According to Shopify, international visitors account for 35% of all their traffic. More than 92% of visitors from outside the US prefer to shop in their own currency. Therefore, there’s a viable demographic to target with your Shopify international sales.
As a top advertising agency for Shopify stores, we understand the importance of exploring Shopify international sales where it’s practical. Adding two to six new markets can significantly improve your bottom line. What are the options to expand your Shopify store internationally?
Localize Your Main Shopify Site
The fastest way to start Shopify international sales is to maintain one site but add more language and currency conversion. This approach is not a long-term strategy to rely on. Still, it’s a fantastic way to test the waters and see the strength of your international market before making any significant investments in the international expansion.
Translation applications for Shopify make adding multiple languages easy, and a Shopify marketing agency can provide guidance on adding multiple currency options. However, there are a few downsides to selling internationally on your main site.
The Argument Against Localizing
Currency Related Problems
Currency conversion and rounding mean you don’t have complete control over your pricing. In some markets, the converted sum will make your product appear too costly compared to similar products available in the same region.
The price conversions to another currency and back to US dollars can reduce your margins. In addition, you have to consider the customer experience. Returning customers may not take too kindly to price changes due to currency fluctuations—no matter how minuscule.
Logistics and Regulatory Problems
First, this approach means you can’t maintain separate inventories for different markets. You also have to comply with geo-based policies and regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
You can’t target specific markets or regions with unique marketing.
On the shipping front, cross-border shipping increases the total landing costs for a customer. Adding import and export duties, shipping fees, and taxes increases the number of abandoned carts.
Create Standalone Stores
Creating unique stores for your international audience is the most reliable way to embrace Shopify international sales. Shopify Plus simplifies this by allowing up to nine stores in one contract. That gives you up to nine new markets to target.
These standalone stores operate independently as separate businesses, giving you more flexibility with payment options, pricing, products, marketing, and more. Shopify Markets allows you to see a centralized visualization of performance and reporting, so you can keep an eye on the different storefronts in one window.
However, every expansion store will have a separate account, settings, and more. You also need to set up local warehouses in these new markets to drive home the advantage of having a designated store for them. Otherwise, the shipping fees, taxes, and other tariffs will remain.
The international pricing functionality on the Shopify platform will allow you to set your price with taxes itemized.
The Argument Against Expansion Stores
Increased Operating Costs
An expansion model gives you a lot of flexibility. However, you have to justify a raft of additional costs. First, you’ll need to pay multiple fees for third-party apps, warehouse management systems, analytics platforms, and more.
Secondly, you’ll need to set aside a budget for marketing for the different stores and pay new staff to handle the day-to-day running of the stores online and managing the offline warehouses.
Local Fulfillment Warehouse Challenges
Depending on the jurisdiction, there are many overhead costs associated with managing an international warehouse. Beyond paying the rent, you may need to register your business with local authorities, pay taxes, and stick to labor laws.
The Advantages of Embracing Shopify International Sales
There are many benefits of taking the plunge and expanding into multiple countries. However, some of these only apply if you choose to run separate stores instead of localizing. They include the following:
Increase Your Sales
Expanding to an international market is a fantastic way to beat the competition and grow your customer base if you’re in a competitive niche. Selling in one country like everyone else means competing for a piece of one pie. Moving into international markets allows you to increase your market share without as much competition.
Customers are more likely to purchase from you if they don’t have to worry about paying international shipping fees.
Support Local Payment Options
One of the challenges international shoppers face when buying from a US store is currency conversions. For example, a customer in the EU or Australia may find pulling up a calculator or the OANDA website each time they want to complete a purchase a major inconvenience.
The result is suppressed conversions, with only the most loyal customers ignoring this bottleneck. Most people don’t like paying in anything other than their local currency. Even when shopping for supplies internationally, you most likely stick to only stores that can accept US Dollars.
Therefore, it helps to put yourself in the shoes of your international audience and allow them to pay in their local currency. It’s a fantastic way to maintain a competitive price and grow your sales.
Similarly, you should consider adding all the payment options available to them at local stores. Add the option of credit and debit cards, cash transfers, and other widely used digital payment solutions beyond PayPal.
Maintain Separate Marketing Funnels
Facebook, Google, and other leading search marketing platforms have powerful geotargeting functionalities. You can take advantage of them to generate more targeted traffic for your business. So, instead of creating a single campaign targeting users in multiple countries, you can generate better results by running multiple geo-targeted campaigns.
Rather than sending your UK or Australian customers to your main site (where they’ll likely dump their shopping cart before completing a purchase due to a lack of local currency options), you can direct them to your UK or Australian store.
The main benefit of geo-targeted paid advertising is that it allows you to achieve more conversions on a smaller budget.
Provide Local Shipping Options
With a local store and a physical warehouse, you can offer faster and cheaper local shipping to your international customers.
Many e-commerce stores look for ways to reduce or mask shipping fees because these additional costs can influence how customers judge the affordability of a purchase. By offering free or reduced shipping without cutting your margins, you can grow your profits while enjoying more patronage.
Enjoy More Flexibility with Your Inventory
With Shopify international sales via multiple stores, you essentially manage multiple stores linked together. This means you can choose when and where to sell specific products. If certain items sell well in the UK but barely in the US, you can remove them from your US store and move the inventory to the UK.
Learn More About Shopify International Sales
Do you need more guidance on launching your Shopify business internationally? Bear North Digital can help. We can help you localize your main site or launch more expansion stores with our e-commerce website design service.
Our dedicated project managers will simplify your expansion into international domains, breaking down all the technical details.
Call (715) 319-4822 to schedule an appointment with Bear North Digital today.