The Introduction of Shopify Markets: What Problems Can it Solve?
Shopify has begun the beta rollout of Shopify Markets to help merchants reach international audiences with ease and allegedly smaller technical debt
In the past, if you were a Shopify store owner and you wanted to sell internationally, you needed to connect your store to a marketplace app/channel or partner with a third-party retailer to reach international customers.
Shopify Markets allows you to market to international consumers and avoid the complexity of currency conversion/payout, site specific translation, localized payment methods, and VAT/duties!
It certainly sounds like a well thought-out promise, but does Shopify make good on all of those promises? Read to find out what specifications Shopify Markets declares to help owners with.
Currency Conversion
Shopify Markets does the dirty work for you and automatically converts your prices into local currency in ~133 countries/regions, adjusting and rounding based on the latest exchange rate:
Shopify estimates that stores can increase their conversion rates by up to 40%, by offering local currency pricing.
Language Translation
Arguably the most important aspect of breaking into a new international market, is to be able to sell to your customer in their native language! Approximately 40% of users wouldn’t purchase from an online store in a different language, according to a survey conducted in late 2021.
Shopify Markets allows use of third-party translation apps to change your store’s copy and content. Shopify also has big plans for future iterations, allowing native translation to be defined in the schema of your theme, so that you have full control over the translation of your site, as some of the translation apps cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, due to idiosyncrasies of any language.
International Domains
Another great aspect of Shopify Markets is the ability to easily connect different domains all to the same store dashboard. Using an international domain can greatly boost your stores’ SEO in local markets, increasing organic reach and SERP.
The best part about Shopify Markets is that after creating your new domains, Shopify will generate region specific SEO tags automatically, which will in turn increase your SERP and conversion rates.
Another interesting automation is that if a customer lands on the wrong domain, Shopify will use the customer’s IP address to redirect them to the right storefront based on their location.
Payment Methods
Payment methods are probably the most overlooked factors for boosting international sales. Much like every other regional preference, online shoppers have specific payment methods that they like to use over another that might be used ubiquitously in the US.
In the US, most shoppers (82%) prefer to input their credit/debit cards directly into a form on checkout. In the EU, the supermajority (80%) of people prefer using a payment processor like PayPal or Alipay, so that they can use one payment method across every website they might use, allowing them to keep their payment methods secure, as well as aggregating all of their purchases into one dashboard.
Shopify Markets Dashboard
Shopify Markets makes cross-border selling easy and efficient by aggregating all of your vital sales data you need into a single dashboard, allowing you to compare your different markets’ performance in the same place.
Shopify Markets Comparison Chart
Features included with all Shopify plans | Additional features for Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus plans |
Manage how you sell to each market from one place Sell in 133 currencies with Shopify Payments Provide local payment options with Shopify Payments Sell in up to 20 languages Set up custom domains to optimize for search Smart settings that optimize market operations | Customize catalogs and storefront per market (coming soon) Manage fulfillment locations per market Transaction fees for international selling 0.85% fee per order when duty and import taxes are calculated with Shopify Payments; 1.5% fee when using an alternative payment provider 1.5% fee per order when currency is converted Fees for using local payment methods are included as part of Shopify Payments international payment processing. Log in for details |
Expectations for Shopify Markets
The idea of simplifying international ecommerce is a benefit to Shopify owners. With the introduction of Shopify Markets, it’s empowering owners to embark on global sales campaigns faster and with more control. The tools and features currently incorporated with Shopify Markets won’t solve all your international hiccups, but it’s a start with a bright future. At this moment, selling globally on Shopify will take a few more skills but Shopify Markets is the future with exciting promises for Shopify owners. Looking to sell globally on Shopify, book your free consultation today!