Shopify Markets Overview

The past two years changed everything for eCommerce, with retail eCommerce sales hitting $4.28 trillion U.S. dollars in 2020. In 2022, retail revenues from eCommerce are projected to reach 5.4 trillion U.S. dollars. Many small and medium-sized businesses dream of venturing into the global eCommerce space. To help, Shopify has launched Shopify Markets, a tool to simplify eCommerce for merchants on Shopify with international growth ambitions. 

With Shopify Markets, merchants on the platform can now sell to international consumers using a central cross-border eCommerce platform. Merchants on the global commerce platform can now grow and scale their businesses without worrying about language translation, local payment options, or currency conversion issues.

What is Shopify Markets?

On Sept. 14th, 2021, Shopify announced the launch of Shopify Markets on Twitter. The Canadian multinational eCommerce company tweeted: "Cross-border selling just got a major glow up. Merchants everywhere can now manage one global store to create localized storefronts in different countries."

Shopify Markets is an automated tool to help merchants manage international operations using a single Shopify store. The launch will help with cross-border sales by creating localized storefronts within different parts of the world. International customers will be able to browse Shopify stores and view products in their local languages and currencies.

In an interview with Cable News Network (CNN), Shopify's president, Harley Finkelstein, stated that "every merchant on Shopify is global by default." Finkelstein relayed Shopify's objectives regarding cross-border selling, adding, "What we’re trying to do is make it that a merchant, again, no matter what size, doesn’t have to think about things like taxes or duties or languages or currencies and the best part is all of these cross-border tools are available to merchants right out of the box."

What Are the Features of Shopify Markets?

All Shopify merchants — large and small — can start their internation eCommerce journey without having to hire a team to help navigate the complexities of global commerce. Selling globally with Shopify is a whole lot easier.

Currency Conversion

With Shopify Markets, you can display products in 133 different currencies on your site, allowing visitors to shop with the currency that they have in their pocket. Displaying products in local currencies can increase conversion rates by up to 40%, and helps to:

• Make the payment process seamless

• Do away with exchange rate issues

• Minimize cart abandonment

• Build trust with customers while checking out

• Improve the shopping experience since customers can compare prices in local currencies

Shopify Markets also offers refunds in local currencies, ensuring the multi-currency experience applies to all functionalities.

Language Translation

65% of users prefer content in their language, even if the translation isn't perfect. Nearly 40% of website visitors won't buy products displayed in other languages. Based on Shopify's data, stores that use local languages experience a 13% increase in conversions.

With Shopify Markets, you can now translate content on your website to your local language. Shopify uses third-party apps to translate content across all pages, including the checkout page, into 20 different languages, eliminating the need to hire native-speaking copywriters for your content, and users should expect native translation management support soon.

Payment Methods

Customers prefer to pay for products and services using payment methods they trust. They'd like to shop for items using their preferred payment methods. Whether it's a credit card or a digital wallet, your buyers want to use what they're comfortable with.

The Global eCommerce Playbook by Shopify estimates that approximately 92% of online shoppers prefer buying products in their local currency. In a survey by the Baymard Institute, 7% of the respondents cited the lack of enough payment methods as the reason they abandoned their cart during the checkout process. 

Shopify Markets makes it easy to accept local payment methods, so international customers can buy their favorite products their way. 

Local Domain Extensions

Domains can play a significant role in eCommerce growth. When a brand uses practical domain and search engine optimization (SEO) strategies, their domain can rank high on search engine results, making it easier for new visitors to find them.

With Shopify Markets, you can now create a country or region-specific domain for your online store. For instance, you may create a region-specific market in Australia using shop.com/en-au, and automatically redirect your visitor using geolocation that detects a visitor's IP address. Shopify also automatically generates SEO tags to improve your domain's visibility in search results.

Smart Settings

Shopify Markets offers smart settings for stores to optimize their marketing operations automatically. It uses data and insights to help stores get the best out of new markets, ensuring that you increase sales and conversions. This data provides actionable insights, saving you time that you'd have used conducting your own research.

Duty and Import Taxes

No one wants to deal with unclear taxes and duties or additional fees when shopping online. Shopify Markets now offers clarity regarding total taxes and duties during the checkout process. Automatic duty collection helps with transparency and leads to greater customer satisfaction.

Additional Features on Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus Plans

Customized Markets

Shopify Markets enables stores to set up markets within regions and allows you to tailor your web design to each country you serve. You can also use market analysis data to review your performance, set goals, and anticipate demand within different markets. 

International Pricing Configuration

Controlling prices between different eCommerce markets is now possible. You can set custom product prices from your single eCommerce store, helping you maximize margins and attract new business.

Global Inventory Control

Shopify Markets introduces an inventory feature that helps merchants manage inventory based on the locations of their stores. This feature allows buyers to see whether products are available from the warehouse you've designated to serve a specific region.

You'll also be able to route payouts according to business needs, help with customizations using market-specific product catalogs, and push for the implementation of market-specific content.

How Much Will Shopify Markets Cost?

