How to Localise a Shopify Plus Store for Taiwan: Full Guide

Taiwan is one of Asia-Pacific's most digitally mature markets, with e-commerce revenue projected to reach US$15.3 billion by 2025 according to Statista. But international brands often underestimate the localisation depth required to convert Taiwanese shoppers. If you're figuring out how to localise a Shopify Plus store for Taiwan, you need to go far beyond simple translation — you need Traditional Chinese (zh-TW) language files, local payment rails including LINE Pay and convenience store payments, Taiwan-specific tax logic, and carrier integrations with 7-ELEVEN and FamilyMart pickup networks.

This tutorial walks through every technical layer, with code snippets and tool-specific instructions drawn from Branch8's direct implementation experience running Shopify Plus storefronts in the Taiwan market.

What makes Taiwan localisation different from other APAC markets?

Taiwan presents a unique combination of requirements that distinguish it from Hong Kong, Singapore, or even Mainland China:

• Script: Traditional Chinese (繁體中文), not Simplified Chinese. Using Simplified Chinese — which is standard in Mainland China — signals to Taiwanese consumers that you haven't done your homework.
• Payment preferences: Credit cards dominate, but LINE Pay has over 11 million registered users in Taiwan according to LINE Corporation's 2023 earnings report. Convenience store payment (paying at 7-ELEVEN or FamilyMart counters) remains a preferred method for a significant segment of buyers.
• Logistics expectations: Taiwanese consumers expect convenience store pickup (超商取貨) as a standard delivery option. Taiwan has over 13,000 convenience stores — the highest density per capita globally according to the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs.
• Tax: Taiwan's business tax (營業稅) is a flat 5% VAT on most goods. Electronic invoices (電子發票) are government-mandated for B2C transactions.
• Domain and SEO: Taiwanese consumers search in Traditional Chinese on Google (which holds over 94% search market share in Taiwan per StatCounter). You need zh-TW hreflang tags, not generic zh.

Understanding these layers upfront prevents the most common mistake we see: brands launching a "Chinese" store that's actually built for Hong Kong or Mainland China audiences and wondering why Taiwan conversion rates stay below 1%.

How do you set up Traditional Chinese (zh-TW) on Shopify Plus?

Shopify Plus supports multiple languages natively through its Markets feature and the Translate & Adapt app. Here's the step-by-step process.

Step 1: Enable Taiwan as a market

In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Markets. Create a new market for Taiwan. Assign the country, set your currency to TWD (New Taiwan Dollar), and define your domain strategy.

For Taiwan, we recommend a subfolder structure (yourbrand.com/zh-tw/) over a subdomain. Subfolder structures consolidate domain authority, which matters when you're building SEO presence in a new market.

Step 2: Add Traditional Chinese as a published language

Navigate to Settings → Languages. Click Add language and select Traditional Chinese (繁體中文). Shopify's language code for this is zh-TW.

Critical distinction: do NOT select "Chinese (Simplified)" or generic "Chinese." Shopify treats these as separate locales, and selecting the wrong one will serve Simplified characters to your Taiwanese visitors.

Step 3: Translate your storefront content

Install the Translate & Adapt app (free, built by Shopify). This app lets you translate product titles, descriptions, collection pages, checkout fields, and notification emails.

For production-quality translations, we use a two-pass approach:

1. First pass: Machine translation via DeepL Pro (not Google Translate — DeepL handles Traditional Chinese grammar structures significantly better for e-commerce copy).
2. Second pass: Native Taiwanese copywriters review and adapt. This is non-negotiable. Machine translation consistently mishandles measure words (量詞), product-specific terminology, and the conversational tone that converts in Taiwan.

