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A website for an export business has to do what a sales rep does in a first meeting abroad: speak the buyer's language, show the product with the specifications and certificates that market asks for, quote in terms the buyer recognises, and make the next step easy. For a manufacturer, wholesaler or B2B service company, that means country or language versions, a product catalogue with downloadable data sheets and declarations, a quote request that asks for Incoterms and destination, and the legal and invoicing details each market expects.
Most exporters' sites were built for the home market and translated later. Buyers notice: a German purchasing manager looks for German data sheets and an Impressum, a French buyer for French documentation, a British one for prices with VAT handled correctly. This guide goes through what an export site needs, in the order buyers meet it, and how to build it so that adding a market does not mean rebuilding the site.
Languages and country versions
Translating is the minimum; writing for a market is what sells. Decide per market:
| Choice | Use it when | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| One language version per language | buyers in several countries share a language and the offer is the same | a translator who knows your trade, and search terms per language |
| One version per country | prices, products, certifications or contacts differ per country | country versions such as en-GB and en-US, fr-FR and fr-BE |
| One English version for everyone | a small, specialised B2B market where buyers read English | clear English, and a contact who answers in the buyer's language |
Each version gets its own search terms, researched in that country; how to plan that is in international SEO strategy. Versions are linked with hreflang annotations, which our hreflang tag generator writes for you, and placed in subfolders, subdomains or country domains; choosing a domain is covered in how to choose a domain name.
What buyers check before they ask for a quote
- Specificationsthey can compare: dimensions, materials, tolerances, standards met, in the units of their market.
- Documentsdata sheets, CE declarations of conformity, safety data sheets, ISO certificates, test reports, in their language where the law or the buyer asks for it.
- Referencesfrom their own country or sector, if you have them, and nothing invented if you do not.
- Deliverylead times, minimum order quantities, how and from where you ship.
- A real contacta name, a phone number with country code, a reply in their language within a working day.
Put documents next to the product they belong to, not in a single downloads page, and give each a clear file name with language and version.
E-invoicing between businesses, market by market
1 January 2019
Italy
Every invoice between businesses through the national exchange system.
1 January 2025
Germany receives
Every German business must be able to receive structured e-invoices.
1 January 2026
Belgium
Structured e-invoices over Peppol between VAT-registered businesses in Belgium.
1 February 2026
Poland, large taxpayers
Invoices through the national KSeF system; other businesses followed on 1 April 2026.
1 September 2026
France receives
Every business receives e-invoices; large and mid-sized ones also issue them.
1 January 2027
Germany issues
Businesses with more than 800,000 euros of turnover must send e-invoices.
1 September 2027
France, small businesses issue
Small and micro-enterprises send e-invoices too.
1 January 2028
Germany, everyone
All businesses send structured e-invoices to each other.
April 2029
United Kingdom
Mandatory e-invoicing for VAT invoices between businesses and to government, as announced.
1 July 2030
EU cross-border
Under the VAT in the Digital Age package, invoices between businesses in different EU countries go digital.
Thresholds and exceptions differ per country; your accountant and your invoicing software settle the details.
The quote request
An export quote request asks for what you need to price a shipment, and nothing more. A form that works:
| Field | Why |
|---|---|
| Company, country and VAT number | to check the customer and apply the right VAT treatment |
| Products and quantities | the basis of the quote |
| Destination address or port | freight and duties depend on it |
| Incoterm, with a sensible default | who carries cost and risk where: EXW, FCA, CPT, DAP or DDP in the Incoterms 2020 rules |
| Desired delivery date | lead time and production planning |
| Documents needed | certificates, origin statements, labels in the buyer's language |
Send the request straight to the person who quotes, with an automatic reply in the buyer's language that says when they will hear back. A request that waits three days is a request the competitor answered first.
Invoicing per market
Invoices between businesses are going digital across Europe, each country on its own date; the timeline above shows the main export markets. For an exporter this means your invoicing software has to send structured e-invoices in the format each country uses: Peppol in Belgium, the national systems in Italy and Poland, accredited platforms in France, and from 2030 a common EU format for invoices between EU countries. Your accountant and your software provider settle the details; your website can help by asking for the buyer's VAT number and e-invoicing address in the quote request. Belgium's system is explained in e-invoicing in Belgium.
Payment and legal pages per market
B2B buyers mostly pay by bank transfer on invoice, but a web shop for professional buyers or spare parts meets the payment habits of each country; see payment methods in Europe. Each market also asks for its own legal pages: an Impressum for Germany, see Impressum requirements; company details for Belgium; a privacy policy under the GDPR everywhere in the EU; and, if you sell to consumers, accessibility under the European Accessibility Act and the consumer rules of each country. Germany's full list is in selling online in Germany.
Building it so the next market is easy
The cost of an export site is not the first language but every language after it. Build so that a new market is a set of translations and a few settings, not a project:
- One source of truth for productsSpecifications and documents live in one place and appear in every version; a change reaches every language.
- Templates, not pagesA product page template with fields for each language, so a translator fills fields instead of copying layouts.
- Language and country as settingsURLs, hreflang, currency, units, contact person and legal pages chosen per version from one list.
- Search terms per marketResearched before writing, not translated from the home language.
- Measurement per marketVisits and requests per country, so you see which market pays back the work.
Distributors, agents and trade fairs
Many exporters sell through distributors or agents in each country. The website supports them rather than competing with them: a distributor finder per country, product pages your partners can link to in their own language, and a partner area with price lists, marketing material and the latest documents. Trade fairs bring a wave of visitors who look you up afterwards; a landing page per fair, in the language of the fair, with the products you showed and a way to book a follow-up, turns those visits into requests.
Measuring an export site
Measure per country and per language, not only in total: visits, quote requests and the products they ask about, per market. Search Console shows impressions and clicks per country and per page; your own measurement shows which markets send requests. Review it every quarter and put your effort into the markets that respond. How to plan and measure search per country is in international SEO strategy.
Export websites, briefly
Does an export business need a website in every language?
In every language of the markets that matter most, written for those buyers. A small specialised B2B market can start with good English and a contact who answers in the buyer's language.
Should an export website show prices?
For standard products and spare parts, often yes, with VAT and delivery terms clear. For custom or volume orders, a quote request with Incoterm and destination works better.
Which documents should an export website offer?
Data sheets, declarations of conformity, safety data sheets and certificates, per product and in the buyer's language where the market asks for it.
Subfolders or country domains for an export site?
Subfolders on one strong domain are easiest to build and rank; country domains suit businesses with local entities and teams. The international SEO guide compares both.