How to sell internationally on Shopify: Markets or expansion stores?

Most Shopify brands should sell internationally from one store with Markets. Creating regional markets is free on every Shopify plan, and markets handle local currencies, languages, domains, duties and taxes from one admin. Shopify Plus adds up to nine expansion stores on the same contract, which suit a region that needs its own catalog, apps, team or setup, but they don't share any data with your main store.

Start with Markets. Move a region to its own store only when one store gets in the way.

What Shopify Markets does

A market is a group of shoppers who get their own version of your store. You define it with conditions, such as a country or region, a B2B customer group, a retail location or a sales channel. Then you customize what they see: currency, language, prices, which products they can buy, theme content, domain and taxes.

Two requirements (opens in a new tab) come first:

• Shipping rates for every country you want to sell to. A market can only be activated for countries and regions that have shipping rates.
• Shopify Payments or Adyen if you want shoppers to pay in their own currency. With another payment provider, shoppers see local prices but pay in your store's default currency.

What each Shopify plan includes for international selling

Shopify's Markets feature table shows where the plans differ:

• Every plan: regional markets, product catalogs per market, currencies, domains and languages per market, discounts for specific markets, and duties and taxes by market.
• Advanced and Plus: different theme content per market, such as banners, sections or layouts, and checkout and account pages customized per market.
• Plus only: custom blocks on the checkout page for each market, and different business entities in different markets.
• B2B markets: up to three catalogs across all B2B markets on plans below Plus.

A few limits apply on every plan. You publish one theme at a time and customize it per market. Staff permissions can't be set per market. Post-purchase offers show only in your default currency.

Currencies, payments and duties

By default Shopify converts prices (opens in a new tab) with the current exchange rate. You can also set rates by hand, round prices, adjust prices by a percentage per market or set product prices by country. Selling in local currencies needs a country selector on your store, so shoppers can pick where they are.

For duties and import taxes (opens in a new tab), you can collect an estimate at checkout, so customers don't get a surprise bill on delivery. Your products need Harmonized System (HS) codes for this.

If you sell into the EU, check the price rules there too. Shopify's Help Center notes that the European Price Indication Directive requires showing the lowest price from the last 30 days whenever you announce a price reduction.

Languages and international SEO

Each language you publish (opens in a new tab) gets its own URLs, and checkout and email notifications appear in the customer's language. You can translate with Shopify's Translate & Adapt app, by hand or with AI translations, through CSV files or with a translation app.

For search, Shopify's international SEO guide (opens in a new tab) recommends subfolders, such as yourstore.com/fr, for most stores:

• Subfolders share your main domain's authority and are the easiest to manage.
• Subdomains, such as fr.yourstore.com, are treated as separate sites by some search engines and build their own authority over time.
• Country domains, such as yourstore.fr, give the strongest local signal and suit brands with a real presence in that country. Each one needs its own registration.

Markets adds hreflang tags, canonical URLs and sitemaps for you. Shopify also says adapted content can rank better than a word for word translation, so rewrite your key collection and product copy for each market.

Managed Markets: when Shopify handles the paperwork

With Managed Markets (opens in a new tab), Global-e becomes the merchant of record. It handles tax remittance in the countries you sell to, accepts local payment methods and manages duties and import taxes. You don't need your own tax registration in those countries.

Managed Markets is only available to merchants based in the continental US and to certain stores in Canada and the UK. If you qualify, it is a quick way to test new countries without setting up the legal side yourself.

When to use expansion stores on Shopify Plus

Shopify Plus includes up to ten stores (opens in a new tab) on one contract at no extra cost: one main store and nine expansion stores. Staging stores don't count toward the ten.

An international store, such as yourbrand.ca or yourbrand.com.au, is a pre-approved type. Expansion stores must carry the same brand, name and type of goods as the main store, and their billing currency must be USD or INR. They can differ in language and selling currency.

Each expansion store is fully separate:

• Products, collections, inventory and settings don't sync between stores. You need an app or an ERP to keep them in line.
• Apps are billed per store.
• Each store needs its own theme license.

Markets or expansion stores: how to decide

Stay on one store with Markets if:

• You sell mostly the same products in every country.
• One team runs the store.
• The differences between countries are currency, language, prices and some content.

Consider an expansion store if:

• A region needs a very different catalog, or its own stock and fulfillment.
• A local team runs that region on its own.
• You need different apps, checkout setups or business entities than one store can hold.

Our advice: start with Markets on subfolders. Add an expansion store for one market only when that market has outgrown the shared setup. A second store means a second catalog to keep in line, separate app bills and another theme license, so it should earn that cost. If you're still deciding on the plan itself, our guide to Shopify vs Shopify Plus shows when Plus pays off.

How we help

Rolling Pandas is a Shopify agency and Shopify Select Partner. We set up markets, domains, currencies and translations, and build and run expansion stores as a Shopify Plus agency. We have built Shopify stores in Bulgarian for SuperDogs and Spike No More, and we work with local translators for each language. Selling to businesses abroad too? Our Shopify B2B page explains B2B markets and catalogs.

Quick answers

Can one Shopify store sell in multiple currencies?

Yes. Markets lets one store show and charge local currencies, as long as you use Shopify Payments or Adyen. With other payment providers, prices display locally but the charge is in your store's default currency.

Do I need Shopify Plus to sell internationally?

No. Regional markets, local currencies, languages, domains and duties work on every plan. Advanced adds theme content per market, and Plus adds per-market checkout blocks, business entities and expansion stores.

How many stores do I get on Shopify Plus?

Up to ten on one contract at no extra cost: one main store and nine expansion stores. Staging stores don't count. For more than ten, Shopify asks you to contact its support.

Sources

Facts checked October 27, 2026.

• Shopify Help Center: Markets (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: Requirements and considerations for using markets (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: International SEO for markets (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: Localization and translation (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: Pricing in local currencies (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: Payments for international markets (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: Duties and import taxes (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: Managed Markets (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: Expansion stores on the Shopify Plus plan (opens in a new tab)
• Shopify Help Center: International sales tools (opens in a new tab)