Here's how to bulk-import translations using the Translate & Adapt API:

1mutation {
2  translationsRegister(
3    resourceId: "gid://shopify/Product/1234567890"
4    translations: [
5      {
6        key: "title"
7        value: "經典純棉圓領T恤"
8        locale: "zh-TW"
9        translatableContentDigest: "abc123digest"
10      }
11      {
12        key: "body_html"
13        value: "<p>採用100%有機棉製成，舒適透氣...</p>"
14        locale: "zh-TW"
15        translatableContentDigest: "def456digest"
16      }
17    ]
18  ) {
19    userErrors {
20      field
21      message
22    }
23    translations {
24      key
25      value
26    }
27  }
28}

Step 4: Set hreflang tags correctly

Shopify Plus automatically generates hreflang tags when you configure Markets, but verify them manually. Your Taiwan pages should output:

1<link rel="alternate" hreflang="zh-TW" href="https://yourbrand.com/zh-tw/" />
2<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://yourbrand.com/" />

Check this with Ahrefs or Screaming Frog. A common bug we've encountered: if you have both Hong Kong (zh-HK) and Taiwan (zh-TW) markets, Shopify sometimes defaults both to generic zh. You may need to override this in your theme's layout/theme.liquid file.

How do you integrate LINE Pay and local Taiwan payment methods?

Payment localisation is where Taiwan conversions are won or lost. According to a 2023 MIC Institute survey, credit cards account for roughly 60% of online payments in Taiwan, but LINE Pay and convenience store payment collectively capture another 25-30%.

LINE Pay integration

Shopify Plus supports LINE Pay through third-party payment gateway integrations. The most reliable path:

1. Partner with a Taiwan-licensed payment service provider (PSP) — TapPay, NewebPay (藍新金流), or ECPay (綠界科技) all support LINE Pay and integrate with Shopify via their payment gateway apps or custom checkout extensions.
2. Install the PSP's Shopify app — For example, ECPay offers a Shopify payment app that bundles LINE Pay, JKoPay, and convenience store payment into a single integration.
3. Configure in Shopify Payments settings — Go to Settings → Payments → Additional payment methods and activate the installed gateway.

For Shopify Plus merchants specifically, you can use Checkout Extensibility to customise how LINE Pay appears at checkout:

Related: our guide on for shopify plus

1// checkout-ui-extension for LINE Pay branding
2import { extension, Banner } from "@shopify/ui-extensions/checkout";
3
4export default extension(
5  "purchase.checkout.payment-method-list.render-after",
6  (root, { i18n }) => {
7    const locale = i18n.language;
8    if (locale === "zh-TW") {
9      root.appendChild(
10        root.createComponent(Banner, {
11          title: "支援 LINE Pay 付款",
12          status: "info",
13        })
14      );
15    }
16  }
17);

Convenience store payment (超商付款)

This is uniquely Taiwanese. Shoppers place an order online, receive a payment code, walk to a 7-ELEVEN or FamilyMart, and pay cash at the counter using an ibon or FamiPort kiosk.

ECPay and NewebPay both support this flow. The integration works as follows:

1. Customer selects "超商付款" at checkout.
2. Your PSP generates a payment code and barcode.
3. Customer receives the code via email/SMS.
4. Customer pays at the convenience store within 24-72 hours (configurable).
5. PSP confirms payment to Shopify via webhook, and the order status updates.

The trade-off: convenience store payments introduce a 1-3 day delay between order placement and payment confirmation. You need to configure your fulfilment workflow to hold orders until payment clears. In Shopify Plus, use Shopify Flow to automate this:

1Trigger: Order created
2Condition: Payment status = Pending AND Payment gateway = ECPay CVS
3Action: Add order tag "awaiting-cvs-payment"

Then create a second Flow:

1Trigger: Order paid
2Condition: Order has tag "awaiting-cvs-payment"
3Action: Remove tag → Send fulfilment notification

How do you handle Taiwan tax and electronic invoicing?

Taiwan levies a 5% Value Added Tax (營業稅) on most goods and services. If you're selling to Taiwanese consumers, you need to handle this correctly.

