Shopify Markets: How to Set Up International Sales
A Slovak customer opens your product and sees the price in euros, but after entering their address, they can't find any shipping option. The translation and price conversion work, yet the order never happens. Shopify Markets helps you manage international sales from one store; a successful launch, however, requires aligning the market, language, currency, offer and delivery.
We'll show how to prepare the setup using a model expansion of a Czech online store to Slovakia. This is a procedure for your store, not a case study of a specific client. We focus on the decisions and checks worth completing before your first international order.
What to know in advance
- A market is not the same as a language. One country can use several languages, and one language can serve several countries.
- A price displayed in euros doesn't yet prove that the customer will also pay in euros.
- Shipping must work for the specific address, product and cart value.
- Automatic translation needs review, including product data, apps and emails.
- Expand a proven process. Simply adding ten countries won't create ten working sales channels.
Table of contents
- What Shopify Markets can do
- What to prepare for a new market
- How to create an international market
- Domains, languages and translations
- Currencies, prices and payments
- Shipping, documents and taxes
- SEO for the international version
- Test order and launch
- The most common mistakes
- Frequently asked questions
What Shopify Markets is and what it can do
Shopify Markets is an environment for managing groups of customers and their shopping experience. For international sales, you use regional markets that define countries or regions. For them, you can prepare a matching offer, prices, currency and language URLs. Orders still stay in one Shopify store.
Changing the admin language changes your team's interface. Translating the website changes the content for visitors. The market then defines the commercial context, such as the country of sale. These three things complement each other, but one doesn't automatically set up the others.
Markets doesn't mean a separate online store with separate processes for each country. If you need different legal entities, teams or fundamentally different management, assess the architecture separately. Choosing a platform in the first place is covered in our comparison of Shoptet and Shopify; here we work with expanding an existing Shopify store.
Do you need Shopify Plus to expand?
Not for simply creating a regional market. The availability of advanced customizations, however, varies by plan. According to current documentation, market-specific customizations of the theme, checkout and customer accounts require Advanced or Plus; some checkout changes are reserved for Plus. So don't confuse translating content with the ability to change the layout for each country.
Besides the plan, budget for translations, integrations, payment costs, shipping and customer support. Don't choose a higher plan based on the number of flags on your website. First list the specific features you actually need for another country.
What to prepare for a new market
In the model project, the store has working Czech sales and wants to add Slovakia. For the first launch, it selects a limited collection, Slovak texts, prices in EUR and delivery from its Czech warehouse. These parameters are chosen for illustration; they're not a recommendation of the same solution for every product range.
Assign a responsible person and a specific outcome to each area. The translator needs final product materials, the accountant needs the actual flow of payments and shipments, and the developer needs the availability rules. Without this preparation, the technical setup often gets changed repeatedly based on decisions that should have been made earlier.
| Area | Outcome of preparation |
|---|---|
| Offer | A list of products for the country |
| Content | Reviewed texts and contact details |
| Prices | Currency and pricing rules |
| Delivery | Carrier, rates and return conditions |
| Documents | A verified link to accounting |
How to create an international market in Shopify Markets
First, open Markets in the admin and review your existing markets. Find out whether the target country is already part of a broader market and which settings it inherits. For a first, clear launch, you don't need to build a complex hierarchy of groups and subgroups.
- In Markets, choose to create a market, usually with the Create market button.
- Give it a name your team will understand, for example Slovakia, and leave it in Draft status while you prepare it.
- In the inclusion conditions, select the region and target country.
- Review the inherited settings. Change only what should actually differ for the new market.
- Prepare the catalog, domain and language, currency and the link to shipping. Save the settings.
The names and locations of some options may differ depending on the Markets version. Go by what a field does, not by an old screenshot from a different admin. Above all, check whether a change applies only to the market you're preparing or also affects other customers.
