SHOPIFY MARKETS - A NEW WAY OF DOING INTERNATIONAL E-COMMERCE

Shopify has launched ‘Shopify Markets’ - the new global commerce hub for merchants. Before Shopify Markets, you needed to sell on a marketplace or partner with a third-party retailer to reach international customers. 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. 

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.

• 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

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. Merchants will be able  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

How will Markets make international commerce easier?

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.

 

Currency Conversion

The ability to pay for a product in a local currency is a decisive factor in conversion rates. Shopify estimates that stores that offer local currency pricing increase conversion rates by up to 40%.

Shopify Markets offers automatic currency conversion in over 130 currencies. Your storefront prices are automatically adjusted and rounded based on the latest exchange rate: It’s not just product pages that offer localized pricing. The checkout process and the notifications and refunds process are shown in the local currency. This is a great feature that takes out a lot of the hassle of selling internationally. It could also make a big difference when it comes to conversions.

Language Translation

The language barrier used to be one of the most significant barriers when it came to selling internationally. You needed to hire a native-speaking copywriter or partner with a third-party retailer. Being able to offer content and product details in the local language is vital for breaking into new markets. According to a recent survey, 40% of people won’t buy from an online store in a different language. Shopify Markets uses third-party apps to translate your store content and copy. In the near future, Shopify also plans to release native translation support to ensure that nothing is lost in translation. Language translation works across every page of your storefront and checkout process.

International Domains

Shopify Markets enables you to create region or country-specific domains easily. Having an international domain for your store can boost your SEO and increase your organic reach. It can also help to improve your credibility and increase conversions. After choosing your regional domain strategy, Shopify will automatically generate SEO tags to help you get found in the search results. If a visitor navigates to the wrong domain, Shopify will use their IP address to direct them to the right storefront for their location.

Payment Methods

Payment methods are one of the most overlooked factors for boosting cross-border sales. Online shoppers have payment method preferences that depend on their location. Shopify Markets suggests the most popular payment methods for the region and lets you take payment from your customers using their preferred method.

Calculate Duty and Import Taxes

Every online shopper wants to know exactly how much a product will cost before completing the checkout process. One of the biggest challenges for e-commerce stores in global markets is providing this information upfront before the shopper clicks buy now. You need to know the duties and import taxes that could increase the total cost of your products. Shopify Markets automatically compiles this information and collects the duty and import taxes due at the checkout. Your customers can see the total cost of the item and avoid any delivery problems or additional charges when receiving their order.

Shopify Markets Dashboard

Shopify Markets makes cross-border selling simple by bringing all of the important information and options you need into a single dashboard. You can control all of your storefronts from one place. It also provides smart recommendations to help you scale your business and make the most of opportunities in new markets.

Customizable Market Options

Depending on your products, it may make more sense to sell to larger regions than individual countries. For example, you can create a storefront for the European Union instead of creating a separate storefront for each of the 27 member countries. Shopify Markets makes it super-easy to set up markets and choose regions. You also have the option of customizing your storefront for buyers from different countries in those markets. For example, if you set up a market for Asia Pacific, you can still show pricing in the local currency for shoppers in each country.

International Pricing Configuration

Shopify Markets can automatically convert your pricing into the local currency. But sometimes, you may need to do more than simply convert your prices. For example, your primary market pricing strategy might be different from your secondary market strategy. In your primary market, you may already have an established customer base that allows you to maximize your margins. In the secondary market, you might want to lower your margins to attract new customers. Shopify Markets offers complete pricing control. You can adjust your pricing for each market directly within the dashboard.

Inventory and Fulfillment Control

Shopify Markets will automatically show customers the inventory you can ship to their location. For example, if you have a fulfillment partner in Germany that ships exclusively to the EU, shoppers in that market will only see available inventory from that partner. This allows you to avoid situations where an order is placed and cannot be fulfilled. Shopify Markets automatically adjust your storefront inventory according to product availability in the market.

Smart Settings

Selling to a bunch of new markets might feel a bit overwhelming at first. How will you keep track of the best practices and strategies for each market? Shopify uses its vast amount of sales data to help you. Smart settings monitor your performance and make automatic optimizations to help you sell more. If you prefer to stay in complete control, you can switch off smart settings within the dashboard.

Limitations

Unfortunately, Shopify Markets is not for everyone. It's a big step towards making internationalisation a core feature, but it's still not a perfect solution and it has its limitations. Here are some problems you may encounter:

• There is no easy way to send notification emails based on the customer's country
• Suppose you are selling to two different countries: the UK and the USA. Store owners will not be able to split the money flow for each location, which means you can't set up two different bank accounts to receive the payments for each store separately.
• Most apps are not ready for Shopify Markets yet. Suppose you have a third party app that adds a rewards program to your store, you will not be able to set up specific rules for each country, so earning and spending points in different countries won't have currency-specific rules. Take a good look at the apps you currently have and check if they will work as expected with Shopify Markets activated.
• You might need custom code to set up tracking or other scripts and features that are specific to certain countries.

International Selling With Shopify

With Shopify Markets, it’s never been easier to sell to international customers. You get the intuitive set-up and store management you expect from Shopify, but with some handy new features. Shopify Markets offers solutions to the most significant pain points of cross-border selling. It does away with the need for multiple third-party apps, bringing everything into a single dashboard. If you want to learn more about how Shopify Markets could benefit your Shopify Store please feel free to contact us.