Tax configuration

In Settings → Taxes and duties, find your Taiwan market and set the tax rate to 5%. Shopify Plus allows you to configure whether prices are tax-inclusive or tax-exclusive. Taiwan convention is tax-inclusive pricing — consumers expect to see the final price, not a pre-tax price with VAT added at checkout.

Toggle this under Settings → Taxes and duties → Taiwan → Include tax in prices.

Electronic invoicing (電子發票)

Taiwan's Ministry of Finance mandates electronic invoices (e-invoices) for B2C transactions. These aren't optional — they're a legal requirement. Every transaction must generate a government-formatted e-invoice with a unique invoice number allocated by the National Taxation Bureau.

Shopify doesn't handle Taiwan e-invoices natively. You need a third-party integration:

• ECPay e-invoice module: The most widely used solution. ECPay is a government-authorised e-invoice platform (加值中心) that can issue, void, and manage invoices.
• ezPay (簡單付): Another authorised provider with Shopify integration capabilities.

The integration flow:

1. Order is paid on Shopify.
2. Webhook fires to your e-invoice provider.
3. Provider issues a government-compliant e-invoice.
4. Invoice number and details are sent back to the customer.
5. Customer can choose to store the invoice in their carrier (載具) — typically linked to their phone number or a physical membership card.

Here's a sample webhook handler for issuing an ECPay e-invoice:

1// Node.js webhook handler for Shopify order/paid → ECPay e-invoice
2const crypto = require("crypto");
3
4app.post("/webhooks/orders/paid", async (req, res) => {
5  const order = req.body;
6
7  // Build ECPay e-invoice request
8  const invoiceData = {
9    MerchantID: process.env.ECPAY_MERCHANT_ID,
10    RelateNumber: order.name, // e.g., #1001
11    CustomerEmail: order.email,
12    CustomerPhone: order.shipping_address?.phone || "",
13    TaxType: "1", // 1 = taxable
14    SalesAmount: Math.round(order.total_price),
15    InvType: "07", // General invoice
16    Items: order.line_items.map((item) => ({
17      ItemName: item.title,
18      ItemCount: item.quantity,
19      ItemWord: "個",
20      ItemPrice: Math.round(parseFloat(item.price)),
21      ItemTaxType: "1",
22      ItemAmount: Math.round(parseFloat(item.price) * item.quantity),
23    })),
24  };
25
26  // Send to ECPay e-invoice API
27  const response = await fetch(
28    "https://einvoice.ecpay.com.tw/Invoice/Issue",
29    {
30      method: "POST",
31      body: buildECPayFormData(invoiceData),
32    }
33  );
34
35  res.status(200).send("OK");
36});

Note: The actual ECPay API requires HMAC-SHA256 signature generation and URL-encoded form data. Consult ECPay's official API documentation (version 3.0.0 or later) for the full implementation spec.

How do you integrate 7-ELEVEN and FamilyMart pickup on Shopify Plus?

Convenience store pickup (超商取貨) is arguably the single most important logistics localisation for Taiwan. According to Taiwan's Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute (MIC), over 40% of Taiwanese online shoppers have used convenience store pickup.

How C-store pickup works

The flow is different from standard shipping:

1. At checkout, the customer clicks "convenience store pickup."
2. A map interface opens showing nearby 7-ELEVEN or FamilyMart locations.
3. Customer selects their preferred store.
4. Order is shipped to that store via the retailer's logistics network (統一速達 for 7-ELEVEN, 全家物流 for FamilyMart).
5. Customer receives an SMS when the package arrives and picks it up within 7 days.

Technical implementation

Shopify's native checkout doesn't support C-store picker maps. On Shopify Plus, you have two options:

Option A: PSP-bundled logistics (recommended)

ECPay and NewebPay offer bundled payment + logistics modules that include C-store map selection. When a customer chooses C-store pickup, the PSP's JavaScript SDK opens an embedded map. The selected store's ID, name, and address are passed back to Shopify as shipping address metadata.