Define the offer with a catalog
A catalog determines which products are available and any custom prices for the market. Check the product and its variants as well as publication to the relevant sales channel. It's not a good idea to launch international ads for your entire Czech catalog if you can't deliver part of the range to the target country or don't have materials ready for it.
For the sample Slovak launch, the team can start with one collection. The advantage is a smaller scope of translations and checks. When adding products later, decide who will check the language, price and shipping before they're included in the international offer.
Domains, languages and translations for Shopify Markets
Subfolder, subdomain or separate domain?
A subfolder keeps the international version on your existing domain. A subdomain separates it with a prefix before the domain name. A separate country domain can support a local brand identity, but it requires extra management. Make the choice before promoting the new version; changing it later means working with redirects and checking links.
For a first expansion, a subfolder can be practical without buying another domain. But set the specific suffix in Markets; don't create it by manually editing links. A language subfolder and a language-plus-region combination are not always interchangeable; use the resulting URL that Shopify creates for that configuration.
How to add a language and assign it to a market
In Settings → Languages, add the language you need. Prepare translations using Translate & Adapt or a compatible app. Then, in the market detail, set the domain and language combination and verify that it's published. Adding a language to the list doesn't yet mean visitors will see a finished, translated store.
Treat automatic translation as a working draft. Translate & Adapt has different automation options depending on the store's country and the available interface. Don't plan maintenance on the assumption that every newly added text will be translated instantly by itself. For each language, decide how it will be reviewed and updated; the app doesn't automatically translate legal policies.
- Go through product titles, descriptions, attributes, variants and size charts.
- Check navigation, collections, search and information pages.
- Verify checkout texts, order confirmations and shipping notifications.
- Separately review reviews, forms, banners and content inserted by apps.
- Adjust shipping, returns and contact details to how things actually work in the target country.
Manual country and language switching must also be available on mobile. A customer abroad may be buying a gift for a Czech address or vice versa; the visitor's location alone may not match the shipping destination. Also check that switching keeps a meaningful page and doesn't unnecessarily send people from a product back to the homepage.
Currencies, prices and payments: three different checks
Verify the currency all the way to completed payment. For multi-currency payments in Markets, the documentation lists Shopify Payments or Adyen. With a different payment processor, the customer pays in the store's default currency. So don't treat a visual conversion in the header as a finished payment in EUR.
Distinguish between the store currency, the currency of the customer's order and the payout currency to your bank account. They can be different. For each payment method, verify support in the target country and the link to documents. Pay special attention to external payment apps and manual methods.
Automatic conversion and fixed prices
Automatic conversion responds to the exchange rate and can include conversion costs and rounding. A fixed price helps you control your commercial offer, but it needs regular checking against costs. In the catalog, verify which items use a custom price and which use a general rule. A combination of inherited rules must not surprise your team only at the moment of purchase.
For example, the Czech and Slovak offers don't have to produce an identical result after a simple conversion. You can factor in shipping, customer service or the local price level. This is a business decision that must be consistent with your tax and legal setup. Also test a discount code and a refund; the exchange rate at refund time may differ from the rate of the original transaction.
Shipping, documents and taxes for international sales
An active market and a usable shipping rate are two separate requirements. In the target country, the customer must be able to get through checkout with a specific cart. Prepare rates for the available products and locations, and check thresholds based on price or weight. A missing range can remove shipping only for some orders, so a single test isn't enough.
For the model sales to Slovakia, check a small order, a cart around the free shipping threshold and a heavier or combined shipment. Check the pickup point, if you offer one, and that the selected point is actually passed to the carrier. The text "delivery to Slovakia" must match a service your warehouse can actually book.
Markets doesn't replace an assessment of your tax obligations. Work out with your accountant in advance, based on your registered office, product range, customers and the flow of shipments, the VAT rates, a possible OSS scheme, currencies and how documents are issued. For the technical connection, use our overview of connecting accounting to Shopify. It's just as important to test a credit note when a payment is refunded.
