New markets rarely fail on the idea – they fail on the details: a translation nobody reviewed, prices that make no sense in the local currency, VAT set up wrong, a checkout without the payment method people expect. I open markets with you one at a time, on a single store wherever that works.
No commitment · a written estimate within 24 hours
Most of the stores I have built or worked on sell well beyond their home country. Continental Lab runs in English, French and Portuguese, in euros across Europe and in US dollars for North America, Australia and Japan. Aniball sells across Europe from its own European store. Töpfer has a German storefront. Cross-border is not an add-on I bolt onto a project – it is how most of these stores were meant to work from the start.
Which is also why I start with the question of which market is worth it next – not with switching on every country Shopify offers.
Opening a country is more than a language switcher. This is what I set up for each market – and connect so the pieces work together.
Which countries first, how to group them, and how each one is served: a subfolder, a subdomain or its own domain.
A translation people can tell was machine-made costs trust at the exact moment someone decides whether to buy. Machine translation gets you a draft; the store needs more than that.
Customers buy in their own currency, and the price has to make sense in it. Selling in several currencies runs through Shopify Payments.
A new market has to be findable in that country’s search results, not only reachable from your home page.
VAT follows the customer across the EU, and outside it duties come into play. Shopify calculates both – the setup has to be right, and the filing stays with your accountant.
Each market has the payment method and the carrier people expect. Without them, the checkout loses orders it should have won.
Turning on twenty countries at once is easy and almost never pays. This is how I approach it instead.
The next market comes from your data – where orders and interest already arrive – not from a map. Once it works, the next one follows.
Shopify Markets runs many countries from one catalogue and one admin. A separate store makes sense only when a market needs a different catalogue, legal entity or warehouse.
Language is the start. Prices, payment methods, carriers, sizing and tone decide whether a market buys – so those get the attention too.
Every market goes through the same four steps, and what the first one teaches makes the next one faster.
I look at where orders, traffic and demand already come from, and what shipping, tax and language each candidate market brings with it.
Structure, languages, currency, payments, carriers and tax for that market – with the one-off and monthly costs known upfront.
I set it up and test real orders from that market end to end: price, currency, payment, shipping, VAT and the confirmation email.
After launch I watch indexing, conversion and costs in the new market – and carry what worked into the next one.
Continental Lab sells handmade Portuguese ceramics to customers well beyond Portugal – from a single Shopify store.
A Lisbon ceramics house working since 1986, selling hand-painted pieces worldwide. I built the store and its visual design from zero. Today it runs in English, French and Portuguese, shows prices in euros across Europe and in US dollars for the United States, Canada, Australia and Japan, and offers free worldwide shipping above a set order value – one catalogue, one admin.
Opening a single market on an existing store usually lands in the low thousands of euros, depending on languages, integrations and how much content needs localising. A multi-market build from scratch runs to the low tens of thousands. You get the scope and the price in writing first.
You can start with a single market – a clearly bounded project with a fixed price – and decide on the next one once you see the numbers. Or we plan a roadmap of several markets and I work through them in sequence. Either way, apps and subscriptions run on your own account, not through me, and the monthly costs are known before we start.
A written ballpark within 24 hours · no commitment
One store wherever possible. Shopify Markets serves many countries from one catalogue and one admin, with their own language, currency and domain or subfolder. A separate store makes sense when a market needs a genuinely different catalogue, legal entity or warehouse. Shopify Plus includes nine expansion stores on top of the main one, but each is a fully separate store – its own data, settings and apps, nothing synced automatically – so it is a decision with a real running cost.
The one your data already points to. Orders and traffic from a country you are not yet serving properly, shipping costs you can live with, a language you can support, and competition you can beat on something other than price. I go through that before recommending anything – it is the cheapest decision to get right and the most expensive one to get wrong.
As a draft, yes; as the finished store, rarely. Shopify’s free Translate & Adapt app can translate two languages automatically and lets you edit everything by hand, including URLs and SEO fields. What customers read on product pages, in the checkout and in emails deserves a human review – a translation that reads as machine-made costs trust exactly where someone decides to buy.
Up to 20 on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, and up to 30 on Plus. In practice the limit that matters is how many languages you can support properly – with customer service, returns and content – not how many Shopify allows.
Yes, and it matters. Selling in several currencies runs through Shopify Payments, with automatic or manual exchange rates. Local payment methods – iDEAL, Bancontact, BLIK, Klarna and others – appear for customers in the countries where they are supported. I review prices per currency so they read naturally rather than as a converted number.
It depends on how independent the market needs to be. Subfolders keep everything on one domain and are the simplest to run; country domains send a stronger local signal but split your authority and cost more to maintain. Shopify supports all three and generates hreflang automatically from your market and language setup. I choose with you before launch, because changing the structure later means redirects.
Inside the EU, VAT follows the customer once cross-border sales to consumers pass €10,000, usually handled through OSS – Shopify calculates it, but filing stays with your accountant. Selling outside your customs area brings duties: Shopify can calculate duties and import taxes at checkout on every plan, with a 0.5% fee on those orders, though not on domestic orders or orders between EU countries, and it needs HS codes and country of origin on your products.
Selling across the EU: the full guideA single market on an existing store is usually a matter of a few weeks, depending on how much content needs localising and what has to be connected; the price typically lands in the low thousands of euros. A multi-market build from scratch takes longer and costs more. Write a few sentences about your store and the markets you have in mind, and you get a written ballpark within 24 hours.
Get a ballpark figureWrite a few lines about your store and the markets you are considering. Within 24 hours you get my view in writing: which market looks worth it first, what it would take and roughly what it costs. No call, no commitment.
Would rather not fill anything in? Write straight to ahoj@hynekkraus.cz