1// ECPay C-store map SDK integration (simplified)
2function openCStoreMap(logisticsType) {
3  // logisticsType: 'UNIMARTC2C' (7-ELEVEN) or 'FAMIC2C' (FamilyMart)
4  const form = document.createElement("form");
5  form.method = "POST";
6  form.action = "https://logistics.ecpay.com.tw/Express/map";
7  form.target = "ecpayMap";
8
9  const params = {
10    MerchantID: "YOUR_MERCHANT_ID",
11    LogisticsType: "CVS",
12    LogisticsSubType: logisticsType,
13    IsCollection: "N",
14    ServerReplyURL: "https://yourstore.com/api/ecpay/store-callback",
15  };
16
17  Object.entries(params).forEach(([key, value]) => {
18    const input = document.createElement("input");
19    input.type = "hidden";
20    input.name = key;
21    input.value = value;
22    form.appendChild(input);
23  });
24
25  document.body.appendChild(form);
26  form.submit();
27}

Option B: Custom checkout extension

Using Shopify Plus's Checkout Extensibility, you can build a custom UI extension that integrates the C-store map directly into the checkout flow. This is more work but delivers a cleaner user experience.

At Branch8, we built a custom C-store pickup extension for a Hong Kong-based fashion brand expanding to Taiwan in Q3 2024. The project used Shopify Plus's checkout UI extensions (using Checkout Extensibility, not the deprecated checkout.liquid), ECPay as the PSP, and a custom Node.js middleware layer to handle the store selection callback. The full integration — including LINE Pay, C-store payment, C-store pickup, and e-invoicing — took approximately 8 weeks from scoping to production launch. The brand saw a 34% increase in Taiwan conversion rate within the first 60 days compared to their previous setup, which only offered credit card payment and standard courier delivery.

Shipping rate configuration

For C-store pickup, create a dedicated shipping rate in Settings → Shipping and delivery:

• Create a new shipping profile for Taiwan.
• Add a rate named "7-ELEVEN 超商取貨" at a flat fee (typically NT$60-80).
• Add a rate named "全家 FamilyMart 取貨" at a similar fee.
• Set weight limits — most C-store logistics cap packages at 5kg and 45cm on the longest side.

What SEO and content adjustments does Taiwan require?

Localising a Shopify Plus store for Taiwan doesn't stop at the storefront. Your content strategy needs Taiwanese search behaviour in mind.

Keyword differences

Taiwanese search terms differ from Hong Kong or Mainland Chinese terms for the same products:

• "Hoodie" → Taiwan: 帽T / Hong Kong: 連帽衫
• "Sneakers" → Taiwan: 球鞋 / Hong Kong: 波鞋
• "Yogurt" → Taiwan: 優格 / Hong Kong: 乳酪 / Mainland: 酸奶
• "Software" → Taiwan: 軟體 / Mainland: 軟件

Run your keyword research using Ahrefs or SEMrush with the location set to Taiwan and language set to Traditional Chinese. Don't assume Hong Kong keyword data transfers.

Structured data

Ensure your product structured data (JSON-LD) includes the zh-TW locale pricing in TWD:

1{
2  "@context": "https://schema.org",
3  "@type": "Product",
4  "name": "經典純棉圓領T恤",
5  "description": "採用100%有機棉製成",
6  "offers": {
7    "@type": "Offer",
8    "priceCurrency": "TWD",
9    "price": "890",
10    "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock",
11    "url": "https://yourbrand.com/zh-tw/products/classic-cotton-tee"
12  }
13}

Local platform considerations

Beyond Google, consider that LINE is Taiwan's dominant messaging platform with a 95% smartphone penetration rate according to LINE's own usage data. A LINE Official Account with a linked storefront (via LINE Shopping or a Rich Menu linking to your Shopify store) is a high-impact acquisition channel that most Western brands overlook.

