Shopify in Danish: running your shop in Danish

A Danish Shopify shop can run in Danish all the way through: the admin, the theme, checkout and the emails to customers. It just takes someone to set it up and read through the result. This guide goes through what needs to be in place before a Shopify shop feels Danish to customers, and where it most often falls short.

Can Shopify run in Danish?#

Yes. There are three places the language has to be set:

The admin: each user chooses their own language in their profile, so you can work in Danish while a colleague works in English.
The shop: the theme's text and checkout are translated when Danish is set as the shop's language. Most themes have a Danish translation, but it is not always complete, so it should be read through.
Customer emails: order confirmations, shipping emails and other notifications have their own templates. If anyone has edited them, those edits need translating too.

What most often remains in English in a Danish Shopify shop is not Shopify itself but apps: a reviews app, a shipping app or a pop-up whose text nobody has translated.

What a Danish Shopify shop needs in place#

Prices and VAT. Danish customers expect prices in kroner including VAT. Shopify can show prices that way, but the tax settings have to be set correctly, especially if you also sell to other EU countries, or if some items have a different VAT rate.

Payment. Shopify Payments takes MobilePay and cards, including Visa/Dankort. If plain Dankort is needed, it goes through a Danish payment gateway such as QuickPay.

Shipping. Shipping with GLS, PostNord and DAO typically runs through Shipmondo, so shipping labels and track-and-trace are created automatically.

Accounting. Orders have to end up in e-conomic, Billy or Dinero with the right VAT codes. It is often an app that handles the ordinary order fine and fails silently on credit notes and partial shipments.

The legal side. Terms of sale, right of return and a cookie banner that fit Danish and European rules. Shopify has templates, but they are generic and should be adapted.

Danish Shopify shops: what most often gets forgotten#

The same things keep coming up in Danish Shopify shops:

Half-translated apps. Checkout is in Danish, but reviews, shipping options and pop-ups are in English. It looks unprofessional, and it can almost always be fixed.
Too many apps. Each app loads its own script on every page, and after a couple of years the shop is slow on mobile, where most orders are placed.
An accounting connection nobody keeps an eye on. It stops on a Friday, and the bookkeeper notices the following month.
Customer emails with English leftovers. The shop is Danish, but a customised order confirmation has English lines because nobody checked the notifications.

Shopify or WooCommerce for a Danish webshop?#

Shopify is a good choice for most Danish shops that sell in an ordinary way, because hosting, security and payments are Shopify's responsibility. WooCommerce gives more control, but also more to keep up to date. I have written a longer comparison: WooCommerce or Shopify for a Danish webshop.

Frequently asked questions#

Is Shopify Danish?

No, Shopify is a Canadian company, but the platform supports Danish in the admin, the shop and checkout, and it is used by many Danish webshops.

Can you pay with MobilePay in Shopify?

Yes, through Shopify Payments. Plain Dankort, without Visa, requires a Danish gateway such as QuickPay.

How do I translate my Shopify shop into Danish?

Set Danish as the shop's language, read through the theme's Danish translation and the notifications, and check each app separately. Apps are where English text most often gets left behind.

Can Shopify be connected to e-conomic or Billy?

Yes, either with an app or with an integration built directly on Shopify's API, when the app cannot handle credit notes, partial shipments or your VAT rules.

If you have a Danish Shopify shop that needs tidying up, adapting or connecting to your accounting, you can read more about my work as a Shopify developer.