Grow Your Business Worldwide Using Shopify Markets

In September 2021, Shopify declared that their merchants are now ‘global by default,’ introducing a new set of internationalization tools named ‘Shopify Markets.’ Following months of anticipation, the feature has officially been launched. Consequently, it is crucial to analyze the various modifications and enhancements and understand their implications for merchants.

The launch of Shopify Markets enables merchants to efficiently manage multi-currency, multi-language, international pricing, international domains, and Geolocation, all within a single-store setup. This eliminates the need for managing multiple storefronts, making a multi-store strategy less attractive.

Additionally, merchants can:

• Showcase distinct theme content for different countries using Liquid.
• Control inventory for each country (with a separate fulfillment center) from one single store.

Boost sales by customizing your online store for international visitors

Shopify Markets assists you in crafting personalized shopping experiences for customers in various countries or regions, allowing them to browse in their local currency and language, use local payment methods, and more. Providing customers with a familiar shopping and checkout experience fosters trust, ultimately leading to higher conversion rates.

Sell in local currencies

International customers anticipate prices in their local currency, and our data indicates that displaying products in a customer’s local currency can boost conversion rates by up to 40%. When integrated with Shopify Payments, Markets can automatically convert your storefront prices into over 130 international currencies using the most recent foreign exchange rates, and round them to uniform price endings throughout your localized store. Ranging from storefront and checkout to notifications and refunds, Markets delivers a seamless multicurrency experience, allowing your international customers to shop confidently.

Translate your store in multiple languages

A global survey of 8,709 consumers across 29 countries revealed that 65% prefer content in their native language when shopping online, and 40% would not even consider purchasing from websites they cannot understand. Our data demonstrates a 13% relative increase in conversion when customers were shown a store translated into their language, as opposed to the default language.

By using Shopify’s Translate & Adapt app, which seamlessly integrates with Shopify Markets, you can automatically translate your store into up to two languages for free, and manually add or modify as many language translations as needed. Like with currencies, languages function consistently throughout your store, offering your customers a comprehensive localized experience.

Customized domains

By utilizing international domains, you can enhance your store’s search engine visibility, attract new clientele, and boost conversion rates. Markets simplifies the process of assigning region-specific domains by generating subfolders automatically upon creating a new market. This allows your domestic market to reside at example.com, while a Canadian international market can be found at example.com/en-ca. Additionally, you have the option to use a subdomain (ca.example.com) or a country code top-level domain (example.ca), depending on your preferences.

Regardless of your choice, Shopify Markets ensures proper SEO tags are set, allowing international customers to see the appropriate domain in their search results. If visitors end up on the wrong domain, they can be automatically redirected to the correct shopping experience based on their location. In cases where auto-redirects are not permitted or functional (e.g., within the EU, where automatic redirection is disallowed), the Geolocation app can guide customers to select the right market according to their location.

Local payments methods

The choice of online payment methods can greatly affect purchasing decisions. Customers in different regions tend to favor familiar and trusted payment services, which differ across the globe.

Providing localized payment options to your international clientele can substantially boost conversion rates. For instance, Shopify’s data revealed that incorporating Bancontact as a payment method resulted in a notable rise (150 basis points) among Belgian consumers. When dealing with multiple currencies, Markets streamlines the process of including major European payment methods at checkout, helping to minimize instances of abandoned carts.

Gather duties and import taxes in advance

International customers may be uncertain about potential additional duties or import taxes on their purchases, leading to suboptimal experiences, refused packages, and chargebacks. Therefore, addressing duties and import taxes is a crucial aspect of your global strategy.

Markets enhance the shopping experience for international clients by collecting duties and import taxes during checkout. This ensures customers have a clear understanding of the total cost of their purchase and reduces unexpected surprises upon delivery.

Accelerate entry into new markets

Markets simplify international growth by automatically configuring the appropriate currency and domain subfolder as you establish a new market. This guarantees that your global customers can locate your store online and browse using their preferred currency. Furthermore, data-driven suggestions assist in strategically and efficiently penetrating the most promising markets, setting you up for success.

Personalize your market zones

Markets enable you to structure your global business in a manner that best suits your needs. Depending on your enterprise, managing several countries or regions collectively, rather than individually, could be more advantageous, allowing for broader expansion without duplicating localization efforts. For instance, you might want to establish a market encompassing all of Europe or Asia Pacific (rest assured, you can still display prices in local currencies and offer localized payment methods to customers within these markets).

Establish market-specific pricing

A single pricing strategy might not be suitable for all markets, as the approach that succeeds in your primary market may not be equally effective in every target market.

Markets empower you to fine-tune your pricing strategy by enabling percentage-based price adjustments for all items within a particular market, accounting for factors such as higher shipping costs. Moreover, if you wish to set a custom fixed price for a product in a specific market, Shopify Markets provides that flexibility as well.

Adapt product availability per market

When engaging in international sales, it might be necessary to modify your product offerings for distinct markets. This could be due to exclusive licensing agreements, regional regulations restricting shipping, or the desire to provide slightly varied products or packaging to cater to differing buyer preferences in each market.

Markets assists you in managing the products displayed on your store for every market. Coupled with the ability to regulate pricing by market, this feature enables you to fine-tune your global merchandising strategy across all the locations you serve.

Establish market-specific order routing rules

In the competitive landscape of today, effective and efficient order routing is crucial for any direct-to-consumer brand, particularly when managing inventory across multiple locations. Whether handling shipping in-house or partially outsourcing, determining the optimal location for order fulfillment is essential to reduce costs, display accurate shipping costs and transit times to shoppers, and expedite delivery times.

Shopify will soon introduce smart order routing to enhance your order fulfillment process and grant you complete control over your delivery operations. For instance, the new split fulfillment rule allows prioritization of order fulfillment based on stock availability at different locations. The closest location rule ensures orders are fulfilled from the store or warehouse nearest to the customer, resulting in a swift and seamless delivery experience.

How does Global-E fit in with Shopify?

As Shopify Markets transforms Shopify into a ‘global by default’ platform, some may wonder about the role of the widely-discussed Global-e partnership. The Shopify/Global-e collaboration is an independent service tailored for merchants with more intricate cross-border commerce requirements. Meanwhile, Shopify Markets enables international selling for brands of various sizes, catering to a broader range of businesses.

Advance your global expansion with Markets Pro

Markets allow you to select features that align with your international growth strategy. However, some brands may need a comprehensive solution that includes additional features.

Introducing Shopify Markets Pro—a unified cross-border solution that enables brands to enter hundreds of markets with just a few clicks. Built upon the foundation of Shopify Markets, which offers merchants the flexibility to utilize the features they need, Markets Pro delivers a single, turnkey solution that manages risk and complexity.

Merchants can now access features such as pre-negotiated international shipping rates, prepaid duties, financial risk and fraud protection, and enhanced payment methods to increase conversion rates. These features are combined with all the localization tools of Shopify Markets to create a single solution that supports rapid international growth.

Begin your global journey today

Global commerce isn’t just the future—it’s the present reality and it’s here to stay. That’s the driving force behind Shopify Markets, as we believe international success should be attainable for all.

Want to grow your brand globally using Shopify markets? Feel free to contact our Shopify experts.