Shopify's International Commerce Solution

International Commerce 🌐

As Shopify continues to refine its international commerce ecosystem, it was only a matter of time before we found the platform announcing the new cross border e-commerce solution, which the Canadian giant has called Shopify Markets.

As many of you will know, global e-commerce hit record sales in 2020 and according to Shopify conversions grew 25.7% to $4.2 trillion and increasingly these sales are happening cross border. By 2022, it is estimated that at least one in four consumers from the United States will have purchased from a merchant in a foreign country.

However, a report from eMarketer contends that worldwide e-commerce growth will slow down substantially in 2021, despite the newfound enthusiasm that consumers have found for shopping online.

“We forecast that worldwide e-commerce growth will downshift to 14.3% in 2021, partially because of a brick-and-mortar rebound and partially because so much growth was pulled forward in 2020.”

As Shopify already operates via cross border e-commerce, the platform has noted that over 27% of Shopify store traffic came from international buyers in July.

As a result, the company’s international domains and multicurrency functionalities enabled merchants to generate $20 billion in cross border sales last year alone.

Nonetheless, barriers to international sales include; currency conversion, language localisation, provision of local payment methods, duties and import taxes, but the new solution provides merchants with a central dashboard for a unified view of an entire business.

The Role of Shopify Markets 🌎

With a world of opportunity waiting, merchants need solutions, not complexity and Shopify Markets has been created to deliver the possibility of streamlining global expansion for merchants of all sizes, making it easier than ever for online stores to grow their business.

Using the solution means that merchants will be able to customise; local currencies and payment methods, pricing and price rounding rules (per market), product availability (per market), local languages, duties and taxes and that’s just to name a few.

The key characteristics of Shopify Markets have been designed to:

Reach new markets and customers in just a few clicks.

Increase sales with custom buying experiences for each market.

Scale faster with settings that automatically optimise a business across a market, or practise self-management for greater control.

Simply put, Shopify Markets is the natural solution for merchants on the platform who are looking for an easier way for customers to browse and buy from their store with familiar shopping experiences that convert in every market of international commerce.

International Commerce Features of Shopify Markets

If your business is looking to expand globally, Shopify Markets will take away the guesswork by optimising your brand’s international strategy with data-driven settings that automatically improve conversion and create better experiences for your customers.

Additionally, the solution provides Shopify stores with the necessary tools to power global growth whilst scaling and optimising their international strategy to; identity, create and manage international markets with ease.

Shopify Markets supplies several other useful tactics to the table for international stores to utilise and the features list looks a little something like the one below:

N0.1: Currencies

With Shopify Markets, online stores will be able to convert storefront prices to over 133 local currencies for international customers.

N0.2: Languages

Shopify stores can translate their content so that international customers feel right at home.

N0.3: Domains

Businesses can now show up for their international customers everywhere that they sell in the right language and currency.

N0.4: Duties Collection

Brands can now automatically calculate import fees at the checkout to display total cost clarity for their customers. So, there won’t be any surprising additional charges on delivery.

N0.5: Payment Methods

Give customers a direct and secure method of payment method that they’re used to.

N0.6: Market Analytics

See your business performance across markets to predict consumer demand and set goals.

The Future of International Commerce 🚀

Shopify Markets is a centralised hub that is home to handy tools for merchants to utilise so that global commerce can be managed from business to business. This is a revelation that shook the ground when the announcement was made earlier this month.

“We are now global by default,” said Shopify president - Harley Finkelstein, during an interview with CNN as he referred to cross border e-commerce and worldwide sales.

“What we’re trying to do is make it that a merchant, no matter the size, doesn’t have to think about things like taxes, duties, languages or currencies and the best part is all of these cross border tools are available to merchants right out of the box.”

Finkelstein also stated in his interview that, previously, that if small businesses wanted to access a global consumer base, they’d have to sell on a marketplace or through a retailer, which didn’t allow for direct sales.

“So when we think about things like; duty, taxes, customising a catalogue, international domains, international pricing, local payment methods, that’s a lot for a small business to think about and now with Shopify Markets everything is streamlined.”

So, what does this mean for businesses on the platform? Well, a global by default solution means that merchants will now be able to sell easily to anyone on the internet from one single store.

Getting Started with Shopify Markets

Are you eager to get started with Shopify Markets? The solution became available for early access globally as of September 14th and is scheduled to be rolled out as a feature for all merchants in the coming months.

If you’re considering starting up a business with Shopify, sign up for the platform’s 14-day free trial to test out Shopify’s features and functionalities for yourself.

If you decide to take that leap of faith, you’ll be joining a community of successful e-commerce businesses who know what a good thing they’ve got and there’s no denying the platform’s success as Shopify demonstrated growth of 846% over three years.

Are you already a Shopify merchant? Log in to apply for early access to Shopify Markets.

Shopify Markets is the predicted future of global e-commerce and we’re excited to hear your thoughts on this recent announcement. Connect with us on social media or drop us a line to let us know your thoughts.

If you’re actively looking to work with a Shopify agency designer or developer to assist you with your business, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch to get started!