What is Shopify Markets

What is Shopify Markets?

Shopify markets aims to allow merchants to easily expand their online Shopify stores to reach international markets. Features will include multi-currency via the markets dashboard, localised domain control, automated duties collection, custom inventory per market and more! We are really confident that Shopify Markets will revolutionise international commerce through the platform and we cannot wait to see the release very soon.

What changes with Shopify Markets?

Although Shopify does already offer many of the core features of Shopify Markets, the new functionality will house these features within one centralised dashboard and enhance the ease to roll out to new markets with limited, if any, development requirements. Shopify markets will affect currency, language, domains, duties and inventory management alongside some great automation and analytics too. Let’s dive into a little more detail for each of Shopify Market’s new features.

Currency control with Shopify Markets

Shopify markets will come equipped with 133 different currency options for your chosen market to allow your international customers to shop in their native currency. Selling in a local currency can reduce cart abandonment rate by 33% as data suggests a large portion of global customers refuse to make a purchase decision based on the currency offered to them on foreign ecommerce websites. From product pages to basket, checkout to refunds, Shopify Markets provides a consistent multi-currency experience to buyers across the world so they can have confidence when buying from your store.

Multi-language

Shopify Markets allows merchants to translate their store to offer a native lingual experience to a global customer base. Research shows that nearly 80% of international buyers ‘strongly prefer’ to browse ecommerce stores in their native language, and 40% won't consider buying from website in other languages highlighting the importance for stores to be properly translated to improve number of sales and overall user experience for international customers. With the Shopify Markets platform and integrated translation apps, multiple languages can be dynamically set for an individual store so that customers from all over the world can be catered for with ease, eliminating the need for merchants to create a separate store for each country or region.

Localised domain name

We know from repeated studies the impact of a domain extension on the level of trust. Shopify Markets will offer localised domain names that can then be associated with a specific language and country to offer a truly native experience for international customers - they’ll feel right at home on your website. Localised domain names can improve customer confidence that they are browsing a local and relevant version of your website. As a result, customers are more likely to pay in their own native currency as domains set pricing and language defaults specifically for each market that is being targeted.

For example, when a user from Germany browses a website hosted in the United Kingdom, prices will automatically be displayed in EUR and language will be adjusted to German, resulting in a higher likelihood that this customer converts. What's more is that Shopify Markets automatically sets tags for SEO so buyers are able to more easily find your website. In the event that a customer lands on the wrong domain, the Geolocation app can direct them to the right market based on where they are browsing from.

Duties collection with Shopify Markets

Usually when selling internationally, price fluctuations often arise due to the various tax and duties rules that are specific to different countries and markets. Thankfully with Shopify Markets, merchants can automatically calculate and collect tax and duty fees at checkout for total cost clarity so customers aren’t hit with unexpected charges on delivery. This helps create customer confidence about the total price of purchase, as some users might abandon their cart if they are uncertain of any additional costs. It is noteworthy that a small 0.85% fee per order is taken from the seller per order when duty and import taxes are calculated with Shopfiy Payments, which is a small price to pay as the often improved profitability from increased international conversions offsets this.

Payment methods & pricing control

With Shopify Markets, merchants can give their customers direct and secure payment methods that they’re used to, with greater control of their international pricing strategy by setting specific prices per market. Payment method options can vary widely from debit and credit cards, to bank transfers, to third-party applications such as Apple Pay and Paypal. The 'norm' for payment methods of different areas of the world vary widely- international customers trust certain methods more than others, and network effects result in some methods being heavily preffered in different regions.

Similarly to customers paying in their own currency, using familiar payment methods can be the difference between a customer finalising a purchase on your online store rather than abandoning their cart on the last step of the checkout process. The seller's fees for using an alternative payment provider are 1.5% per transaction, with a 2% fee per order when a currency is converted. Fees for using local payment methods are included as part of Shopify Payments international payment processing.

Inventory management

With inventory locations around the world, merchants are able to serve their products to customers in different markets based on where their inventory is locate. For example, if you have a warehouses in France and the United States have a set-up where the French warehouse ships only to Europe, and the US warehouse ships only to North America, buyers in Europe will only see the inventory of the French warehouse. This ensures stock levels are managed appropriately and avoids overselling certain products when you have mutliple warehouses in different markets..

Custom markets automation and analytics

Shopify Markets allows merchants to define market areas relevant to their business by creating a single country market or grouping multiple countries together. Depending on the nature of your business, it could be more viable to manage regions as a group rather than individually, making it easier to deliver strategies more efficiently without having to duplicate work for individual markets. Merchants can also use in-built analytics to see their performance across the international markets demand can be predicted, goals can be set and informed decisions can be made from the analytical data provided.

Different plans & what’s included.

The features offered on the Shopify Markets platform will vary depending on which Shopify plan a merchant is on, with additional features being offered to those on Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus plans. All merchants on the Shopify platform are able to manage how they sell to each market from one place, and will benefit from the following core features: Selling in 133 currencies, with local payment options with Shopify Payments. Selling in up to 20 languages around the world. Setting up custom domains to optimise for search platforms, and smart settings that optimise market operations.

Those merchants on Advanced Shopify and Shopify Plus plans will also benefit from further features such as: ability to set custom pricing per market with Shopify Payments. Customise catalogs and storefronts per market. Estimate and collect duty and import taxes at checkout. And manage fulfillment locations per market. These features are especially beneficial for larger enterprises who want to establish or maintain a strong and competitive international presence.

Summary

So there you have it. Shopify Markets is the new global hub for anything and everything international commerce. With globalisatoin accelerating at an exponential rate, growth of businesses are largely depending on getting international commerce right. Shopify Markets offers an all-in-one platform to make international selling easier than ever before. Get your online store started by clicking here and start a free trial today.