There's a 0.85% transaction fee for every sale if Shopify Payments handles duty and import taxes. A 1.5% transaction fee will be levied when using alternative payment providers and on every sale that requires currency conversion. When using local payment options, Shopify Payments will include transaction fees as part of its international payment processing costs.

What Can International Selling Do for Merchants?

The Global eCommerce Playbook identifies customer support, technical infrastructure, language and localization, cultural perceptions, and currency and payment preferences as the main bottlenecks affecting international eCommerce. The report explains that the most efficient way to identify international eCommerce issues is by looking at location reports, language analysis, sales by country, demographic segments, and international funnels. 

With Shopify Markets, merchants can overcome global eCommerce barriers to sell their products all over the world quickly and seamlessly. Here's how international selling can benefit merchants on Shopify.

Optimize Operations Within Different Territories

Shopify Markets offers actionable insights that merchants can use to optimize their operations within different regions.

The platform will aggregate data from nearly 2 million merchants globally to offer valuable insights to merchants who want to serve new markets. For example, Shopify will automatically display the most popular payment methods to customers during checkout, meaning that you don't have to keep track of those details. 

Enhance Brand Image

Brand image drives consumer behavior and creates loyalty. Customers are more likely to trust global brands.

International selling also boosts your brand's reputation to prospects and potential business partners who'll think more highly of your company due to its international presence. 

Increase a Brand's Visibility

Shopify Markets can help small online brands reach the whole globe. It levels the playing field, giving businesses the chance to be discovered by millions of potential customers all over the world.

Why Choose Shopify for Your Business?

According to Statista, Shopify was the largest shareholder of the U.S. eCommerce software market in 2021, with nearly 29% of websites that depend on eCommerce technologies using the platform. Shopify boasts that it powers over a million businesses in over 175 countries, including renowned brands like Pepsi, Staples, Budweiser, and Tesla.

But what makes Shopify lucrative for brands and businesses?

Security and Reliability

Customer and company data should be protected at all costs. Shopify offers merchants SSL certification, ensuring stores are PCI-compliant. These security features guarantee that information like credit card details, emails, phone numbers, and home addresses are secure from any form of breaches.

Integration Options

The platform offers Shopify Plus merchants lots of customization capabilities, with thousands of apps to add new features. The Shopify App Store lets you add features like subscription payments and inventory management to improve the shopping experience for visitors to your online store.

Quick Customer Service

With Shopify, you can get assistance regarding any questions you have about your store. Their 24/7 support team will promptly handle your issue via chat, phone, and email. You may also visit their community forums for support, advice, and feedback from other Shopify store owners.

Shopify's resources features blogs offering informative content on topics like how to increase your sales, marketing techniques, and Shopify success stories.

Mobile Ready

Shopify's design makes the mobile experience seamless. Its mobile-responsive themes ensure page load times aren't compromised when users visit stores while on their phones. With Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), Shopify Plus merchants can enjoy faster landing pages, reduced bounce rates, increased mobile SEO rankings, and adjustments to all browsers.

Shopify also offers free iOS and Android apps to help merchants manage stores while on the go.

SEO Friendly

SEO is crucial if you want people to find you online. Shopify makes it easier for you to update meta tags, alt tags, and titles. It also generates a sitemap for Google to index all pages of your brand's store.

Ease of Set-up and Use

Dealing with your store's technical issues can be an issue for any business owner. With Shopify, it's easy to launch your eCommerce business without having to deal with development, server hosting, and maintenance costs. Shopify acts as a fully hosted platform.

Marketing Tools

Shopify offers built-in tools that can enhance your landing pages during marketing campaigns.

With Shopify, you can:

• Sell your products on social media platforms like Pinterest

• Create blogs to boost your SEO rankings

• Generate discount codes, gift cards, and coupons

• Use email and SMS marketing

• Integrate product reviews

Easy Payment Gateway

With over 100 payment providers, integrating payment getaways to your eCommerce store ensures buyers can use different payment options to buy products. Merchants can also use the Stripe payment option that doesn't charge any transaction fees.

Ability to Grow

The Shopify platform is friendly towards small, medium, and large brands since it offers a scalable eCommerce solution. Whether you are selling one product to a handful of customers or hundreds of products to millions worldwide, Shopify offers tools and apps to help with business expansion.

Abandoned Cart Recovery

Nearly 70% of shoppers leave websites without completing their purchases. The rate of cart abandonment for mobile users is 85%, which is even higher. Shopify offers an abandoned cart recovery feature that automatically tracks and sends email reminders to shoppers who haven't completed their purchases.

Are You Considering Selling Globally Using Shopify Markets?

Thanks to Shopify Markets, growing and scaling your business globally is now easier. Merchants no longer have to wonder how they'll provide their products to customers all over the world. Currently, any eCommerce store can attract customers from any part of the world and offer an outstanding customer experience.

Shopify is now offering early access to Shopify Markets. You can start cross-border selling today and take advantage of global customers to realize eCommerce growth.