The verdict in three sentences
For a Bordeaux wine négociant selling to Singapore and Hong Kong, the multilingual website is a working tool for importers, not a brochure. The budget is 11,000 to 20,000 EUR excl. VAT for design and development, plus about 6,000 EUR of professional translation into English, Chinese and Japanese, with go-live in 10 to 12 weeks. The trade portal with tech sheets and export pricing is the feature that justifies the investment.
Which languages, for which markets
When 70 % of revenue leaves France, language choice follows the importer map, not intuition. English covers the UK, the US, Singapore and much of the Asian trade. Simplified Chinese targets mainland China, Traditional Chinese serves Hong Kong and Taiwan. Japanese remains essential for a market that is demanding about technical documentation. Each language must be a real version, with hreflang tags, dedicated URLs (/en/, /zh-hans/, /ja/) and copy reviewed by a native speaker who knows wine.
| Language | Markets covered | Typical export share for a Bordeaux négociant | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | UK, US, Singapore, Nordics | 35 % | Essential |
| Simplified Chinese | Mainland China | 15 % | High |
| Traditional Chinese | Hong Kong, Taiwan | 8 % | Medium, as a variant |
| Japanese | Japan | 7 % | High |
| German | Germany, Switzerland, Austria | 5 % | Optional |
| French | France, Belgium, Quebec | 30 % | Base |
A common mistake is turning on machine translation through a plugin. Chinese and Japanese importers spot machine text immediately, and Google indexes those pages poorly. Human translation is priced per word: 0.10 EUR for English, 0.15 to 0.18 EUR for Chinese and Japanese, as 2026 orders of magnitude.
The detailed budget
A négociant website usually has 30 to 50 editorial pages and a catalogue of 80 to 300 wines. Translation volume is around 12,000 to 15,000 words per language.
| Item | 2026 range excl. VAT |
|---|---|
| Custom UX and design | 3,500 to 6,000 EUR |
| Development, wine catalogue, hreflang | 4,500 to 8,000 EUR |
| Trade portal (login, export prices, PDF sheets) | 2,000 to 4,500 EUR |
| French copywriting and rewriting | 1,000 to 1,500 EUR |
| EN + ZH + JA translation (about 40,000 words) | 5,500 to 6,500 EUR |
| Hosting with Asian CDN (yearly) | 600 to 1,200 EUR |
| Total project | 17,100 to 27,700 EUR |
A CDN with points of presence in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo cuts load time by three for an Asian buyer: from 4.5 seconds to about 1.5 seconds on mobile. For a site hosted only in France, that is the difference between a tech sheet being read or abandoned. In US dollars, the total project is roughly 18,500 to 30,000 USD.
The trade portal: the heart of the project
A Singapore importer wants, in three clicks, the vintage tech sheet (blend, alcohol, tasting notes, critic scores), the ex-cellar or FOB price per pallet, availability and high-resolution visuals for their own catalogues. A login-protected area with price lists per country or per client replaces dozens of emails a week.
| Trade portal feature | Estimated monthly gain |
|---|---|
| Automatically generated PDF tech sheets | 10 h of preparation |
| Export prices by country list | 6 h of price list emails |
| Visible stock and en primeur allocations | 8 h of back-and-forth |
| HD image library | 4 h |
| Online pallet quote request | 5 h of follow-ups |
Mini case study
Need a professional website?
Kolonell builds websites that attract clients, optimized for the Sénégalese market. Free quote in 2 minutes.
Claire, export director of a 12-person Bordeaux négociant, runs 9 million EUR of revenue, 70 % outside France. She invests 15,500 EUR excl. VAT in the site and 6,000 EUR in translation, so 21,500 EUR. The trade portal saves her sales team about 33 hours per month, valued at 45 EUR per hour, or 1,485 EUR per month. On top of that, one additional Singapore importer ordering 3 pallets a year at 18,000 EUR with a 15 % margin adds 2,700 EUR of margin. On time savings alone, the project pays back in about 14 months; with two new importers, in under 9 months.
FAQ
How much does a multilingual website for a Bordeaux wine négociant cost?
Expect 11,000 to 20,000 EUR excl. VAT for design and development, plus about 6,000 EUR of translation for three foreign languages. A complete project lands between 17,000 and 28,000 EUR excl. VAT.
Should we translate into both Simplified and Traditional Chinese?
If Hong Kong and Taiwan represent more than 5 % of sales, yes. Adapting Simplified into Traditional costs about 30 to 40 % of a full translation, so 600 to 900 EUR for 15,000 words.
How do French alcohol advertising rules apply to an export site?
The site remains subject to France's Loi Évin for French visitors: health warning, informative content, no link to performance or seduction. Foreign versions must also follow local rules, such as Singapore's age gate at 18 and Japan's legal drinking age of 20.
How long does a four-language site take?
Ten to twelve weeks, including three to four for translation and native review. Starting translation as soon as French copy is approved saves two weeks.
Is an Asian CDN really necessary?
For a buyer in Singapore or Tokyo, yes: without a CDN, a site hosted in France takes 4 to 5 seconds to load on mobile. The extra cost is 300 to 600 EUR per year.
Let's scope your project. An EN/FR/ZH/JA website with trade portal, tech sheets and export pricing scopes at 17,000 to 28,000 EUR excl. VAT including translation, with go-live in 10 to 12 weeks. 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.
