Shopify has many features to improve your website and increase traffic, sales, etc. With global retail eCommerce sales in the trillions and growing, there is no better time for merchants to use Shopify features to their advantage. So how can you take over the world using what Shopify has to offer? Three words. Localization, localization, and localization. Localization is what allows a merchant to personalize their current site for a different market. For example, personalizing their site so those in Spain see the site in Spanish and in Euros. Sounds like a one-step process right? Wrong. There are a lot of factors to consider. Thankfully, Shopify has apps that are made to help make a difficult process easier.

Shopify Markets for Localization

Translate and Adapt

A huge part of localization is language. Shoppers don’t want to take the time to translate your site. Enter the Translate and Adapt app. This app is automatically installed when you add a new language to your site. The app will translate two languages for free, and allow you a space to manually translate your site/a section to another language.

One thing to be aware of is that if you add something, such as a new item for sale, you will have to go back into the app to translate it. You can also use this app to create custom content for a market. For example, if you are selling sweaters in the US, you can change it to jumpers for a UK audience. There are some limitations for this app, with some languages not being supported, and being unable to translate media (images, video, etc.), metafields, and tags/URLs.
Translate Your Store

Tax Management

Shopify offers a few different tax management options to help with localization. Here at Fyresite, we recommend our clients use Avalara AvaTax. We recommend Avalara Avatax because they have accurate tax information for up to 12,000 tax jurisdictions, works on mobile and desktop, and works with your business to create accurate tax reports. However, Avalara AvaTax is only available to merchants that are selling with Shopify Plus. You can connect to us to see if upgrading your plan to Shopify Plus would be a good fit.

Avalara Ava Tax for Localization

Currency

Localization allows you to put your site in the terminology of different markets around the world. One of the most important terms is currency. Odds are your customers can’t convert from their currency to the original currency of your site quickly. They could leave to go see how much it would cost, and potentially abandon their cart. There are a few ways that you can make sure your customers see their local currency. If you are on an Advanced or Plus plan, you can set the exchange rate manually, which won’t fluctuate with market price. This can mean that you make or lose money depending on what the market price is.

Shopify (and Advanced and Plus plans) allow you to set international pricing, for which there is a conversion fee. Fyresite’s favorite currency conversion tool is Shopify Markets. Shopify Markets adds multiple markets that target countries/regions of your choice, all centralized in one store.
Currency Conversion for Localization

Are You Ready to Take Over the World?

It’s decided: Shopify is the ideal platform for taking over the world. Well, selling your products all over the world at least. Localization is crucial to any business that wants to sell internationally. Using the apps above, Shopify has made it easier for businesses to sell across borders in a time when global eCommerce is booming.

Want to take your eCommerce global? Fyresite, a Shopify Plus partner, can help.

If you are interested in Shopify Plus and would like to see if it’s a fit for your business, use this affiliate link.