Related: How to Migrate Your Shopify Store to Headless Commerce

What are the common pitfalls when localising for Taiwan?

Based on our work across multiple Taiwan Shopify Plus deployments, these are the issues that cause the most damage:

• Using Simplified Chinese anywhere — Even a single Simplified character in your checkout or email notifications will erode trust. Audit every customer-facing string.
• Ignoring C-store pickup — Brands that only offer home delivery in Taiwan are leaving significant revenue on the table, especially for items under NT$2,000.
• Hardcoding currency formatting — TWD uses no decimal places. "NT$890" is correct; "NT$890.00" looks unnatural to Taiwanese shoppers.
• Skipping e-invoicing — This is a legal compliance issue, not a nice-to-have. Fines for non-compliance start at NT$3,000 per missing invoice under Taiwan's Uniform Invoice Award Act.
• Using a .com.tw domain without a local entity — Registering a .com.tw domain requires a Taiwan business registration number (統一編號). If you don't have a local entity, stick with subfolder localisation on your main domain.

Bringing it all together: your localisation checklist

Here's the sequential order we recommend for launching a Shopify Plus store in Taiwan:

Phase 1: Foundation (Weeks 1-3)

• Configure Taiwan as a Shopify Market with TWD currency
• Add zh-TW as a published language
• Set up subfolder domain structure
• Configure 5% tax-inclusive pricing

Phase 2: Translation and content (Weeks 2-5)

• Machine translate all storefront content via DeepL Pro
• Native Taiwanese copywriter review and adaptation
• Localise email notifications, SMS templates, and checkout fields
• Adapt product imagery if it contains text overlays

Phase 3: Payments (Weeks 3-6)

• Integrate ECPay or NewebPay as payment gateway
• Enable credit card, LINE Pay, and C-store payment
• Configure Shopify Flow for pending payment workflows
• Test the complete payment cycle end-to-end

Phase 4: Logistics (Weeks 4-7)

• Integrate 7-ELEVEN and FamilyMart C-store pickup
• Configure standard courier shipping (黑貓宅急便 or 新竹物流)
• Set weight and dimension limits per shipping method
• Test package tracking webhook integration

Phase 5: Compliance and launch (Weeks 6-8)

• Integrate e-invoice provider (ECPay or ezPay)
• Test invoice issuance, void, and refund flows
• Verify hreflang tags and structured data
• Run UAT with a Taiwanese test group
• Launch

The total timeline for a comprehensive Taiwan localisation on Shopify Plus is typically 8-12 weeks, depending on the complexity of your catalogue and whether you need a local business entity.

Knowing how to localise a Shopify Plus store for Taiwan is ultimately about respecting the specificity of the market. Taiwan isn't a variant of another Chinese-speaking region — it has its own payment culture, logistics infrastructure, tax system, and consumer expectations. Brands that treat it as such consistently outperform those who try to serve it with a generic "Greater China" approach.

Branch8 helps international brands and APAC-based companies launch and scale localised Shopify Plus stores across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and the wider Asia-Pacific region. Get in touch to discuss your Taiwan market entry.

Sources

• Statista — Taiwan e-commerce market revenue forecast: https://www.statista.com/outlook/eo/ecommerce/taiwan
• LINE Corporation — LINE Pay user data and Taiwan usage: https://linecorp.com/en/ir/library/
• StatCounter — Search engine market share in Taiwan: https://gs.statcounter.com/search-engine-market-share/all/taiwan
• Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs — Convenience store statistics: https://www.moea.gov.tw/
• ECPay — E-invoice and payment API documentation: https://www.ecpay.com.tw/Service/API_Help
• MIC Institute — Taiwan online shopping behaviour survey: https://mic.iii.org.tw/en/
• Shopify — Markets and multi-language configuration: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/markets
• Shopify — Checkout Extensibility documentation: https://shopify.dev/docs/api/checkout-ui-extensions