Your Shopify Store will serve as an international platform to sell goods across national borders. Selling internationally is a big task and needs arrangements to offer your products and provide a good customer experience.
You can use multiple Shopify Market tools to help you choose the best settings for your business and set up your account to accept payments from buyers in any currency you want. You have to plan carefully and address key factors that can make or break your global expansion. Keep reading to find out the best customizations that are suitable for your Shopify Store.
Key Considerations Before Going Global with Your Shopify Store
A Shopify store will make you take all important steps to address the main issues, which include foot traffic and SEO optimization and more. Here are the changes that you need to pay attention to in your Shopify store:
1. Identifying the correct international markets
The traffic data of your store and whether you already receive visitors from other international regions. Yes, which countries?
If your global traffic is not high, then that does not mean you shouldn’t expand. It rather means that you should be selective and focus on a few markets with great potential for demand.
Research those markets, determine the competition, and look at where exactly your products can be best placed.
2. Provide Multiple and Local Payment Options
Multiple payment gives your customer the option to pay what fits best for his choice, and local payment allows them to pay in his or her local currency. You can use Shopify Payments whereby you automatically convert your store’s prices into more than 130 currencies using the latest exchange rate.
3. Customs and Taxes
Every market has its individual rules concerning taxes and duties, so it is up to the seller to follow them in order not to face fines or other issues.
Shopify offers basic tax calculation. For more complex or diverse compliance needs, use third-party compliance solutions such as FastSpring or Avatax to help manage these complex tax requirements and ensure you are in compliance with local laws.
4. Configure Domains for Global Reach
This can prove to be particularly helpful in increasing visibility of your store to any region; you can have different domains or subdomains for each market.
Shopify Markets makes subdomains as easy as “us.yourstore.com” for the United States or “uk.yourstore.com” for the United Kingdom. This improves understanding by search engines and gives better rankings in a local search.
5. Local Languages for Customers
Speaking your customers’ language can have a huge impact. In fact, studies show that translating your website can boost conversions by up to 13%. Shopify offers a Translate & Adapt app that makes this process much easier.
Rather than sticking to English, you can translate your store’s content to match the languages spoken in your target markets. It helps in gaining trust and authenticity for the target audience.
Customizing Your Shopify Store for International Markets
Shopify offers plenty of store options to help your business grow globally. You can customize your shopify store to make the process smooth to create a seamless shopping experience for customers around the world.
1. Themes and Templates
Shopify offers customizable themes that allow you to change the design of your shop as needed to reflect your brand. You can easily replace colors, fonts, and layouts to create uniform designs for both locals and internationals.
2. Product Custom Pages
You would tailor the product pages by sizing guidelines, product videos, and region-specific information. Product description and price could be even tailored according to where the shopper is from to ensure a smoother shopping experience for international customers.
3. Navigation Menus
You can also design your custom navigation menu to make browsing both the local and international customers’ levels effortless. You can offer multi-language options, which will enable people to find a product easily by matching it with their location. You can even create region-specific categories.
4. Custom Checkout
Shopify will allow you to personalize the checkout process internationally. You can use regional-specific messages, discounts, and even payment options and shipping pertaining to a specific region.
5. Apps and Integrations
Shopify apps targeting international needs can be explored: from currency converter apps to language translation and tax calculators.
Tools that can help in international marketing strategies include SEO tools for a different region or email campaigns aimed at reaching out to global audiences.
6. Personalized Payment Methods
Make buying easy by offering the popular payment gateways in specific regions. For example, offering payment options like Alipay, iDEAL, or Klarna could make purchasing easier for international shoppers who want to pay through their approved local means of payment.
7. Customizable Pop-ups and Banners
Use location-based pop-ups and banners to share specific promotions with your customers. For example, you would show a holiday sale to one region but display a back-to-school promotion in another.
8. Special Shipping and Delivery Service
You can even configure specific shipment rates according to the location of the customer. You may even offer international shipment options, such as DHL or FedEx. Or even better, work with a local delivery company in some regions for fast and reliable shipping.
9. Product Bundling
Create product bundles tailored to international markets. These bundles can feature products that suit regional preferences or seasonal events, giving customers more value and improving sales.
Conclusion
Expanding your Shopify store is a great way to take your business globally. How ever, it requires planning and customizations. Factors like payment options, taxes, local languages, and SEO, can create a smooth shopping experience for customers all over the world.
You can use Shopify apps and tools to customize for international markets. Making the right customizations and adjustments can help you reach new markets and increase your global sales.
