-images-than-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Your French Customers in Canada Need Different Product Images Than France"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>\n  <strong>TL;DR:<\/strong> Your French Canadian customers in Quebec speak the same French as your Paris customers. Their packaging laws don&#8217;t. Quebec&#8217;s Bill 96 mandates French-first labeling with specific wording, sizing requirements, and bilingual format. France follows EU 1169\/2011 with a different layout. Same language, different rules. Per-market overrides in <a href=\"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/translate-product-images-shopify\/\">our Shopify image translation app<\/a> let you serve the right packaging photo to each region without duplicating products.\n<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n  <div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n    <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/KPSRAW63weY\" title=\"Translate Shopify Product Images by Market\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n  <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bill 96 quietly changed the game<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you sell into Quebec and you haven&#8217;t read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oqlf.gouv.qc.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill 96<\/a> (loi 96) yet, your packaging photos are probably already non-compliant. The bill, in effect since June 2025 for product labeling, tightened existing French-language requirements significantly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n  \n<li>French must be at least as prominent as any other language on packaging.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li>Generic descriptive terms must be in French (no &#8220;lavender hand soap&#8221; tucked in English under a French brand name).<\/li>\n\n  \n<li>Public-facing inscriptions on the product itself must include French equivalents.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li>The French Language Office (OQLF) can audit compliance and issue fines up to $30,000 CAD for repeat violations.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Translation: a French-language product photo from your Paris market doesn&#8217;t satisfy Quebec packaging rules. It&#8217;s the wrong French, on the wrong layout, missing bilingual conventions Quebec specifically requires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why &#8220;we already have French&#8221; isn&#8217;t enough<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Most international Shopify merchants assume one French image covers both France and Quebec. The text says the same thing. Job done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It isn&#8217;t done. Even ignoring Bill 96, the packaging realities differ:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n  \n<li><strong>Vocabulary differences.<\/strong> &#8220;M\u00e9l&#8221; vs &#8220;courriel&#8221; for email. &#8220;Magasinage&#8221; vs &#8220;shopping.&#8221; &#8220;Soccer&#8221; vs &#8220;football.&#8221; Marketing copy on packaging that uses Parisian French reads as foreign in Montreal.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Bilingual format.<\/strong> Canadian packaging conventionally shows French and English side by side or stacked. EU\/France packaging shows French alone or with multiple languages in smaller print.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Units and measurements.<\/strong> Both use metric, but Canadian labels often include imperial conversions (pints, ounces) for North American consistency. EU labels don&#8217;t.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Health and safety claims.<\/strong> Health Canada has its own approval list for cosmetic, food, and supplement claims. EFSA approves different ones for the EU. The wording on the label differs accordingly.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Nutritional facts panels.<\/strong> Canada uses the Canadian Nutrition Facts table layout. France uses the EU 1169\/2011 panel. Different headers, different sequence, different rounding rules.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Allergen statements.<\/strong> Canada&#8217;s mandatory allergen list and the EU&#8217;s are similar but not identical. Sesame, mustard, sulphites are flagged differently.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>So a French shopper in Lyon and a French shopper in Trois-Rivi\u00e8res see your product page with the same browser language setting. They need to see different packaging images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Shopify does (and doesn&#8217;t) handle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;ve set up Shopify Markets properly, you&#8217;ve already addressed the commerce layer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n  \n<li>Currency: EUR for France, CAD for Canada.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li>Pricing: regional pricing per market.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li>Tax: GST\/QST for Quebec, VAT for France.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li>Shipping: zone-specific rates.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li>Catalog: you can hide products from a market.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The image, though, is a single asset attached to the product. Every market sees the same one. <a href=\"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/posts\/shopify-translate-adapt-doesnt-translate-images-heres-what-does\/\">Shopify Translate &#038; Adapt translates text content but not images<\/a>. There&#8217;s no native &#8220;show this image only to my Canada market&#8221; toggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until you add an app that does it. The market mode in Image Translate Easy lets you upload one image to your France market column and a different image to your Canada market column for the same product, same SKU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The five-minute setup for France vs Quebec<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If you have packaging shots for both regions already (most brands selling into both do), the setup is short:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n  \n<li><strong>Confirm both markets are active.