Cardiff and Wales review software choices for independent retailers

What to take away

No major review platform treats Welsh as a first-class language. Trustpilot, Reviews.io, Shopper Approved, Yotpo, Feefo and Google Business Profile accept Welsh reviews, but the workflow stays manual on all six.
Entry plans cost about £25 to £40 a month, mid-range plans about £100 to £250. Welsh support is usually a paid add-on or a template you write yourself.
UK consumer and advertising rules apply in Wales without exception. The CMA, the ASA, the ICO and the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 shape what your review page may publish.
Test Welsh end to end before signing annuallyrequest email, review form, moderation queue, reply and storefront display.
Pair one paid tool with Google Business Profile, which takes Welsh reviews free but cannot be moderated.

Which review platforms handle Welsh reviews

Every platform here accepts Welsh text. None treats Welsh as a default language, so the bilingual work lands on your team.

Welsh reviews accepted

Trustpilot: Yes
Reviews.io: Yes
Shopper Approved: Yes
Yotpo: Yes
Feefo: On request
Google Business Profile: Yes

Welsh templates

Trustpilot: No
Reviews.io: Build your own
Shopper Approved: No
Yotpo: No
Feefo: Limited
Google Business Profile: Not applicable

Work left to you

Trustpilot: Typing Welsh requests and replies
Reviews.io: Writing multilingual request templates
Shopper Approved: Supplying Welsh invitation copy
Yotpo: Setting per-locale display
Feefo: Asking your account manager
Google Business Profile: No moderation or data ownership

Welsh support by platform

Trustpilot

Welsh interface: Yes
Welsh requests: No
Welsh display: No
Moderation: English-first

Reviews.io

Welsh interface: No
Welsh requests: Build yourself
Welsh display: No
Moderation: English dashboard

Yotpo

Welsh interface: No
Welsh requests: No
Welsh display: Per locale
Moderation: English-first

Trustpilot moderates in English first, so Welsh text clears slowly. Reviews.io adds Google seller ratings. Feefo is strong on verified service feedback. Google Business Profile shows Welsh reviews on Maps free, but you cannot edit them.

Three checks before you sign a year:

Send a live Welsh request and check the email renders.
Submit â, ŵ and dd, then check they store intact.
Reply in Welsh and check it is not flagged as spam.

If you are comparing suppliers, our guide to commerce review providers compares volume, verification and price.

Welsh request and reply templates to copy

Welsh requests get Welsh reviews. An English-only invitation produces English-only replies, whatever the software can store.

Diolch am siopa gyda ni. Fyddech chi'n gadael adolygiad? Gallwch ysgrifennu yn Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg. Thank you for shopping with us. Would you leave a review? You can write in Welsh or English.

Put the English line underneath. An invitation fluent in one language and clumsy in the other reads as an afterthought.

For replies, mirror the language the reviewer used. Most dashboards handle a mixed Welsh and English reply only as plain text.

Say in your privacy notice that you hold bilingual correspondence. The ICO's guide to UK GDPR explains the lawful bases and retention rules for review data.

GOV.UK's guidance on online reviews and endorsements covers incentivised reviews, staff reviews and hidden negative reviews.

What Cardiff independents should pay each month

Monthly review software price bands

Entry£25
Mid£100
VAT on £100£120

Band	Monthly cost	Typical cover
Entry	£25 to £40	One shop, basic requests, one widget
Mid	£100 to £250	Multiple users, richer widgets, integrations
Upper	£250 to £500	Higher volume, add-ons, priority support
Enterprise	Quoted annually	Multi-brand, custom terms

VAT applies to UK software subscriptions, so a £100 plan costs £120 for a VAT-registered shop. For unregistered shops, the gross figure is the real cost.

Cardiff retail is seasonal. Shops around Cardiff Market and the Royal Arcade sell hardest in December, so a January purchase spreads the cost. Our guide to UK seasonal review peaks shows when moderation load spikes.

SMS credits, translation add-ons and extra storefronts sit outside the headline price. Ask what the entry plan leaves out.

Example: costing a bilingual trial in a Cardiff arcade

Illustrative figures for a two-person shop in the Royal Arcade taking about 40 online orders a month.

Platform A costs £35 a month. It stores Welsh text but ships no Welsh request template, so the shop writes its own. Platform B costs £120 a month with multilingual templates, richer widgets and priority support.

Over a year, Platform A plus Google Business Profile costs roughly £420 plus VAT. Platform B costs about £1,440 plus VAT. The gap, about £1,020, pays for staff time on Welsh replies.

Order volume decides this, not the feature list. Below a few hundred monthly requests, entry pricing plus a written template usually beats a mid-range plan. Our guide to commerce reviews costs and pricing covers the wider budget lines.

Common questions

Does review software have to support Welsh by law?

Not directly. The Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 sets standards for some public bodies, not private shops. Customer expectation and your own policy usually push the same way.

Can I collect Welsh reviews on Google for free?

Yes. Google Business Profile accepts Welsh reviews and shows them on Maps. You cannot moderate them and you do not own the data, so pair it with one owned platform.

Do CMA and ASA rules apply to a small Welsh shop?

Yes. Consumer protection and advertising codes apply across the UK, whatever the size of the business. Fake or hidden negative reviews are the main risk. The CMA's organisation page explains its enforcement role.

What should I do with a negative Welsh review?

Reply in Welsh, stay factual and move the dispute offline. A calm bilingual reply is cheaper than an argument in public.