International ecommerce

Advanced Shopify Localization Strategies for Global Growth

Advanced Shopify Localization Strategies for Global Growth
Rayne Aguilar
Written by
Rayne Aguilar
Rayne Aguilar
Written by
Rayne Aguilar
Elizabeth Pokorny
Reviewed
Elizabeth Pokorny
Rayne Aguilar
Reviewed by
Elizabeth Pokorny
Updated on
February 7, 2025

Shopify merchants generating high volumes in revenue face a daunting technical challenge – how do they expand their market presence while maintaining a manageable operational infrastructure?

The answer lies in making big decisions about core technical areas of your site’s setup. As research demonstrates that most buyers prefer localized experiences, store owners need to adapt their online stores to meet the cultural, practical, and linguistic needs of customers in different regions.

Shopify store owners must also navigate strategic decisions that impact SEO. These include considering URL structure and the pros and cons of automated/human translation. Additionally, regional pricing strategies and international inventory solutions are needed to ensure customer fulfillment across markets.

With this in mind, we’ll provide guidance to help you evaluate your needs and optimize your global Shopify strategy for an efficient approach to maximizing returns.

Key Points

  • Shopify merchants must adapt their online stores to meet customers' cultural, linguistic, and practical needs in diverse markets.
  • Effective Shopify localization improves SEO through local keyword optimization and proper URL structures, boosting visibility in international search results.
  • Implementing dynamic pricing strategies allows businesses to cater to local currencies, improving customer satisfaction and tax compliance.
  • Using a Shopify website translation app, such as Weglot, automates the translation of your store, ensuring high-quality content while expanding market reach.

What are the Benefits of Shopify Localization?

Providing a localized experience is a must for any business owner looking to appeal to customers in new markets. Here’s what adopting such a strategy can bring to your Shopify store:

  • Increased conversion rates: Localizing your store can lead to higher conversion rates by making customers feel comfortable with familiar language and relevant content.
  • Personalized customer experience: A tailored shopping experience improves user satisfaction, reducing confusion and cart abandonment.
  • Expanded global reach: Localization allows businesses to tap into new markets, connecting with diverse audiences and increasing sales potential.
  • Competitive advantage: By catering to local preferences, businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors who may overlook localization, or get it wrong.
  • Improved international SEO: Optimizing content for local keywords boosts visibility in overseas search engine results, attracting more targeted traffic.
  • Reduced costs: Effective localization can lower customer acquisition costs by fostering loyalty and encouraging repeat purchases from satisfied customers.

Guide to Shopify Localization

Shopify homepage
Shopify homepage

As Shopify merchants prepare to scale internationally, the right approach to localization is everything. Consider the following when putting together your own strategy:

  • Local keyword research: Identifying relevant keywords for each target market can improve visibility on local search engines and boost SEO.
  • Domain structure: Consider using subdomains or subfolders for different languages, which can improve SEO and user experience. A subdomain (e.g. fr.yoursite.com) functions independently from the main domain, allowing for separate content management. Subfolders (e.g. yoursite.com/fr) keep all content under the same domain, making it easier to manage, but harder to localize.
  • Dynamic pricing for different currencies: Shopify Markets can help you implement dynamic pricing strategies. With 60% of consumers preferring to shop in their local currency, this feature improves the user experience through automatic tax calculations and duty collection.
  • Automated content detection: Implement a translation app, like Weglot, that automatically translates any newly added products or updated content into new languages, keeping your site current with no extra effort required.
  • Advanced language configuration: Look for translation apps that optimize URL structures, implement hreflang tags for SEO, handle right-to-left languages, and manage regional content routing effectively.
  • Review product images: Use local models in relatable settings to make images more appealing and culturally appropriate.
  • Customer support in the local language: Provide support in the local language to enhance customer satisfaction and trust, and/or translate your help and FAQ documents.
  • Compliance with local regulations: High-volume store owners will need to navigate complex compliance requirements, particularly regarding VAT in the EU, GST in Australia, and state-specific tax variations in the U.S. Shopify’s tax features automate these calculations, ensuring compliance while minimizing manual effort.
  • Scaling inventory: Consider regional warehousing solutions to optimize logistics and maintain compliance across multiple markets. An effective approach is to implement Flipkart’s strategy of positioning inventory near customer concentrations.
  • Advanced inventory management strategies: During peak seasons, these should include calculating buffer stock levels and using Shopify’s API for real-time inventory updates across multiple warehouses.
  • Performance optimization techniques: Maintaining site performance while running complex international operations is also important. Optimizing CDN usage and adhering to database management best practices can boost load times and improve the user experience.

