Shopify Markets for International Commerce Vs Expansion Stores

Selling internationally is one of the biggest growth opportunities for ecommerce brands. Shopify has created tools that make global selling easier, but merchants often wonder which approach is best: Shopify Markets or Expansion Stores. Both are powerful, but each serves different needs depending on your business goals, size, and operational structure.

In this comprehensive guide, we will compare Shopify Markets and Expansion Stores, explain how they work, highlight key differences, and help you choose the best strategy to grow your global ecommerce business with Shopify.

What Is Shopify Markets?

Shopify Markets is a set of built-in international selling features that let merchants manage multiple regions and countries from a single Shopify store. It is especially useful for merchants who want to sell abroad without maintaining separate stores for each region.

When you set up Shopify Markets, you can:

• Sell in different local currencies

• Enable multiple languages

• Configure local payment methods

• Calculate duties and taxes at checkout

• Manage markets from a central dashboard

• Set region-specific pricing and rules

Because Shopify Markets is integrated into your main store, you can control these settings from one place and activate global strategies without complex multi-store setups.

Key Features of Shopify Markets

Markets focuses on making international commerce easier and more efficient. Its features include:

• Centralised global management — All regional settings are controlled from one Shopify admin panel.

• Multi-currency pricing and local payment methods — Customers see prices in their preferred currency and can checkout using local payment options when available.

• Duties and taxes handling — You can include taxes and duties at checkout to avoid surprises for customers.

• Automatic language translation — Customers can browse in their native language with localized content.

• International domains or subfolder setups — Let customers shop on region-specific URLs to boost local trust and SEO.

Shopify’s official rollout of Markets and enhancements like Shopify Markets Pro and Translate & Adapt show Shopify’s investment in helping merchants push into international markets smoothly and rapidly.

How Shopify Markets Simplifies International Commerce

Shopify Markets was designed to remove common barriers to selling internationally. Traditional international ecommerce often involves:

• Duplicating stores for each region

• Managing separate payment processors

• Complex tax and duty compliance

• Independent content and language setups

Markets consolidates many of these tasks into a unified workflow.

Unified Admin for All Markets

Instead of opening separate stores, you can enable markets for specific regions or countries. For example, your main store can serve:

• United States

• Canada

• France

• Germany

• Japan

All from one Shopify dashboard. This central view allows you to compare performance, adjust settings, and optimise your international experience without managing multiple admin panels.

Localised Shopping Experience

With Markets, your customers can:

• See prices in local currency

• Shop in their language

• View region-specific shipping and delivery options

• Checkout with local payment methods

These localised experiences help reduce friction and increase conversions.

Duties and Tax Automation

International taxes and duties can confuse shoppers and lead to abandoned carts if unexpected. Shopify Markets allows you to pre-calculate duties and taxes at checkout, so the final cost is transparent — improving trust and reducing surprises.

Shopify Markets Pro: Advanced Tools for Scaling International Sales

Shopify Markets Pro builds on the base Markets features with additional cross-border capabilities. When using Markets Pro, you benefit from:

• Expanded global tax management

• Merchant-of-Record services through partners like Global-e

• Legal compliance support in new regions

• Reduced complexity in local registration requirements

With Markets Pro, Shopify helps you sell into multiple countries without you needing to register local entities yourself, making it a strong option for larger global operations or brands ready to scale aggressively.

What Are Expansion Stores?

Expansion Stores are separate Shopify stores tied to a single Shopify Plus organization. With Shopify Plus, merchants can create up to nine additional stores (plus the primary store). Expansion Stores are often used when markets require full autonomy or independence.

Each Expansion Store:

• Has its own checkout

• Uses its own apps and theme

• Can have different product catalogs

• Can operate in separate legal and tax environments

• Manages its own payment gateways and bank accounts

Expansion Stores are ideal for businesses that need:

• Full control over products per region

• Regional teams managing their own store policies and pricing

• Independent SEO or unique marketing strategies

• Legal structures requiring separate entities

In essence, Expansion Stores are like separate branded shops under one corporate umbrella, optimized for full regional independence rather than unified management.

Key Differences: Shopify Markets Vs Expansion Stores

Here’s a side-by-side comparison to help you understand the core differences:

This comparison highlights that Shopify Markets is designed for centralised efficiency, while Expansion Stores enable maximum localisation and control.

When to Use Shopify Markets

Shopify Markets is an excellent choice when:

• You want a single store with international reach

• You prefer simplified global administration

• Your product catalogue is largely consistent across regions

• You aim to leverage a centralised suite of marketing, analytics, and sales tools

• You want to maintain one domain authority for SEO across markets

• You want currencies, languages, pricing rules, and duties managed under one roof

By using subfolders, subdomains, or country-specific domains, Shopify Markets strengthens SEO and enhances discovery across global search engines.

Example Use Case

A fashion brand selling apparel globally can use Markets to present prices in USD, EUR, and GBP from a single store. They also activate language translations and local domains for France and Germany, improving trust and user experience.

When to Use Expansion Stores

Expansion Stores are best when:

• Your regional operations require full independence

• Product catalogues differ significantly by market

• Local legal, tax, and compliance setups are too complex for shared management

• Regional teams have autonomy over pricing and campaigns

• You need separate SEO strategies for each geography

Example Use Case

A electronics brand may sell different products in North America vs. Asia with unique pricing, apps, and checkout experiences. Expansion Stores let each region operate independently, while still being under the same Shopify Plus organization.

How to Choose Between Shopify Markets and Expansion Stores

Choosing the right strategy depends on your business priorities:

1. Speed and Simplicity

If you want to expand quickly into new regions without setting up multiple stores, Shopify Markets is more efficient.

2. SEO and Domain Authority

Markets helps protect SEO equity because all regional traffic builds authority in one domain.

3. Regional Control

If your business requires tailored catalogs, workflows, or legal structures per region, Expansion Stores could be better.

4. Costs and Maintenance

Markets typically has lower total cost of ownership because you manage one store. Expansion Stores incur additional app costs, separate themes, and more complex maintenance.

5. Compliance and Payments

If your regions require separate financial setups or payment gateways unavailable to Markets, Expansion Stores could provide that flexibility.

Practical Steps to Get Started With Shopify Markets

If you decide to start with Shopify Markets, here’s a simple process:

1. Enable Markets in Shopify Admin

2. Set Local Currency and Payments

3. Add Languages

4. Configure Local Domains or Subfolders

5. Set Duties and Taxes

6. Launch and Monitor

This unified setup enables you to reach customers globally without juggling multiple store instances.

Practical Steps to Get Started With Expansion Stores

For businesses choosing Expansion Stores:

1. Create a Primary Store

2. Set Up Additional Stores

3. Install Apps Per Store

4. Localise Content and SEO

5. Manage Regional Legal Requirements

This gives maximum autonomy but requires careful organisation and resources.

Final Thoughts

Shopify Markets and Expansion Stores each provide pathways to international ecommerce success, but they solve different business needs. Shopify Markets simplifies global selling from a single store with localisation tools, currencies, languages, taxes, and domain configurations. Expansion Stores allow full regional independence for businesses with complex products, varied tax or legal needs, or different catalogues per region.

A common strategy is to start with Shopify Markets to test new territories and, as your operations grow, introduce Expansion Stores where deeper customization or local autonomy is required.

For tailored guidance on choosing and implementing the right internationalisation strategy for your Shopify store, The Fold Tech offers expert ecommerce solutions that help businesses scale across markets with confidence and efficiency.