Selling internationally can be a lucrative opportunity for businesses looking to expand their customer base and increase sales. However, navigating the complexities of international markets can be daunting. Thankfully, Shopify provides a solution - Shopify Markets. In this guide, I will show you just how easy it is to set up Shopify Markets and start selling internationally.
Shopify Markets is a feature that allows you to target specific countries and customize your online store settings accordingly. With Shopify Markets, you can easily set up tax rates, shipping rates, payment options, and even domain names for each market you want to sell in.
To begin setting up Shopify Markets, go to your Shopify dashboard and navigate to the "Settings" tab. Within the settings, you will find the option for "Markets." Click on it to start customizing your international selling settings.
Once you're in the Shopify Markets section, you'll see a list of countries where you can set up your international presence. By default, your primary market will be set as your own location, but you can easily add additional markets.
For example, let's say your primary market is in Latvia, but you want to expand to the United States as well. You can simply add the United States as an international market and customize the settings accordingly.
Now that you've added a market, let's dive into the various settings you can customize.
Collecting taxes is an important aspect of selling internationally. In the Shopify Markets settings, you can specify the tax rates for each market. Whether you are required to charge taxes or not, it's essential to add the relevant tax information to ensure compliance with local regulations.
Shipping costs can significantly impact your international sales. In the Shopify Markets settings, you can customize shipping rates for each market. For example, if you're shipping products from Europe to the USA, you may find that the shipping costs are quite expensive. In such cases, you can adjust the shipping rates accordingly, taking into account the location and size of your target market.
Displaying prices in the local currency of your target market can greatly improve the customer experience and increase conversions. Shopify Markets allows you to set currency preferences for each market, ensuring that your prices are displayed in the local currency. For instance, if you want to sell in the United States, you can set the currency to USD, while for the European market, you can use Euros.
To further enhance the international shopping experience, you can customize the language settings for each market. This is particularly important if you're targeting non-English speaking countries. Shopify Markets also allows you to install translation apps such as Weglot to provide localized content to your international customers.
To create a more localized experience, you can set up domain names for each market. For example, if you're targeting the German market, you can set up a country-specific domain name like yourstore.de. Shopify Markets provides options for setting up these domain names and redirecting customers accordingly.
Shopify Markets provides you with valuable analytics and performance metrics for each market you set up. This allows you to track the performance of your international sales, monitor customer behavior, and make data-driven decisions to improve your international strategy.
Shopify Markets is a powerful tool that enables businesses to expand their reach and sell internationally with ease. By customizing taxes, shipping rates, currencies, languages, and domain names for each market, you can create a localized shopping experience that resonates with customers worldwide. Get started with Shopify Markets today and unlock the potential of global e-commerce.
In 2026, Shopify offers two tiers of international selling:
| Feature | Shopify Markets (Standard) | Shopify Markets Pro |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | All paid Shopify plans | Advanced + Shopify Plus |
| Local currencies | Yes (130+ currencies) | Yes |
| Local domains/subfolders | Yes | Yes |
| Duties & import taxes | Basic estimation | Full DDP (delivered duty paid) at checkout |
| Local payment methods | Via Shopify Payments | Additional local methods (iDEAL, Klarna, etc.) |
| Fraud protection | Standard | Enhanced |
| Currency conversion fee | 1.5% (waived with Shopify Payments) | Included |
For most stores just starting international expansion, standard Shopify Markets is more than enough. Markets Pro makes sense once you're shipping to many countries and want to offer fully localized checkout experiences.
One of the most impactful things you can do for international SEO and conversions is giving each market its own URL. Shopify Markets supports three approaches:
To configure this: Settings → Markets → [your market] → Domains → Add domain. Shopify handles the hreflang tags automatically once you assign a domain to a market.
By default, Shopify converts your base price to local currencies using live exchange rates. This often results in awkward prices like €23.47 or £31.83.
To fix this: go to Settings → Markets → [your market] → Products and pricing → Price adjustments. You can set rounding rules (e.g., always round to .99) and apply percentage markups or discounts for specific markets. This lets you price at €24.99 and £31.99 automatically.
You can also set fixed prices per market for specific products — useful when you want to maintain pricing consistency regardless of exchange rate fluctuations.
Tax handling varies significantly by region:
Always consult a local accountant before going live in a new country — Shopify handles the mechanics but can't advise on registration requirements.
When you create a market with a dedicated domain or subfolder, Shopify automatically adds hreflang tags to tell Google which version of your store to show to which country. This is critical for avoiding duplicate content penalties.
Additional SEO tips for international stores:
Shopify Markets is included with all paid Shopify plans at no extra cost. The only fees to be aware of are the currency conversion fee (1.5% if you're not using Shopify Payments) and any costs for buying custom country domains. Shopify Markets Pro requires an Advanced or Plus plan.
You can display prices in multiple currencies using Shopify's built-in currency selector, but Shopify Markets adds much more: per-market pricing rules, market-specific product catalogs, local domains, and dedicated tax/shipping configurations. Markets is the recommended approach for serious international selling.
In Settings → Markets → [your market] → Products, you can choose which products are available in that market. This is useful for region-specific products, items with local regulations, or exclusive market launches.
Shopify Markets works with Shopify Payments (available in 20+ countries) and most third-party payment gateways. For the best currency conversion experience, use Shopify Payments — it supports 130+ currencies and waives the currency conversion fee. Some local payment methods (iDEAL in Netherlands, Bancontact in Belgium) require Shopify Markets Pro.
Changing market settings only affects future orders. Existing orders are processed at the settings that were active at the time of purchase. Shopify keeps a full history of market configuration changes.
Shopify Markets is only available on paid plans. During a free trial, the Markets section appears in settings but won't let you activate international selling until you select a paid plan.
Shopify auto-detects customer location based on IP address and browser settings, then redirects them to the appropriate market. You can see which market each order came from in the Orders section — it appears under the order details as the market name.