How to use Shopify Markets to Globally Expand Your Store

Shopify Markets homepage
Shopify Markets homepage

Shopify Markets provides the tools for global expansion, although it does come with limitations, as we’ll discover later on. This feature acts as a central hub within the Shopify Admin, allowing merchants to manage all regional expansions efficiently.

Setting up Shopify Markets is one way for merchants looking to expand their ecommerce presence internationally. Here are the key steps required to effectively configure your store for global sales:

1. Identify Target Markets

Conduct thorough market research to identify which countries or regions you want to target. Consider factors such as market demand, competition, and cultural fit.

Create new target countries

  1. Start by logging into your Shopify admin panel, then select Settings followed by Markets.
  2. Choose the market to which you wish to add a new country or region.
  3. Select Edit, and in the Countries/Regions section, select Edit again.
  4. Locate the country or region you want to include and check the box next to it.
  5. Finally, select Save to apply your updates.

2. Configure Store Settings

  • Enable multi-currency support: Go to the Payment Providers section in your Shopify admin to add multiple currencies. This allows customers to view prices in their local currency, enhancing their shopping experience.

3. Adjust Shipping and Tax Settings

  • Create shipping zones: Go to Settings > Shipping and Delivery to set up shipping zones for different countries, specifying rates and methods.
  • Configure tax settings: In Settings > Taxes set up tax calculations based on the regions you are selling to, ensuring compliance with local regulations.

4. Localize Content

Adapt product descriptions, marketing materials, and customer service resources to connect with local audiences. Consider using a translation app like Weglot to add greater convenience and efficiency.

You can also do this step through Shopify Markets, by going to set up language options: Offer your store in multiple languages by navigating to Online Store > Themes > Actions > Edit Languages.

However, Weglot has a simple, tech-free setup and offers greater functionality than Shopify Markets. You can store preferred translations in a glossary for consistency, and translate text elements like metadata, image text, and, importantly, even content from third-party extensions.

5. Implement Shopify Markets Features

  • Create submarkets: Use Managed Markets to establish submarkets for specific regions, allowing for tailored experiences and pricing strategies.
  • Implement hreflang tags: Optimize your SEO by using hreflang tags, which help search engines understand the language and regional targeting of your content (Weglot also automatically adds these).

6. Monitor Performance

Regularly analyze sales data and customer feedback from different markets using Shopify’s analytics tools. This will help you refine your strategies and improve the shopping experience.

Strategic Decisions: Single Store vs. Multi-Store Approach

When considering the single-versus-multistore approach for enterprise-level Shopify stores, several advanced decision factors come into play.

In practice, a single-store approach is ideal for businesses focusing on a niche market or audience. A multi-store approach entails operating multiple Shopify stores, each tailored to different markets, regions, or product lines.

Consider the following pros and cons when deciding which approach is best for you:

Single Store Approach

Pros:

  • Simplified management: Managing one store reduces complexity in operations, allowing for smoother processes.
  • Cost efficiency: Single stores can be self-built and set up for $50 to $1K USD, with custom developer builds starting at $10K or more. You’ll also need to consider Shopify’s monthly fees—which can go from $19 to $2,300 USD per month—plus processing fees and costs for running additional apps. However, it’s a much cheaper arrangement than setting up multiple sites and paying maintenance fees for all of them.
  • Unified branding: A single storefront ensures consistent branding and customer experience across all markets, improving brand recognition.
  • Easier compliance management: Legal compliance, such as GDPR for EU markets, is simplified as there’s only one set of regulations to follow.

Cons:

  • Less scalability: As a business grows, a single store may struggle to accommodate expanding product lines or new markets. Adding new products or features might require significant restructuring of the existing store setup.
  • Reduced flexibility in marketing: A single store may limit the ability to implement targeted marketing campaigns tailored to different demographics or regions, leading to missed opportunities for engagement and conversions.
  • Challenges with inventory management: Managing inventory for a wide range of products in a single store can become complicated, especially if the business operates in multiple regions with varying demand patterns.

Multi-Store Approach

Pros:

  • Enhanced localization: Multiple stores allow for tailored experiences that meet specific regional regulations and cultural preferences, improving customer satisfaction.
  • Market-specific SEO optimization: Each store can have its own URL structure and SEO strategy, making it easier to optimize for local search engines.
  • Flexibility in pricing and promotions: Different stores can implement region-specific pricing strategies, including automatic tax calculations and duty collection, which can help to maximize sales.

Cons:

  • Higher development costs: Setting up multiple stores can be significantly more expensive. If a single store costs a minimum of $1K to launch, 10 sites can easily run beyond $10K, and you’ll have monthly maintenance fees on top.
  • Complex compliance requirements: Each store must comply with local laws such as VAT handling in the EU or GST in Australia, complicating legal compliance efforts.
  • Technical infrastructure challenges: Multi-store setups may face API call limitations and database performance issues, requiring better technical solutions.

