Expanding your Shopify business internationally promises significant growth, but the logistics of cross-border sales can seem a tad daunting.
Enter Shopify Markets and Markets Pro, they aim to simplify the process, offering tools for a successful global strategy.
- Customised Storefronts: Go beyond language translation. Design store layouts, showcase culturally relevant products, and curate promotions specifically for each target market. This level of localisation builds trust with international shoppers.
- Automatic Currency Conversion: Price clarity is key and real-time conversion into local currencies means customers shop confidently and avoid confusion during checkout, boosting conversion rates.
- Country-Specific Domains: Help international searches work in your favour by using regional domains (.co.uk, .com.au). This improves visibility in local search results and gives your store a greater sense of legitimacy in foreign markets.
- International Pricing Control: Don't just convert your prices! Markets lets you adjust pricing per country to account for factors like shipping costs, local competition, and currency exchange rates.
- Basic Duties and Import Tax Calculations (Advanced & Plus only): While an estimate, providing customers with this upfront information can reduce basket abandonment as they get a better idea of the total cost and don’t have a nasty surprise at checkout.
- Precise Duty and Import Tax Calculations: Eliminate unpleasant surprises on arrival! Calculating the exact amount at checkout gives customers peace of mind leading to fewer abandoned purchases and unexpected returns.
- Diverse Local Payment Methods: Don't force international customers to work outside their preferred payment systems. Offering familiar options like PayPal or region-specific credit cards streamlines checkout and increases trust.
- Market-Driven Flash Sales: Capitalise on holidays and cultural events in different regions by running targeted, market-specific sales events. This helps generate new leads and attracts loyal customers in each market.
- Shipping Restrictions: Avoid the headache of unexpected shipment issues by automatically halting sales of items that can't be shipped to particular countries or those that attract complex import rules.
- Fraud and Chargeback Protection: Markets Pro acts as a safety net, analysing orders for potential red flags and providing financial protection. This minimises risk for merchants entering less familiar markets.
Consider these factors before making the leap:
- Growth Stage: If you're testing the waters internationally, Markets provides a great starting point. Upgrade to Pro when you see steady sales volume across several countries and managing it all becomes a bit too much.
- Target Markets: Shopify Markets Pro is currently geared towards US merchants and serves a specific list of countries. Ensure your key international markets are included.
- Automation vs. Manual Effort: If you're struggling with accurate, real-time duty and tax calculations, or manually complying with complex shipping regulations, Markets Pro's automation will save valuable time and reduce costly errors.
Shopify Markets and Markets Pro offer fantastic tools to make global selling a reality.
Start by understanding the core features of Markets and strategically implement Markets Pro when your business is ready to scale its international expansion.
Check out Shopify's site for more info - Selling Internationally
Or if you are ready to expand to new markets see Shopify's Summer Edition release
As always, please get in touch if you need any advice about implementing Shopify Markets or Shopify Markets Pro.