<\/strong> Settings \u2192 Markets in Shopify admin. France should be active under your EU market or as its own market. Canada should be active separately.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Open the product.<\/strong> In <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.shopify.com\/image-translate-easy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Image Translate Easy<\/a>, navigate to the product page.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Switch to &#8220;By market&#8221; mode.<\/strong> Toggle from &#8220;By language&#8221; to &#8220;By market&#8221; at the top of the Image Translations panel.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Upload regional images.<\/strong> Drag the France-version packaging photo into your France market column. Drag the Quebec\/Canada-version photo into your Canada market column. If you only need text changed (not a different physical product), the AI translation feature can generate the localized image from the source.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Save and test.<\/strong> Use Shopify&#8217;s market preview to view the storefront as a Canadian shopper. Then as a French shopper. Confirm the swap works.<\/li>\n\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>For SKUs where the packaging is identical across both markets, you don&#8217;t need to upload anything. Per-market overrides only apply where you&#8217;ve added them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What about French shoppers who aren&#8217;t in France or Quebec?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Belgium. Switzerland. Luxembourg. Monaco. Senegal. Cameroon. C\u00f4te d&#8217;Ivoire. French is an official or working language in 29 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re not running separate Shopify Markets for those regions, they fall back to your default French language image (the one you set up under &#8220;By language&#8221; mode). That covers them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you do run a separate Shopify Market for, say, Belgium because you have specific shipping or tax rules, you can also add a Belgium-specific packaging image. Same flow as Quebec or France: open the product, find the Belgium market column, upload the regional asset.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The whole system is layered: language as broad coverage, market as the precision override on top. <a href=\"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/posts\/how-to-show-different-product-images-for-different-languages-in-shopify\/\">The full language-first localization approach<\/a> is the foundation, and markets layer in for the regions where it actually matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Categories where this is non-negotiable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>If your products fall into any of these, France vs Quebec image localization isn&#8217;t optional:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n  \n<li><strong>Cosmetics and personal care.<\/strong> Health Canada&#8217;s Cosmetic Notification Form rules differ from EU 1223\/2009. Ingredient declaration formats and allergen wording vary.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Food and beverage.<\/strong> Canadian Nutrition Facts vs EU panels. Bilingual ingredient lists are mandatory in Canada, not in France.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Supplements and natural health products.<\/strong> Canada&#8217;s Natural Health Products regulations require specific NPN\/DIN-HM numbers visible on packaging. France\/EU doesn&#8217;t.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Children&#8217;s products.<\/strong> Health Canada vs EN 71. Different choking hazard wordings, different age recommendations format.<\/li>\n\n  \n<li><strong>Cleaning products.<\/strong> Bilingual hazard pictograms and risk phrases per region.<\/li>\n\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Apparel and accessories with little or no on-pack text usually don&#8217;t need this. Anything where the box or label has regulated content does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What about alt text for both regions?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Shopify stores alt text per language, not per market. So if you&#8217;re using French alt text, both your France market and your Canada market shoppers get the same alt text. For accessibility purposes that&#8217;s fine; screen readers don&#8217;t read packaging artwork. For Quebec compliance, alt text isn&#8217;t typically what regulators inspect (it&#8217;s the visible image they care about). The image itself is the thing that matters, and that&#8217;s what per-market overrides handle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Trying it before rolling out<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You don&#8217;t have to migrate your whole catalog to test this. The free trial of Image Translate Easy lets you try market mode on one product. Pick your highest-revenue SKU that ships to both France and Canada. Set up the override. View the storefront from both regions. Verify the right packaging photo appears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If it works, scale it. If it doesn&#8217;t, the uninstall is one click and your product images go back to the way they were.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>French is one language. France and Quebec aren&#8217;t one market. Your store should reflect that.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>France and Quebec speak French but their packaging laws differ. Bill 96, bilingual rules, Health Canada vs EU. Per-market image overrides explained.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_breakdance_hide_in_design_set":false,"_breakdance_tags":""},"class_list":["post-1737","marketing-post","type-marketing-post","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":{"related_apps":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/marketing-post\/1737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/marketing-post"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/marketing-post"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newcraft.dev\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}