As we’ve seen, both approaches have their pros and cons, so the key difference lies in business scope – a single-store focuses on simplicity and specialization, while the multi-store method emphasizes diversification and a broader market reach.

Automating Shopify Translations with Weglot

Weglot homepage
Weglot homepage

Our website translation solution, Weglot, is more than just a translation app for Shopify; it’s an automated way to scale and translate your store without manual processes so you can effortlessly launch into new markets.

Weglot's Shopify Localization Solution

Weglot offers several capabilities that Shopify Markets does not, making it a more comprehensive solution for localization. Key advantages include:

  • Automatic and continuous translation: Weglot automatically translates all store content, including dynamic elements like checkout pages. Shopify Markets requires manual input for translations beyond two languages.
  • SEO optimization: Weglot automatically generates SEO-friendly URLs and implements hreflang tags, enhancing search engine visibility for each language version. While Shopify Markets provides basic translation features, it lacks this level of SEO integration.
  • Support for multiple languages: Weglot supports over 110 languages, making it ideal for businesses looking to expand globally. Shopify Markets has limitations on the number of languages that can be effectively managed.

With its centralized translation management system, Weglot integrates into existing Shopify workflows and is fully compatible with Shopify Markets. This allows you to regularly launch new products without worrying about any manual actions, even when processing over 1,000 orders per month.

To implement Weglot, you simply need to install it through the Shopify App Store and in minutes your site will be multilingual.

Weglot’s translation glossary
Weglot’s translation glossary

Weglot works by automatically detecting, translating, and displaying your Shopify store under language subdomains or subdirectories. Using a first layer of machine translation, your store will be 100% translated (including your checkout and product descriptions) instantly.

Translation quality assurance is key in localization, and with Weglot, you get complete editing control over all your translations, an inbuilt glossary, translation memory, URL exclusion, and more. These features mean you can have a multilingual store running almost hands-free after setup.

“The biggest win for us is the time we’ve saved. It takes us about ten minutes twice a week to double-check everything is running how we want it. Everything else is done by Weglot.”

- Adèle Aubry, Ecommerce Manager at The Bradery

Language Detection, Cultural Adaptation, and Content Management

Weglot’s language switcher
Weglot’s language switcher

We built our translation app with speed in mind. Using a proprietary mix of machine translation, Weglot instantly produces high-quality translations for website text in over 110 languages, ensuring a rapid response to market demands. Weglot also allows for excluded translation rules, enabling specific content types – such as legal disclaimers or brand names – to remain in their original language. All translations are stored in a central dashboard, making it easy to conduct post-editing work with team members and expert translators.

Additionally, Weglot can handle translations for custom taxonomies and metadata, ensuring that all relevant content is accurately translated. Our Visual Editor provides a user-friendly interface to edit translations in context and for layout verification, allowing you to see how translations appear in real-time. Such a feature will enable you to handle right-to-left scripts without the need for a developer, and ensure that all translations fit visually with your page designs.

Weglot’s Visual Editor
Weglot’s Visual Editor

Moreover, Weglot effectively manages dynamic JavaScript content translation, so all elements of the site are consistently localized without manual intervention, no matter where the content is coming from (third-party apps).

Domain Structure, Hreflang Tags, and SEO Optimization

To optimize SEO for multilingual Shopify stores, Weglot allows you to set up language-specific URLs and domain structures. It automatically implements hreflang tags in theme files, ensuring that search engines correctly index the various language versions of a site. The metadata translation process is also important for maintaining SEO integrity – Weglot translates essential elements such as title tags and meta descriptions for better visibility in overseas search results.

Metadata elements explained
Metadata elements explained

Our translation app also optimizes indexing through sitemap handling, making sure that all translated pages are included for search engine crawlers. Canonical URLs are implemented across languages to prevent duplicate content issues, preserving the SEO value of the original pages.

Finally, Weglot integrates with existing SEO tools and analytics platforms, providing a comprehensive approach to managing multilingual SEO strategies.

Launch Your Global Store in Minutes

Gone are the days when launching an international store required months of development and extensive translation work! With Shopify translation apps like Weglot, site owners can deploy their global stores in a matter of minutes. Our app integrates with Shopify Markets, handling the technical aspects of localization and making it easier than ever to reach new audiences – at speed.

By combining automated translation technology with human refinement capabilities, businesses can ensure high-quality content that connects with local customers. With Weglot in your toolkit, brands can start by targeting core markets and easily expand to additional languages as business grows. And managing your ongoing translation workflow is simplified through Weglot’s centralized dashboard, providing a clear overview of all translations.

Ready to leap into global ecommerce? Try Weglot's 10-day free trial.

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