Selling Internationally: Markets vs Multi-Store
No7 Engineering Team
Growth Architecture Unit
Expanding internationally is exciting until you start thinking about the logistics. Currency conversion, translations, local payment methods, shipping, duties and taxes—it adds up quickly. And then there's the question: one store with Markets, or multiple stores?
What Shopify Markets Does
Markets lets you sell to multiple countries from a single Shopify store. You can set different pricing, currencies, languages, and domains for each market, all managed from one admin.
For many brands, this is enough. You get localised experiences without the overhead of running separate stores.
When Markets Works Well
Same Products Everywhere
If you're selling the same catalogue across all markets with just price and language differences, Markets handles this elegantly.
Centralised Operations
One inventory pool, one set of apps, one place to manage orders. Less complexity, less room for things to go wrong.
Starting International Sales
Testing demand in new markets before committing to full local operations. Markets lets you dip your toe in without major investment.
When You Need Separate Stores
Consider Multiple Stores When:
- inventory_2Different product ranges: When your EU catalogue differs significantly from your US or UK offering.
- warehouseLocal fulfillment: Regional warehouses with separate inventory that doesn't need to sync globally.
- groupsLocal teams: Regional operations teams who need autonomy over their market.
- gavelRegulatory requirements: Some industries have local compliance needs that are easier to manage with separate entities.
The Middle Ground
Some brands use a hybrid approach: Markets for similar regions (UK, EU, Australia), separate stores for markets with very different requirements (Japan, Middle East).
The key is being honest about your operational capacity. Multiple stores means multiple admin interfaces, multiple app subscriptions, and multiple things to maintain and update.
Making the Decision
Start with Markets unless you have a specific reason not to. You can always split into separate stores later if needed—going the other way (consolidating multiple stores into one) is much harder.