The Ultimate Guide To Selling Globally On Shopify
Table of Contents
- Sell internationally with Shopify: Multilingual store
- Sell internationally with Shopify: Compliant invoices
- Take control of your international pricing
- Displaying taxes
- Setup international shipping
- Use international domains to target specific markets
- Translate your store and online materials
- Marketing and advertising
Ecommerce sales are rapidly expanding as more people acquire access to faster technology and better commerce infrastructure, as well as the middle class expands. Due to this expansion, selling internationally on Shopify is crucial, since it may increase your consumer base and revenue.
Key Statistics
- 1.75 million businesses and 1.59 million live websites use the Shopify platform
- Shopify Plus is now available on 17, 683 domains; keep in mind that merchants can run their enterprises on several domains (11,788 merchants use Shopify Plus)
- Shopify stores may now be found in 175 countries worldwide.
- In 2020, about 42,200 partners will have promoted a merchant to Shopify, up from 24,500 in 2019.
- Shopify will power 20% of all e-commerce websites by 2020.
Sell Internationally with Shopify Multilingual Store
Having your company’s website in the local language demonstrates that you’ve tried to sell and market to that area. Customers are drawn to multilingual businesses since the content is easy to understand. The indexing of your store is further aided by the local language, which matches the content of your store to what potential customers could be looking for in search engines.Â
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Sell Internationally with Shopify Compliant InvoicesÂ
Taxes and invoicing formats are regulated differently in many regions and jurisdictions around the world, you can automate your invoices and create compliant templates.
Many apps allow you to set up invoices in multiple languages and currencies and provide templates that are compliant with accounting legislation in several different countries.
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Displaying Taxes
Various markets around the world have different expectations when it comes to how taxes are viewed and paid. Taxes are frequently waived in North American markets but are then charged at checkout based on the buyer’s delivery address.
Other regions, such as Europe and the Asia Pacific, require products to be displayed alongside any applicable taxes. Shopify handles these details for you by automatically incorporating or excluding taxes in product prices based on the location of your consumers.
Setup International Shipping
You’re making huge progress in making your online store a more international experience! Make sure overseas buyers have a variety of delivery options as well. Because your company no longer has a “rest of world” strategy, let’s make sure that one of the most crucial aspects of the purchasing process is addressed: how your customers will receive their merchandise.
Begin by creating a shipping zone specifically for your new foreign target market(s) under your Shipping settings, and then examine your shipping strategy when creating the various shipping charges. Because foreign shipping is likely to be more expensive, consider the following tactics to help your new consumers feel more at ease.Â
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Use International Domains to Target Specific Markets
At this stage, you’re offering your international customers a localized pricing experience as well as separate and transparent delivery options for each market – great work. The next step in your globalization journey is to further localize the shopping experience with separate international domains.
International domains not only provide visitors a visual clue that they’re on a localized version of your site, but they all increase the likelihood that they’ll buy in their own currency without having to do anything. is the case because they set pricing and language defaults for each market you’re targeting.
Translate Your Store and Online Materials
It’s ideal to select target markets who speak the same native language as you when expanding your business worldwide. If this isn’t the case, or if you want to step up your international expansion, you should consider translating your store into the language of the country or region you’re targeting.
Almost 80% of international clients prefer to purchase on an ecommerce site in their native language that utilizes the same price and currency as their home country, making a translated store a useful tool for increasing international sales. Contrary to popular assumption, you don’t need many Shopify businesses to provide a bilingual shopping experience.
Take Control of Your International Pricing
Shopify converts your base prices into your buyer’s currency using a real exchange rate, allowing for currency translation fees so you don’t lose money. One thing to keep in mind with automatic pricing is that your product prices may fluctuate when the market shifts, which could catch potential customers off surprise if they visit your site multiple times before making a purchase.
You can choose an appropriate rate for converting your prices into that currency, ensuring that your product prices remain steady until you alter the rate again. Keep in mind that if you place an order in a foreign currency, you will be charged a modest currency conversion fee.
Marketing and Advertising
Advertising is an effective way to drive demand and traffic from your international target market while also putting your local knowledge to the test. You’ve spent a lot of time and work localizing your online store for international visitors; now it’s time to localize your marketing.
Regardless of the channels, you want to promote on, it’s vital to create region-specific ads that appropriately target your international buyers and send them to the correct version of your site.
It’s critical to eliminate as much friction as possible for new purchasers, particularly those who are visiting your site for the first time from another country or location.
Re-running current online campaigns in different countries or areas often reduces the number of people who click on your advertising or sends those who do to the wrong version of your site.Â
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Conclusion
Global ecommerce is complex and sophisticated, moving at a breakneck pace and driving us all to evolve and adapt as quickly as possible.
Deepak Wadhwani has over 20 years experience in software/wireless technologies. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies including Intuit, ESRI, Qualcomm, Sprint, Verizon, Vodafone, Nortel, Microsoft and Oracle in over 60 countries. Deepak has worked on Internet marketing projects in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange Country, Denver, Nashville, Kansas City, New York, San Francisco and Huntsville. Deepak has been a founder of technology Startups for one of the first Cityguides, yellow pages online and web based enterprise solutions. He is an internet marketing and technology expert & co-founder for a San Diego Internet marketing company.
