Just a few years ago, entering foreign markets truly forced online store owners to create separate stores. For those who have a store on the Shopify engine, this reality changed with the advent of Shopify Markets.
This solution was created precisely to make it easier for e-tailers who want to develop international sales to operate.
In this article, we will delve into what Shopify Markets is, how it works, and how to configure this tool.
Shopify Markets - what is it?
Shopify Markets, as I mentioned in the introduction, is a feature available to Shopify and Shopify Plus store owners that allows managing international sales from a single store. In practice, this means that within one Shopify license, we create something like a 'branch' for each market, within which we can implement individual sales settings.
For example:
Mr. Jan previously sold his products only on the Polish market. With the help of Shopify Markets, he also configured sales for the entire European Union (a separate market), for England (a separate market), and for Australia (a separate market). Each of these markets has its own separate settings for currency, language, payment methods, product prices, and, for example, delivery methods.
A key advantage of using Shopify Markets is that all markets are managed from one place, which significantly reduces store maintenance costs.
Shopify Markets - how does it work?
To fully understand the many benefits of using Shopify Markets, it's worth knowing how it works.
There are two most commonly chosen options: displaying the main store with the ability to switch to specific language versions or automatically recognizing the user's location and redirecting to the appropriate store version. This means that a customer in, for example, Austria will see the store in German and product prices in EUR, a customer from Poland will see the Polish version + prices in PLN, and an Englishman will see the English version with GBP.
Shopify Markets foreign sales
When it comes to foreign sales, Shopify Markets offers components such as:
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managing multiple currencies and languages
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implementing dedicated domains
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tax management
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price conversion
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local payment and shipping methods
Thanks to this, a given market functions as a 'local' version dedicated to a specific sales market.
Shopify Markets - step-by-step configuration
Shopify Markets configuration is, of course, an essential part of the entire process of activating international sales in a Shopify store.
Step I - Go to the Markets section
In the Shopify admin sidebar, select 'Markets':
You will see a list of active markets and the countries assigned to them.
Step II - Create a new market
Click the "Create Market" button.
At this stage, you can create:
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a market for a single country
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a market for a group of defined countries
Step III - Choose target countries
Add the countries where you intend to sell as part of launching a given market.
Step IV - Domain configuration
There are several variants here – using the main domain, subdomains, or directories. One of the most frequently chosen options is the one illustrated in the example below:
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sklep123.pl - as the main store / main version
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sklep123.pl/de - German version of the main store
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sklep123.pl/en - English version of the main store
Another option is also this approach:
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sklep123.pl - as the main store / main version
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de.sklep123.pl - German version of the main store
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en.sklep123.pl - English version of the main store
Step V - Currency and tax configuration
In this step, you can adjust the currency and tax settings:
Step VI - Language configuration
Add translations and select the language(s) available within a specific market.
Step VII - Shipping configuration
For each market, you can set:
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delivery methods
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delivery time
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delivery cost
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logistical limitations
Shopify Markets currencies and languages
One of the most important (if not the most important) features within Shopify Markets is currency and language management.
Multi-currency support
Shopify Markets allows displaying prices in the local currency defined by the store owner. For example:
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PLN for Poland
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USD for USA
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EUR for Spain
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CZK for Czech Republic
Multi-language support
Thanks to this feature, it is possible to create local translation versions for, among others, product descriptions, information pages, categories, or Shopify system messages.
Shopify multi-currency - how does it work?
With the help of Shopify Payments, we can implement multi-currency in a Shopify store, and the store owner, regarding how multi-currency should work, can:
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automatically use exchange rates to convert prices
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implement adjustments for converted prices
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create individual price lists.
Shopify multi-language - configuration
The multi-language configuration process within Shopify includes:
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Adding specific languages in the store settings.
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Developing translations.
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Assigning languages to defined markets.
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Configuring language change settings based on preferences.
It is also worth considering SEO optimization for each implemented version. It is also important to remember that translations should cover not only the main content but also system messages and less frequently visited subpages of the store - this affects the perception of the store as a coherent whole.
How to set prices for different Shopify countries?
A very significant advantage of Shopify Markets, which we, as a Shopify agency, often hear from our clients, is the ability to manage prices.
So, how do you set prices for different countries within Shopify? You can use the Price Adjustments function, which allows you to, for example, increase prices for a selected market or, of course, lower them, adjust the margin by comparing it with competitors, or account for additional costs such as logistics, service, and warehousing.
This means that a given product in Poland might cost PLN 1000, but in Germany it would be EUR 285, and in the Czech Republic CZK 6275.
Shopify Markets shipping
Delivery and related costs are an important element of international sales. It is definitely worth calculating everything precisely to be fully aware of the costs associated with the logistics of international shipments.
Within Shopify Markets and deliveries, customers most often choose different rates depending on the country of delivery, restricting the shipment of certain product groups to specific countries (e.g., a customer from Australia will not be able to order delicate, glass champagne glasses from Polish store xyz, because the costs associated with securing these products and the shipping price itself would be too high) and adapting local logistics operators per market.
It is also very important to clearly communicate prices, but also delivery times.
Shopify Markets taxes and VAT
There is no doubt that issues related to legal regulations, especially concerning taxes, are an extremely important element of international sales. Within Shopify Markets, we can calculate VAT for EU countries, handle B2C and B2B sales (for B2B, it is important to remember certain Shopify limitations, as this engine is based on a Canadian business model, which means not all complexities of B2B sales in Poland can be replicated), and configure taxes for specific zones.
Cross-border e-commerce Shopify as the future of international sales
The e-commerce industry is not slowing down; on the contrary, it is accelerating every year. Thanks to the opportunities that Shopify provides, cross-border commerce is becoming easier to achieve, and the use of Shopify Markets fits perfectly into long-term development strategies for individual markets.
More and more customers regularly order products from foreign stores, which means that expectations regarding the optimization of international shopping processes are growing.
How to effectively sell abroad using Shopify?
Properly configured Shopify Markets (in this area, as an agency operating within Shopify Poland, we are responsible for, among other things, store settings for international sales) is the first step towards foreign expansion. However, there are a number of elements that need to be remembered for this sale to be as effective as possible:
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market analysis, i.e., verifying the competition and the potential of a given country for selling your products (it may turn out that selling everywhere does not make sense),
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broadly understood 'customization', i.e., implementing local payment and delivery methods,
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availability, i.e., ensuring that, for example, the delivery cost will not be a 'deal-breaker' in the entire purchasing process,
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'localization' of content, i.e., adapting content to a given market (if possible, it's great to rely on professional translations).
These are, of course, just a few elements to consider, but they form a good basis for further actions.
Summary
Shopify Markets is undoubtedly one of the most powerful native tools available to Shopify store owners. It allows managing international sales from a single store, offering, among other things, multi-currency, multi-language, and price and tax management.
Properly configured Shopify Markets becomes the foundation of an international expansion strategy.