If you later add countries outside the EU, reassess customs duties, import taxes and who is responsible for paying them. Don't carry over the Slovak setup to a different commercial and customs regime without checking. Before completing an order, the customer must understand the price and delivery terms.
SEO for the international version: check specific pages
For search, you need stable URLs and truly localized content. Start with titles, descriptions and category names based on how your target audience searches for your products. A simple translation of a Czech keyword may not match local usage. The general basics are covered in our guide to SEO for Shopify.
Hreflang links the language and regional versions of the same page. On a sample product, verify that the Czech and Slovak versions point to their matching counterpart and to themselves. Don't point to the international homepage only as the alternative for every product. A region code without a language code is not a valid language annotation.
Shopify can generate the annotations and sitemap based on your Markets configuration. Still, check the actual output of your theme and apps. The canonical URL of a translated page should match its intended indexable version; don't send all translations to the Czech version with a canonical tag without a reason. Before adding another SEO app, check whether another solution already inserts the same tags.
Check the new URLs in Google Search Console, verify that the sitemaps are available and monitor indexing over time. Neither hreflang nor submitting a sitemap is a promise of rankings or instant traffic. The result also depends on the quality of your offer, content and the competition in the target country.
A test order and launching the international market
While the market is still in progress, use its available preview. Verify the full public journey after activation, before launching campaigns. Use the payment test mode according to the options of the specific gateway; don't mark real payment, payout and refund as verified if you've only checked a simulation.
- Open the target URL on desktop and mobile, ideally also in a clean session. Check the language and country selection.
- Choose a product and variant, and compare the price on the page, in the cart and at checkout.
- Enter an address in the target country and verify shipping, including cart threshold values.
- Pay with a supported method and check the order confirmation, currency and payment status.
- Check the order in the warehouse, invoicing system and shipping integration.
- Verify that shipment tracking is passed on, and test the cancellation, refund and credit note process.
Record the result against the specific order and settings. Note what passed, what was only in preview and what is still pending. The sales owner can then decide based on actual evidence, not on a general impression that "Slovakia is already switched on".
The most common mistakes when setting up Shopify Markets
A product doesn't show up abroad
Check the assigned catalogs, the product's availability in the market and its publication to the sales channel. Test both the direct URL and in-store search. A language error may not be the cause; the problem may be in the offer for the selected country.
Part of the website stays in Czech
Distinguish a missing translation of regular content from app text or an image with embedded words. A fix in Translate & Adapt won't automatically solve every third-party widget. When maintaining new products, check the same parts as before the first launch.
Checkout offers no shipping or changes the currency
For shipping, start with the target market, address, product profile, location and rate range. For currency, verify the payment processor and the specific method. Don't change several settings at random at once; after each targeted fix, repeat the same cart.
Need to prepare international sales, including languages, payments and integrations? As part of our Shopify online store development, we can design the setup and a verification process. For the brief, prepare your target countries, product range, carriers, accounting and the languages you need.
Frequently asked questions about Shopify Markets
Do I need a second Shopify store for Slovakia?
Selling to another country alone doesn't require a second store. Consider a separate solution based on how the company is managed, its legal entities and operational requirements, not just because of a different language.
Does Shopify Markets automatically translate the whole online store?
Markets manages the shopping experience of a market. You prepare translations using Translate & Adapt or another solution and verify that they're published. Apps, emails and legal texts need a separate check.
Do I have to buy a domain for every market?
No. You can use a subfolder or subdomain depending on the available configuration. A separate domain is one option worth assessing based on your brand, management and SEO strategy.
Why can't a customer pay when the market has been created?
Verify the market's active status, product availability, a shipping rate for that address and the payment method. A created market draft is not yet a working public sale.
Is translating Czech product descriptions enough for international SEO?
Translation is the start. Add local search terms, shipping, contact details and answers to customers' questions. Then check the URLs, indexability and the linking of language versions.
