The verdict in three sentences
A trilingual EN/ZH/FR website for a wine exporter based in Singapore costs between 15,000 and 40,000 SGD in 2026, plus 4,500 to 12,000 SGD of specialist translation depending on the volume of tech sheets. The real return comes from the trade portal: importers who download sheets, price lists and visuals on their own save the export team hours every week. Chinese requires specific technical choices, otherwise the site stays slow or unreachable from mainland China.
What the budget covers, line by line
The ranges below are 2026 orders of magnitude for a Singapore agency, excluding estate photography and video.
| Item | Essential version | Full version | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Custom design | 5,000 to 9,000 SGD | 10,000 to 15,000 SGD | Strong identity, producer and cuvée pages |
| Multilingual build + hreflang | 2,500 to 4,500 SGD | 4,500 to 8,000 SGD | URL per language, sitemap, cross tags |
| Secure trade portal | 3,500 to 5,500 SGD | 6,500 to 10,500 SGD | PDF sheets, prices, HD visuals, importer accounts |
| Wine and vintage catalogue | 2,000 to 3,500 SGD | 4,000 to 5,000 SGD | Filters by region, colour, vintage |
| China access optimisation | Partly included | 2,000 to 4,000 SGD | Self-hosted fonts and scripts, Asia CDN |
| Website total | 15,000 to 22,000 SGD | 27,000 to 40,000 SGD | 10 to 14 weeks |
Translation: the line you should not hand to a machine
An importer in Shanghai or Hong Kong judges the house on the accuracy of its sheets: blend, ageing, tasting notes, cellaring potential. Raw machine translation creates mistranslations that cost more than they save.
| Translation option | Price per word 2026 | Quality for tech sheets | Lead time for 15,000 words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raw machine translation | Almost zero | Insufficient | 1 day |
| Machine + post-editing | 0.09 to 0.13 SGD | Fine for English | 1 week |
| Wine-specialist translator, English | 0.15 to 0.21 SGD | Very good | 2 weeks |
| Wine-specialist translator, Simplified Chinese | 0.19 to 0.27 SGD | Very good | 2 to 3 weeks |
| Review by a partner importer | Free or negotiated | Market validation | Variable |
Use Simplified Chinese for mainland China and Singapore, and add Traditional Chinese only if Hong Kong and Taiwan weigh heavily in your sales.
Technical and regulatory points
Hreflang tags (en, zh-Hans, fr) stop Google from serving the wrong language. For China, Google Fonts, reCAPTCHA and some video players are blocked: self-host fonts and scripts and use a CDN with Asian points of presence. Hosting inside mainland China requires an ICP licence, rarely justified for a B2B prospecting site.
Alcohol advertising rules vary by market. Singapore requires responsible messaging and no targeting of minors, mainland China restricts claims and health benefits, and if you represent French producers their own material must follow the French Évin law, with the health warning and factual content. An age gate is recommended on every language version.
Mini case study
Wei Ling, export director of a Singapore wine distributor carrying 40 labels, budgets a full website at 27,000 SGD. Translation covers 18,000 words per language, or 36,000 words in Chinese and French at an average 0.21 SGD: 7,560 SGD. Total: 34,560 SGD, delivered in 12 weeks.
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Before the website, her assistant spent about 6 hours a week emailing sheets and visuals to importers. The trade portal cuts that time by two thirds, about 4 hours saved per week, close to 190 hours a year. At 45 SGD per loaded hour, savings reach about 8,550 SGD per year, before any effect on sales.
FAQ
Do we need one domain per country?
No, a single domain with /en, /zh and /fr sub-folders concentrates SEO authority. A .cn domain only makes sense with a dedicated China strategy and an ICP licence, in a separate budget of several thousand dollars.
Can we translate only part of the site?
Yes, many exporters first translate 15 to 20 key pages and the sheets of their export wines. That cuts the translation budget by 40 to 60%.
How do we handle importer-specific prices?
The trade portal can show prices per account or per region. Budget an extra 3,000 to 6,000 SGD for fine-grained price lists.
Is WeChat essential?
For mainland China, an official WeChat account is often viewed more than the website. The website remains the reference shared by importers, with a WeChat QR code on every page.
What does maintenance cost?
Plan 220 to 600 SGD per month for hosting, updates, security and new vintages.
Let's scope your project. Tell us your languages, number of wines and priority markets, and we will price the website, translation and launch 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.
