International sales are a rapidly growing aspect of online businesses. Unfortunately, many facets of selling online, like different currencies, languages, pricing, payment methods, duties, shipping, and more, hamper the ability of online businesses to benefit from the potential of selling to a global audience.
Shopify has taken some steps to ease these challenges for Shopify store owners.
Shopify store owners now have access to Shopify Markets, a global commerce solution to enable stores to sell products abroad easily.
Shopify Markets enable merchants to localize buying experiences from a single Shopify store.
How do I make my Shopify store international?
Below we will discuss the Shopify Markets features that will help you to make your store international
Currencies
When we shop online, most of us prefer to see prices in our own currencies, and so do our international customers. They expect to see prices and pay in their own currencies. In fact, according to Shopify research, 33% of Shopify store visitors are likely to abandon a purchase if pricing is in US dollars only.
In addition, stores that price their products in a customer’s local currency increase their conversion rates by up to 40%.
Shopify Markets allows you to convert your storefront prices to 130+ international currencies automatically and rounds the prices off based on the latest foreign exchange rates.
This feature extends to checkout, notifications, and refunds, making selling internationally on Shopify a breeze.
Languages
Shoppers enjoy their shopping experience more in their own language and are more likely to buy something. In fact, according to Shopify data, online stores experience a 13% relative increase in conversion when buyers visit a store translated into their language compared to the same store in the original language.
According to global marketing research by Common Sense, most people spend most of their time on websites in their own language and are more likely to buy a product if it has information in their own language.
Shopify Markets makes it easy to translate your store into another language using third-party translation apps like Weglot, so you can enjoy selling internationally on Shopify.
Domains and SEO
You need international domains to localize your website and personalize the experience for visitors. International domains create shopping experiences in local languages and currencies for your international customers.
Shopify Markets resolves this issue by automatically creating subfolders for every market as you add them. This means that your US market can be at example.com and your Canada market at example.com/en-ca.
Alternatively, you can choose to set a subdomain (ca.example.com) or a country domain (example.ca) for a market based on your preference.
Shopify automatically sets the right meta tags for SEO to ensure visitors see the right domain in search results. Using international domains has another benefit: it may improve a store’s SEO rankings.
Payment methods
Consumers in different countries use different payment methods. In the US, credit cards are the preferred payment method, but that's not the case in every other country. For instance, In the Netherlands, most people use a domestic payment method called iDEAL.
Of course, there are a variety of digital payment systems like Shop Pay, PayPal, and Apple Pay, but many international shoppers are not familiar with them and don't trust them.
The solution is to offer local payment methods, which are already used and trusted in each region. Shopify Markets lets merchants set up payments in Klarna, Sofort, iDEAL, Bancontact, and others are being added.
Offering local payment methods can increase conversion at checkout. This has already been seen with the addition of the payment method Bancontact, which led to a significant increase among Belgian buyers.
Duty and import taxes
The uncertainty that additional duties, taxes, and other fees cause in terms of the final price, may cause international buyers to hesitate when they want to make a purchase.
Shopify Markets makes it easy for international customers to see what the final price will be by collecting duty and import taxes at checkout.
International pricing
The pricing strategy that works in your local market will, in all likelihood, not work anywhere else. It's a difficult factor to calculate for your primary market, and even more difficult for a foreign market.
Shopify Markets is a great help here. The global commerce solution sets custom product prices for each market for you so you can sell products abroad. If you need to adjust the pricing or set specific prices, you can do that too.
How to translate my Shopify store?
There are several ways to translate your Shopify store so people all over the world can find your store and explore it.
Manually
Use the Translate & Adapt app in your Shopify admin or any content page that you want to translate.
From your Shopify admin, go to Apps, Click Translate & Adapt, select the language, select the resource that you want to translate, and enter your translated content into the appropriate field. Click Save.
You can also manually translate content from a content page, by using the Localize button.
You have another option if you have multiple languages. You can select the language from the drop-down menu, and enter your translations into the appropriate field.
Automatically
You can use the Translate & Adapt app to translate content automatically. This is made possible by the Google Cloud Translation API. Always review the translations for accuracy before you publish translations to your storefront.
Third-party apps
You can use e-commerce translation solutions like Weglot to translate your store instantly. The translation is done in two layers. First, with machine translation for speed and automation, and then with Weglot’s post-editing features to ensure translation accuracy.
Freelance translators
If you have the budget, and if the project is not too extensive, you can hire a freelancer to help you with the translations. Consider using someone who has background knowledge of e-commerce and related technical language.
Translation agencies
A translation agency might be a better choice if you have an extensive store or need translations in more than one language. However, translation agencies tend to be quite pricy.
FAQs
Can I have my Shopify store in multiple languages?
Yes, you can. There are many options open to you to get your shop translated into other languages. All Shopify merchants can translate their shops into five languages; Shopify Plus merchants can offer up to 20 languages.
How many languages should I offer?
For small stores or new merchants, one or two languages may be enough. Established retailers with a large international customer base may benefit from offering more languages.
Can a multi-language website boost sales?
This is the primary reason for offering more than one language. A multilanguage store boosts Shopify's international expansion since more people around with world will be exposed to your site and be able to understand what you offer, and they will feel more confident about making purchases in their native language.
If you already have an eCommerce store and you want to migrate to Shopify, let Cart2Cart smooth the process for you. No matter what store you own and what shopping cart you want to migrate to, Cart2Cart can handle it for you with no fuss and no loss of data.
October 30, 2024 
