Now more than ever, international sales have become easier and more accessible for any size of company. Many solutions are available to help enhance global sales, but deciding which is best for your business can be overwhelming. In the end, the purpose of all these solutions is to democratize international sales.
In September 2021, Shopify launched Markets, a tool that allows merchants to better manage foreign domains, regional pricing, translations, and currency conversion. The objective is to improve the user experience regardless of their location. In September 2022, Shopify launched Markets Pro, the next step to improve the purchase experience by offering international shipping to several countries. But you might wonder if it suits your business or if you need those features and the costs associated with this service. Here we present the most relevant details about Shopify Markets Pro and if this can benefit your international business so you can decide for yourself what works best for your brand expansion goals.
What is Shopify Markets Pro?
Shopify Markets Pro is a cross-border solution service that allows Shopify merchants to sell and ship internationally more efficiently, reducing the complexity of cross-border selling. This solution was designed mainly for small-medium brands that do not have the logistics infrastructure to expand internationally seamlessly, allowing them to implement an easy process to fulfill international orders to 136 countries.
Main features
- Currency conversion and local payment methods
- Calculation of taxes and duties at checkout and offering DDP shipping
- Fulfill international orders natively in Shopify or through third-party partners
- Access to discounted DHL shipping rates
- Translation of websites to local language & domains management
Advantages
- International customers can get a localized experience buying in their currency and standard payment methods. Including Shopify payment
- Seamless integration. This solution is easy to install, in a few clicks, you can get it running.
- Easy access to negotiated DHL international shipping rates. If you integrate DHL Express, your user may get DHL total rates.
- Management of all international stores on the same platform
- Higher potential to increase sales
- An easy shopping experience for you and your international users. Your customers will enjoy shopping and know how much they will pay for shipment and import fees at checkout, with no surprise fees when they receive the order.
Disadvantages
Shopify Markets Pro also involves several external services and partners to run. This makes Markets Pro complex to run in the back end and comes with a price. These are some of the fees associated with using Shopify Markets and Markets Pro:
Using the regular Shopify Markets features generates these fees:
- 1.5% fee per order when duties and import taxes are calculated
- 1.5% per order when currency is converted with Shopify Payments
Using the Markets Pro DDP features generates these fees:
- 6.5% per transaction fee. Although there is no contract or monthly fee for using Shopify Markets Pro, merchants must pay this fee.
- 2.5% currency conversion fee paid (automatically added to the product price)
Does Shopify Markets Pro increase your international sales?
Selling to multiple countries and scaling internationally is a great opportunity. Mainly if you sell from the same store and use an all-in-one solution that localizes storefronts, calculates duties and taxes, international compliance handles all complexities, and makes shipping more cost-effective. But the most critical variable here is the shopping experience. A study by the Baymard Institute found that almost 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned, and 55% are due to high extra costs at checkout. International customers are generally charged high shipping rates, import fees, and additional cross-border fees like Shopify Markets Pro, which could increase the order cost to up to 100% of the product price.
At BorderGuru, we believe international customers should be encouraged instead of being charged for buying from a foreign brand. Based on this mission, BorderGuru provides online stores with the easiest cross-border solution that includes the main Shopify Markets Pro features, without any fees for you or your customers. The BorderGuru Shopify App enables your brand to expand internationally to more than 200 countries without any hurdles, tax filing, complex processes, international shipping surprises, or any additional fees.
Here are the main features of BorderGuru:
- Integrates easily with your Shopify store in 5 minutes
- Gives access to reduced shipping rates (up to 70% lower than the most common carriers)
- Calculates and guarantees taxes and duties at checkout for free
- Handles legal and VAT for 200 countries
- Provide HS codes for free
- Free detailed tracking from the first to the last mile at all times.
Offer the benefits of selling easily to your international customers with customs-cleared orders and without surprise fees at delivery while making selling internationally easier for your business. Contact us now for more information about how our app works and is set up in your store.