The Client

Mason's is a prestigious Italian clothing brand, founded in 1974 in Carrara by the renowned tailor Vilmo Martini. His son Giorgio transformed his father's art of "know-how" into an entrepreneurial venture that still today combines artisanal tradition and innovation in the world of fashion.
The brand specializes in the production of high-quality chino trousers, with collections ranging from casual to elegant.

The Challenge

Mason's operated its online presence across 5 separate Shopify instances to serve its different marketplaces:

• masons.it (Italy)
• de.masons.it (Germany)
• en.masons.it (United Kingdom)
• fr.masons.it (France)
• us.masons.it (United States)

This multi-store architecture presented several challenges:

Operational Criticalities

• Fragmented management : duplication of effort for each update
• Complexity in inventory management : synchronizing the necessary stocks across 5 instances
• Inconsistency in brand experience : difficulty in maintaining consistency across stores
• SEO inefficiency : duplicate content and separate management for each domain

Project Objectives

1. Unify all 5 Shopify instances into a single multilingual Shopify store
2. Preserve all the SEO value accumulated over the years
3. Maintain specific identity for each market
4. Optimize operating and management costs
5. Improve user experience with seamless navigation between languages

The Hoculus Solution

Phase 1: Analysis and Planning

The initial phase required an in-depth analysis of the existing infrastructure:

• Complete audit of all 5 Shopify stores
• Content Mapping :
  • Products and variants
  • Collections and categorizations
  • Static pages and blogs
  • Custom Metafields
• SEO Analysis :
  • Sitemap of all domains
  • Organic performance by market
  • URL Structure and Patterns
• Study of existing translations
• Definition of migration strategy with priorities and timeline

Output : Complete strategic document with detailed budget and implementation roadmap.

Phase 2: Architecture and Technical Setup

Shopify Markets Implementation

Setting up your multilingual infrastructure using Shopify Markets to manage:

• 5 markets with dedicated languages ​​(IT, DE, FR, EN, ES)
• Differentiated prices by market
• Multiple currency management
• International linked domains

Differentiated Feed Management System

Implementing a solution to generate customized product feeds for each market, essential for:

• Google Multi-Market Shopping
• Facebook Catalog by Country
• Other local advertising channels

The implemented solution guarantees:

• Prices in the correct currency
• Language-specific translations
• Product availability by market
• Compliance with local regulations

Phase 3: Content Migration and Translation

Product Translation

Development of custom automations to manage:

• Localized product handles
• Titles in 5 languages
• Complete HTML descriptions
• Translated Metafields
• Meta titles and descriptions SEO optimized for each market

The developed system processed the entire product catalog, ensuring consistency and quality of translations.

Translation Collections

Complete collection management with:

• Localized handles for SEO
• Translated titles and descriptions
• SEO optimized metadata
• Multilingual Metafields

Technical challenge : Maintaining the specific order of products for each language, solved by creating dedicated collections per language with front-end replacement logic.

Alt Text Multilingual Images

Innovative implementation for managing translated alt texts (not yet natively supported by Shopify at the time of the intervention):

• Creating Metaobject with image name as identifier
• Dedicated fields for alt tags in each language
• Edit theme for dynamic data retrieval
• Application on product images and collections

This solution ensured optimal accessibility and SEO in all languages.

Translation Theme

Complete Shopify theme localization through:

• Locales for all languages
• Translation of theme sections and blocks
• Adapting theme settings
• Manual interventions for specific contents

The work covered German, French, and English with the support of native-speaking reviewers to ensure the translations were natural.

Static Page Translation

Development of automated scripts for:

• HTML content translation of pages
• Preserving formatting and styling
• Localized URL handles
• Translated SEO Metadata

Manage dozens of institutional, service, and landing pages.

Translation Navigation

Creating localized navigation menus for each language with:

• Menu item translation
• Links to language-appropriate resources
• Adapted mega menu and submenus
• Localized footer navigation

Blog and Article Translation

Complete migration of the multilingual blog:

• Automatic scripts for article translation
• Localized handles for SEO-friendly URLs
• Blog metadata translation
• Featured image management with translated alt text
• Preserving categories and tags

Phase 4: Technical Optimizations

Product Order Management in Collections

Challenge : Shopify doesn't natively support different language sorting in collections.

Solution implemented :

• Creating shadow collections for each language
• Custom logic in the theme to dynamically replace the displayed collection
• Metafields connection system
• Preservation of the specific ordering desired for each market

Cross-Language Collection Connection

Mapping system for connecting equivalent collections between languages:

• Dedicated metafield with handle of the reference Italian collection
• Logic for consistent navigation between language versions
• Support for hreflang and alternative links

Recovering Translations after Theme Update

How to preserve customizations after theme updates:

• Systematic backup of custom translations
• Automatic re-application script
• Post-update verification and testing

Managing 404 Pages with Redirects

Implemented automatic redirection to the home page in the correct language for pages not found, improving the user experience.

Phase 5: SEO and Domain Migration

Sitemap Comparison and Validation

Comparative analysis between old sitemaps and the new store for:

• Check full URL coverage
• Identify missing content
• Validate localized URL structure

Handle Cover Check

Systematic check of handle coverage for:

• Products
• Collections
• Pages
• Blog articles

Ensuring that all content from the old stores was matched in the new one, with correct localized handles.

Domain Transfer

Technical management of domain transfer from separate stores to the unified store:

• de.masons.it : transferred and configured
• en.masons.it : moved and configured
• fr.masons.it : moved and configured
• us.masons.it : moved and configured

For each domain:

• Coordination with registrar
• Check DNS records
• Shopify Markets setup
• Complete pre-switch testing

Results and Benefits

Operational Efficiency

Before migration :

• 5 stores to be managed separately
• Product updates x5
• Subscription costs x5
• Team scattered across multiple platforms

After migration :

• 1 unified store
• Centralized management
• Optimized workflows

SEO Performance

• 100% SEO value preserved thanks to:
  • Localized handles retained
  • Redirect 301 where necessary
  • Translated and optimized metadata
  • Consolidated sitemaps
  • Hreflangs correctly implemented

User Experience

• Smooth navigation between languages
• Brand consistency across all markets
• Improved performance with a single optimized store
• Complete localization : from navigation to checkout

Scalability

The implemented architecture allows to:

• Add new markets easily
• Expand your catalog without complications
• Manage multi-market promotions
• Implement new features only once

Technologies and Tools Used

Platform

• Shopify Plus with Markets
• Shopify GraphQL Admin API for Automations
• Metafields and Metaobjects for Structured Data

Custom Development

• Liquid for theme customizations
• Node.js and Python for migration scripts
• JavaScript for advanced frontend functionality

Automation vs. Manual Labor

For a project of this scale, the migration scripts have:

• Drastically reduced times compared to manual migration
• Eliminated human errors
• Data consistency guaranteed
• Allow for iterations and quick fixes

Preserving SEO Value

Critical elements for maintaining organic positions:

• Exact handle mapping
• 301 redirects where necessary
• Metadata translated, not copied
• Pre-launch testing with Search Console

Multilingual Testing

Systematic approach to QA:

• Specific checklist for each language
• Complete user flow tests for the market
• Verify translations with native speakers
• Technical validation (hreflang, canonical, etc.)