As Shopify experts, we surely know that the process of selling internationally can face real challenges for the Shopify store owners. So far, many brands have been helped by us that are large and small. They have overcome the problem of Multi-currency. Here\’s how to do it:
Currently, except for Shopify Plus merchants as we will see later, Shopify offers the ability to display prices in multiple currencies by taking the exchange rate into account in real-time. However, once customers proceed to checkout, they can only pay in the site\’s base currency. For example, if you have a bank account in France, your American customers will see the products displayed in dollars thanks to the detection of their IP address. However, when paying, the total will be presented in euros.
Ok, so this is the bad news. However, there are bonuses to a multi-store setup as we will see in the rest of the article. However, to sell internationally, you need to know more.
How then do you solve the challenge of the international multi-currency?
First, brands need to take a step back and assess whether they need a multi-currency solution. In many cases, they want their customers to be able to checkout using their original currency. However, for some brands, international customers represent a small portion of their total revenue, implementing a multi-currency solution may not have financial benefits.
However, this solution can and will affect conversions. Customers want a smooth user journey, and paying in their country\’s currency is one of them. For brands that really want to penetrate international markets, multi-currency is essential. The sale promotion needs to be multilingual now.
How then can we develop internationally with Shopify?
If you want to expand into Europe first, you can cover most of Europe using the euro. In this case, one store is sufficient. There are translation applications like Weglot which allow you to translate all the content of your site automatically or by managing the translations yourself. Thus, for your customers connecting in Germany, the site will be offered in German and in euros. This can be done by detecting the IP address or manually by selecting the language directly on the site.
If you want to develop in a country using a currency other than the euro and the final payment is made that currency, then the multi-store configuration is necessary. As a Shopify expert, we, therefore, create a parent store with a centralized theme, and we then duplicate daughter stores very quickly. So, for example, a store wishing to sell on the European, American and British market will need to create 3 Shopify stores, a British store in pounds, an American store in dollars and a store in euros which will allow selling in many countries in Europe.
This can seem like a big challenge for merchants, especially the manual work of updating multiple sites. However, using various stores with Shopify is actually easier.
What are the advantages of a multi-store configuration?
One of the main advantages of the multi-store setup is the ability to manage and locate content. Regional language, keywords and content all contribute to your site\’s SEO and therefore help you rank better in the local market.
Also, the flexibility of multiple stores allows brands to promote regional events, such as national celebrations or public holidays, and even to locate products and therefore have content that adapts to local specifics rather than standardized.
While e-commerce stores operating on other platforms such as Magento for example, need a full in-house team of developers to support international selling, multiple Shopify stores can be managed with regional managers or via an expert Shopify agency that will take care of the different sites.
Thus the multi-store configuration allows a more localized control, from referencing or of the management, and this represents a definite advantage to penetrate a specific market effectively.
Other considerations must be taken into accounts such as the management of the delivery or the VAT, but we will not address these points here.
Although it may seem like a lot of work, the cost is much lower than other solutions because stores can be duplicated very quickly, including integrations (ERP, CRM, logistician, etc.). So you don\’t need an internal team of developers or IT experts to set up a sales strategy in different countries.
What about Shopify Plus merchants?
For Shopify Plus merchants, selling in multi-currency for a single store is possible. Only certain currencies are taken into account, such as the dollar, the pound, the euro and others are the main currencies to expand its business internationally. The Shopify Plus subscription starts at $ 2000 per month for international payments, so it\’s aimed at high-volume merchants as we explained here.
