If you are a small business or a large store, expanding your enterprise and making it global seems like a no-brainer. Seeing that we are in a digital age, doing this is easier than ever before because of the e-commerce concept. A platform like Shopify is present to not only aid the sale of your products and perform other services such as offering fulfillment centers and delivery but also helps with expanding beyond borders.
The larger stores on the platform have already done this and many have seen an increase in profits, which should encourage others to do the same. So, if you are looking to expand to other countries on Shopify and still have access to fulfillment centers as well as other services found on this platform, a quality guide is needed to help you.
The Importance of Growing Your Store
Yes, Shopify is one of the best e-commerce website builders that helps to get traffic and attract new customers all over the world. Every business is trying to expand and reach the furthest regions of the world and this is wise for many reasons. A few of these benefits are obvious and others are a bit more subtle, but ultimately reaching the goal of the store’s success. The following are some of the reasons you should consider expanding your store.
1. Larger Profits Could Be Made
It’s simple logic that exposure to other markets abroad could mean the potential for more customers, which means that your consumer base could increase. If this does happen, the profits will more than likely rise.
If your Shopify store does not expand to other countries, you can miss out the chance for it to increase exponentially. You can also try Online Course Platforms to help you learn how to build a website using the Shopify platform or how to create engaging content for your new store in different locations. By using different educational materials, you will be able to attract more loyal customers and even build a strong community around your brand.
2. Payment in Local Currencies Is Possible
Without an international store, you run the risk of customers having to pay for goods in your currency, which could be expensive due to conversion. This is something that paying in respective local currencies can solve and this is only possible with stores in different countries.
3. Advertising Directly to Locals
As opposed to advertising to people in your own country, spreading the word of your store to different individual countries in their unique way could be of use. Having a different store in another country allows you to target that specific audience, which means that the profits macro for the investment in advertising could be paid off easily.
4. Providing Logistics and Local Shipping
Depending on where you are, a customer’s shipping needs are going to vary. With a local store, you can easily tailor the specifics of shipping to specific customers.
With multiple stores worldwide, monitoring your products in the store becomes easier as they are under the same banner. This means that the management of inventory can be done in whatever way you see fit. For the ease of use, you can apply management solutions that will help organize the basic assignments.
Building Up Stores in Multiple Nations
Growing your store into other regions is always achieved by adhering to these six steps. Not every store seeking to expand into other countries and using these steps is going to be successful. However, that success is mainly due to their practices or other circumstances. The more successful stores have done the following to perfection:
1. Create Other Shopify Accounts
If you know how to create a Shopify account, then you should know that creating another one is essentially the same process. The only difference with your existing account is that on the part that chooses the nation, you would choose another one. This can be done multiple times so long as you acknowledge account ownership.
2. Create Another Domain
Creating a new domain is something that all expanding businesses have to do to deal with the traffic. The two main ways of doing this are through the use of separate and subdomain varieties.
3. Duplicating Your Shop
This stage is probably the most time consuming. However, it can be done over several months and has no time limit as well, and is made easier through the Shopify app. The following is a breakdown of how to do it:
- Ensure that your platform has a duplicate by finding the “Administration<Theme” section and exporting it. After this, it can be uploaded to the other shop;
- Make sure that your products are replicated and exported either singularly or in mass. After this, you can make an import and select a few products into the new store;
- Ensure that the pricing is local by adjusting to your target country’s currency through CSV or the admin;
- Ensure that general settings are localized by revisiting them to the specifics they need to be;
- Move all content of the page by opening dual sites simultaneously, selecting them, replicating the flipped HTML version, and finally pasting them onto the brand new space. After this, one can notify Google of the site’s new connection by adding Hreflang and avoiding unnecessary penalties;
- Have your space localized by changing spelling, languages, and links to suit the native population. One can also use a relative URL, install and configure apps to the new shop and have your payment point connected to ensure that Google can monitor all activity.
4. Direct Traffic by Utilizing an IP Redirect
Utilizing this particular app will give one the capability to find the potential customer’s location and lead them to the perfect store. It is best to achieve this after acquiring a geolocation application that can give you language options and money-changing suggestions to customers based on where they are.
5. Updating Your Console for Google Research
Doing this gives one the ability to target a particular region based on what people are likely to search for. It is a rather quick stage and should last a few minutes at most. You can add a reminder to your Trello visual card and make the updates when you need it.
6. Putting In the Finishing Touches
Based on what current circumstances are, a few things will have to be done to finish the journey. To test that your expansion is successful a few things have to be monitored. Some of them include the following:
- All advertising aspects such as tracking codes and ensuring the nation-specific nature of it
- The creation of alternate Google profiles for Analytics
- Double-check that the consumer service is tailored to a region
- Ensure that shipping centers meet the needs of the locals
Final Thoughts
Creating a Shopify shop is a feat in itself, but once you decide to expand into other nations, a whole list of things comes into play. From dialects to currency and the logistics of running this type of operation, a keen eye is something that will prove valuable. This is because running multiple international stores is a task that requires most of your time or at least more than if you have only one location.
Outside of time another thing to consider is the amount of money involved in running these stores. Because Shopify doesn’t allow the creation of multiple stores under one banner, each shop has to be paid for. This means that the monthly cost for the stores is multiplied and the expenses will increase. With the thoughts on the time and the money spent on these stores, it would be preferable for you to have the means and the time to take such an important step. In short, expanding to multiple countries requires you to be both stable and ready.
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