Shopify international expansion
The problem
International expansion often happens one country at a time, with no shared architecture: currency conversion runs on one formula for every market, VAT gets added or left out depending on how it was done last time, and translations get published before anyone has checked them. The first mistake is usually caught in VAT reporting, not before.
What we do
We build international expansion on the store platform’s own multi-market feature, Shopify Markets for example, using either of two known models: one store serving several country domains, each with its own price and compare-at price; or one domain with several country- or language-specific sub-paths. Each is a deliberate architecture choice with consequences, such as how search-engine link equity splits between domains, and we walk through those consequences before you choose.
We model freight and returns cost by market, carrier, direction and weight class, taking the contract period into account. Pricing starts from the country level, not an average. We separate VAT markets from non-VAT markets as a rule, not as an assumption hidden in code, because getting this wrong is the most expensive mistake possible in reporting. We translate a new market’s legal text, the right of withdrawal or a returns form for example, first, and always mark clearly whether the translation has been legally reviewed yet. Publication waits for the review, not the other way round. For onboarding a new language or market we also work through the operational obstacles, such as local size ranges, common payment methods or a dominant marketplace, rather than a demand estimate alone.
What you own
Country-level pricing rules, translations and the documented architecture decision, in your own repository. Your domains and your store-platform account stay in your name throughout.
What we don’t promise
- Legal review of translations. We translate the text, but review of legal text, the right of withdrawal or returns terms, always stays with you or your lawyer. We don’t publish without that review marked.
- Coverage of the EU’s One Stop Shop VAT process without a separate check. The split between VAT and non-VAT markets is done, but the reporting process itself is checked case by case before we promise anything about it.
- Full language coverage for every market immediately. Onboarding a new language is a weighed decision, not automatic. Some markets are deliberately left out on operational grounds.
- The same carrier experience in every market. Our experience runs deepest in the Nordics and Central Europe; carriers for other markets are scoped case by case.
First step
Tell us the next market and your current architecture.