The verdict in three sentences
A Bordeaux négociant generating 70% of revenue outside France needs a FR/EN/DE/ZH website built for importers such as New York distributors, not machine translation layered on a French site. The 2026 budget sits between EUR 12,000 and 22,000 (about USD 13,000 to 24,000), plus EUR 0.10 to 0.16 per word for professional translation. A subdirectory architecture with hreflang and PDF tech sheets per vintage are the two choices that drive both rankings and sales.
The budget for a four-language export site
A négociant's website is first a sales tool for foreign buyers: they look for available range, tech sheets, tasting notes and ordering terms. Here is the 2026 order of magnitude for a EUR 12M business.
| Item | 2026 range | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Design and development (Next.js or multilingual WordPress) | EUR 6,000 to 10,000 | 15 to 25 templates, catalogue by appellation |
| Secure importer portal | EUR 2,500 to 5,000 | Prices by country, allocations, en primeur orders |
| PDF tech sheets per vintage | EUR 1,500 to 3,000 | Generated automatically from the catalogue |
| Multilingual architecture and hreflang | EUR 1,000 to 2,000 | Subdirectories /fr, /en, /de, /zh |
| China optimisation (fonts, CDN, no Google services) | EUR 1,000 to 2,000 | Load time from Shanghai |
| Total excluding translation | EUR 12,000 to 22,000 | 10 to 14 weeks |
| Hosting with global CDN | EUR 60 a month | Europe, United States, Asia |
Translation is priced separately. For 15,000 source words translated into English, German and Chinese at an average of EUR 0.13 per word, allow about EUR 5,850.
Specialist agency or machine translation plugin?
The automatic plugin looks unbeatable on price. The problem shows up as soon as a New York importer reads a badly translated tasting note, or Google fails to index versions generated on the fly.
| Criterion | Machine translation plugin | Specialist agency + translators |
|---|---|---|
| Initial translation cost | EUR 300 to 900 a year | EUR 0.10 to 0.16 per word, i.e. EUR 4,500 to 7,200 |
| Tasting note quality | Approximate, weak wine vocabulary | Written by wine-specialist translators |
| SEO per language | Often weak, pages sometimes not indexed | Dedicated URLs, hreflang, translated tags |
| Simplified Chinese | Literal translation | Adapted, transliterated estate names |
| PDF sheets per vintage | Not translated | Generated in each language |
| Image with importers | Risk of looking amateur | Consistent with a premium négociant |
A common compromise: professional translation for the 40 strategic pages and tech sheets, reviewed machine translation for news.
Architecture: why subdirectories
Subdirectories (example-wines.com/en/) concentrate domain authority, unlike subdomains or country domains that each need their own SEO effort. Every page declares its equivalents via hreflang, with an English x-default. The menu lets users pick their language, with no forced IP-based redirect that would block search crawlers.
Mini case study
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Pierre, export director of a Bordeaux négociant (EUR 12M revenue, 70% exported), invests EUR 17,000 in the site, EUR 5,850 in translation and EUR 60 a month in CDN: EUR 23,570 in year one. The importer portal removes manual sending of price lists and sheets, saving the sales team 5 hours a week. Above all, if the site helps sign two new importers, for example in New York, worth EUR 150,000 a year each at a 15% margin, the investment is covered in year one with EUR 45,000 of margin.
FAQ
What does translating a négociant website cost?
Between EUR 0.10 and 0.16 per word depending on language, with Chinese at the top of the range. A 15,000-word site in three languages comes to EUR 4,500 to 7,200.
Do we need one domain per country?
Rarely for a négociant. Subdirectories with hreflang are simpler to manage and concentrate SEO on a single domain.
Will the site be fast in China?
Yes if it avoids blocked Google services, uses a CDN with Asian points of presence and self-hosted fonts. Aim for under 3 s load time from Shanghai.
What goes into an importer portal?
Prices by country and incoterm, allocations per vintage, PDF sheets, HD visuals and en primeur order forms. It costs EUR 2,500 to 5,000 depending on access levels.
How long does a four-language site take?
10 to 14 weeks, including 3 to 4 weeks of translation run in parallel with development.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your priority markets, languages and catalogue size, and we will price a site between EUR 12,000 and 22,000 including translation and a 10 to 14 week plan. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
