When DeepL met XXXLutz

XXXLutz, a global furniture retailer, chose DeepL for support in scaling its translations in line with growth. The team needed a secure, reliable solution that integrated easily into their existing workflows, helping them tackle complex document translations whilst freeing up time for other important (and more exciting) tasks.

Rewind please. XX–who?

XXXLutz, now one of the largest furniture retailers in the world, used to be known as just Lutz. Founded in 1945 with a focus on Austrian craftsmanship, the company championed local-style country furniture and handmade wooden boxes. But Lutz was destined for much more. The provincial furniture shop set its eyes on a new goal: success through expansion. Over the decades, more brands joined the family. Lutz became XXXLutz, and it hasn’t stopped growing since. 

Understanding the challenge

It goes without saying that to a global, ever-expanding retailer like XXXLutz, fast and effective communication with customers, colleagues and suppliers is paramount. From complex legal, manufacturing, and software documentation to product descriptions and internal comms, 
a solution was needed that could save time and help scale the business into new markets.

Can you name 6 different types of oak in Slovak?

The Translations Team at XXXLutz covers a wide range of translation requests, all of which 
are managed through Trados Studio. So for any new solution to work, it needed to integrate 
into their existing tech stack, building on what they already have to help free up their time for trickier tasks. Tasks like terminology research, which really can get quite niche (think 6 
different types of oak in Slovak).

Why DeepL?

“DeepL has always been known for delivering quality–particularly when it comes to legal text. It’s practically 
a household name.”

Head of Translations

• Security, backed by German standards

For XXXLutz, DeepL's reputation for quality and security was a driving force behind 
its decision to get a paid subscription. It was also a valuable way of raising awareness amongst the team of the importance of data security in translation. Choosing DeepL meant the team could take greater ownership over data privacy, particularly given 
the sensitive nature of many translations.

• Slides right into your existing stack

The browser application is still very much popular with the team, particularly when it comes to brainstorming or kicking off some research. But it was the plugins that proved more transformative. Adding the DeepL plugin directly into the Trados Studio makes for a seamless, speedy workflow that capitalizes on existing translation memory while incorporating quality new suggestions.

What happened next: the DeepL difference

The whole company benefits

It’s not just the translation team. Many at XXXLutz are now using DeepL for translations 
from product descriptions to emails and internal comms.

From internal discommunication to greater understanding

DeepL has made communication with external global suppliers, especially those based 
in Asia, far quicker and easier. These important relationships are enabled by quality translations, which prevent mistakes and enhance efficiency. It’s also helped build bridges internally between different global teams.

Doing the legwork on complex documents

Some internal guidelines and documentation, like software manuals and contracts, can be quite dense and difficult to translate. Not only that, they often contain key processes that 
are important for colleagues to grasp fully. Because in doing so, they are empowered to do 
a better job. DeepL provides a solid foundation for helping XXXLutz with the translation 
of these documents.

Precious time saved

There’s a lot of niche terms in furniture retail. And when a language is smaller, it can take a 
lot of time to find the right words. Tools like DeepL not only help with terminology research, they free the translations team up so they can spend more time on getting it exactly right. 
The best part is, when they do finally find the correct phrasing it can be added straight to 
the XXXLutz term base and the team don’t have to research again.

Flexible language pairs

At XXXLutz the volume of translations required in specific languages fluctuate with time. 
But because DeepL caters for so many different languages, it meant that DeepL could nevertheless meet changes in demand quickly and effectively.

Yes, we speak legalese

DeepL’s secure, smooth and compliant legal translations are just what the XXXLutz team asked for. They needed a solution that would free up their time for more creative work and scale their capacity. And that’s what they got. High quality communications that take into account the very precise legal context and meet the demands for the utmost confidentiality.

“Back in March, we had many project papers from colleagues taking workshops and they were mainly written in Czech 
and Slovak.  We had a hard deadline to translate them into German, so if you're not used to translating into your non-native language, then I think Deepl can kind of give you more confidence. The German suggestions were really good.”

Head of Translations

So now what?

The Translations Team, and the broader business have all found DeepL to be a valuable, reliable asset 
in their translation toolkit. Looking to the future, everyone is excited by the evolution of the platform: 

Thanks to both parties' unwavering commitment to innovation and data security, the team are now confident in their ability to meet the ever-growing ambitions of the business.