With the introduction of Shopify Markets, the ecommerce giant aims to remove barriers associated with international ecommerce and make it more accessible for merchants to sell globally.
2020 changed everything for ecommerce. It was a record year with sales of over $4 trillion. As online retail blurs boundaries between platform, device and territory, opportunities are increasingly becoming international.
While Shopify has always enabled merchants to operate in different territories with multicurrency functionality and international domains, the introduction of Shopify Markets further removes complexities and hurdles to international commerce.
What Will Shopify Markets Change?
Merchants will be able to manage international operations from a single Shopify store. International issues will be solved with Shopify Markets, which acts as a hub with a set of tools merchants can use to manage their businesses on a global scale covering:
- currency conversion for over 133 local currencies
- local payment methods to reassure customers
- duty and taxes automatically calculated at checkout
- language translation so customers feel at home
Here are some of the ways that Markets will make international commerce easy:
Expand into new territories easily
Using a central dashboard, merchants can enable new markets and manage them from one place.
Connect with regional customers by tailoring the experience for each market
By customising across regions, merchants can personalise the commerce experience for customers in different territories to increase trust and improve conversion rates. Using Markets, online businesses will be able to customise: local currencies, pricing and rounding rules, language, local domains and SEO optimisation, visibility of region-specific taxes so these aren’t added on later at checkout - which can harm conversion.
Optimise operations in different territories with insight analytics and smart settings
Shopify will identify the best way to sell in a region using data collected from millions of stores around the world. Merchants can then use these insights to improve their own business performance, predicting demand and setting goals.
With prices set by market, merchants will have greater control over their overall business
Smart settings will automatically make changes and optimise stores to enhance performance, on behalf of the merchant.
Central management platform for all regions
Localised store-fronts all exist in one place, so merchants have a holistic view of their entire business across all countries and regions.
How Can I Get Started With Shopify Markets?
Shopify Markets is now in early access, and will be rolled out in the coming months. It works slightly differently for merchants on Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus plans:
All Shopify 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 for local SEO
- Smart settings that optimise operations
Additional features for Advanced/Plus plans:
- Collect duty and import taxes at checkout
- Set custom pricing for each market with Shopify Payments
- Customise catalogues and storefronts for each market
- Manage fulfillment locations per market
Fees for international transactions:
- 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.
If you need any support with your Shopify store or marketing, simply contact us and our experts will be happy to help.