Launch Your Store in Japan: Seamless Price Localization

Expanding an e‑commerce store to Japan can be daunting—different language, currency, and SEO expectations all need to be handled correctly. SiteLocaleAI makes this painless by letting you self‑host a JavaScript translation library, plug in your own LLM API keys, and apply psychological price rounding for JPY. In this tutorial we’ll walk through a complete setup, from installing the library to pre‑rendering SEO‑friendly pages.

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1. Prerequisites

• A running e‑commerce site (React, Vue, Shopify, WordPress, etc.)
• Access to an LLM API key (Claude, GPT‑4o‑mini, etc.)
• Node.js ≥ 14 for the CLI (optional for WordPress plugin)
• Basic knowledge of JavaScript and npm

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2. Install the SiteLocaleAI JS Library

Open a terminal in your project root and run:

npm install @sitelocaleai/core

The library is framework‑agnostic, so you can import it wherever you need translations:

// src/i18n.js
import { createTranslator } from '@sitelocaleai/core';

const translator = createTranslator({
  apiKey: process.env.LLM_API_KEY, // e.g., Claude or GPT‑4o‑mini
  targetLang: 'ja',
  fallbackLang: 'en',
});

export default translator;

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3. Localize Prices with Psychological Rounding

Japanese shoppers respond better to charm‑rounded prices (e.g., ¥1,980 instead of ¥1,999). SiteLocaleAI offers a tiny helper you can plug into your price‑display component.

// src/priceFormatter.js
export function formatJPY(amount) {
  // Convert USD (or your base currency) to JPY using a live rate.
  const rate = 150; // Example static rate; replace with API call if needed.
  const jpy = Math.round(amount * rate);

  // Apply charm rounding: nearest 10 or 100 depending on price tier.
  const rounded = jpy < 1000 ? Math.round(jpy / 10) * 10 : Math.round(jpy / 100) * 100;

  // Add thousands separator.
  return `¥${rounded.toLocaleString('ja-JP')}`;
}

Use it in a product card:

// components/ProductCard.jsx
import { formatJPY } from '../priceFormatter';

function ProductCard({ product }) {
  const priceJPY = formatJPY(product.priceUSD);
  return (
    <div className="product-card">
      <h2>{product.name}</h2>
      <p className="price">{priceJPY}</p>
    </div>
  );
}

Now every price shown to Japanese visitors is both accurate and psychologically appealing.

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4. Translate Text on the Fly

Wrap any UI string with the translator. The library caches translations, so the first request hits the LLM and subsequent renders are instant.

// src/components/Header.jsx
import translator from '../i18n';

function Header() {
  const title = translator.translate('Welcome to Our Store');
  return <h1>{title}</h1>;
}

For dynamic content (product descriptions, reviews) you can call translator.translateAsync inside useEffect or server‑side rendering pipelines.

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5. SEO‑Friendly Pre‑Rendering with the CLI

Search engines need fully rendered HTML to index translated pages. SiteLocaleAI ships a CLI that crawls your routes, renders them with the selected language, and writes static HTML files.

npx @sitelocaleai/cli prerender \
  --lang ja \
  --output ./dist/ja \
  --base-url https://yourstore.com

The CLI:
1. Starts a headless Chromium instance.
2. Loads each route.
3. Executes the translation library in‑page.
4. Saves the resulting DOM as a static file.

You can then configure your web server to serve ./dist/ja when the Accept-Language header is ja or when the URL contains /ja/.

Tip: Add the CLI step to your CI pipeline so every new product automatically gets a Japanese static page.

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6. WordPress Users – No Node Required

If your store runs on WordPress, SiteLocaleAI provides a plugin that bundles the JS library and the CLI‑like pre‑rendering as a PHP shortcode. Install it from the WordPress admin dashboard, paste your LLM API key, and enable “Japanese (JPY)”. The plugin will:
- Translate posts and product pages on the fly.
- Replace price placeholders with the formatJPY logic (the plugin includes the same rounding algorithm).
- Generate static HTML snapshots for Googlebot via the built‑in “SEO Pre‑Render” button.

For detailed steps, see the [WordPress integration guide](https://sitelocaleai.com/docs/wordpress).

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7. Testing Your Japanese Store

1. Local testing – Run npm run dev and set navigator.language = 'ja' in Chrome DevTools.
2. Crawl test – Use wget or curl with Accept-Language: ja to verify the pre‑rendered HTML contains Japanese text and correctly rounded prices.
3. Google Search Console – Submit the new /ja/ sitemap so Google indexes the translated pages.

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8. Going Live

Deploy your site as usual. Because the translation runs client‑side (or pre‑rendered), you keep full control of data and costs—only the LLM API usage you incur.

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9. Next Steps

• Add a currency switcher that toggles between USD and JPY using the same formatJPY helper.
• Experiment with other locales (e.g., Korean Won) by swapping targetLang and adjusting the rounding logic.
• Monitor conversion rates in Google Analytics to see the impact of charm pricing.

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Ready to go global? Try SiteLocaleAI today and watch your store speak the language of every market—starting with Japan. 🚀