If you are only selling to Australian customers, you are leaving money on the table. Shopify Markets makes it easier than ever to sell internationally — but most store owners either ignore it completely or set it up wrong and wonder why international orders trickle in at a fraction of their domestic conversion rate.
What’s in This Article
The brands getting this right are adding 15-30% to their revenue by targeting a handful of high-value markets with localised pricing, currency conversion, and shipping options that make overseas customers feel like locals. Here is how to set up Shopify Markets properly — without the headaches.
Why International Selling Is Easier Than You Think
Five years ago, selling internationally on Shopify meant juggling multiple stores, third-party currency apps, and manual tax calculations. It was genuinely painful. Shopify Markets changed that by building multi-market selling directly into the platform.
With Markets, you can set up distinct selling regions — each with its own currency, pricing adjustments, domain, and language — all from a single Shopify store. No duplicate product management. No separate inventory tracking. One store, multiple markets.
For Aussie brands, the obvious first targets are New Zealand (similar culture, no language barrier, close shipping), the US (massive market, high purchasing power), and the UK (English-speaking, strong demand for Australian lifestyle brands). Some of our members have also found surprising success in Singapore and Japan for specific niches.
Setting Up Your First International Market
Head to Settings then Markets in your Shopify admin. You will see your primary market (Australia) already set up. Click “Add market” to create your first international zone. Here is what to configure:
- Market name and countries. Group similar countries together. “New Zealand” can be its own market. “North America” might include the US and Canada. Keep markets that need different pricing or shipping separate.
- Currency. Enable local currencies so customers see prices in NZD, USD, GBP, or whatever is relevant. Shopify handles real-time conversion, but you can set manual exchange rate adjustments to protect your margins — adding 5-10% buffer is standard practice.
- Pricing adjustments. You can increase or decrease all prices by a percentage for each market. If you want to charge more in the US to account for shipping costs, set a +15% price adjustment. This applies across your entire catalogue.
- Duties and taxes. For markets outside Australia, decide whether to include duties at checkout or let customers pay on delivery. Including duties upfront (DDP — Delivered Duty Paid) massively reduces cart abandonment for international orders. Nobody wants a surprise customs bill.
Pricing Strategy for International Markets
The biggest mistake is assuming your Australian pricing translates directly to other markets. It does not. You need to account for shipping costs, duties, currency fluctuation risk, and competitive pricing in each market.
Here is a framework that works. Start with your AUD retail price, convert to the local currency, then apply a market-specific adjustment. For New Zealand, a 5-8% increase covers the currency risk and slightly higher shipping. For the US, 10-15% accounts for international shipping and the duty complexity. For the UK, 12-18% handles VAT obligations and longer transit times.
Use round numbers in local currencies. If your conversion comes out to USD $47.83, round to USD $48 or $49. Odd prices look unpolished and signal to the customer that you have not thought about their market.
Review your pricing quarterly. Currency swings between AUD and USD can be 5-10% in a quarter, and if you are not adjusting, you are either overcharging (killing conversions) or undercharging (killing margins).
International Shipping Without the Headaches
Shipping is where most international selling strategies fall apart. Customers see $45 AUD shipping to the US and bail immediately. You need a shipping strategy that feels reasonable to international buyers.
- Subsidise shipping costs into product prices. If international shipping costs $30, bake $15 into your price adjustment and show $15 shipping at checkout. A higher product price with lower shipping converts better than a lower price with shocking shipping costs.
- Use Australia Post eParcel International or Sendle Global. Both offer competitive rates for Aussie sellers. Australia Post’s iReturns programme also handles international returns, which removes a major barrier for overseas customers.
- Set free shipping thresholds by market. In Australia, your threshold might be $100 AUD. For the US, set it at USD $120 (equivalent plus margin). Free shipping thresholds increase average order value by 15-25% in international markets because customers will add items to hit the target.
- Be transparent about delivery times. International customers expect 7-14 business days for standard shipping from Australia. State this clearly on product pages and at checkout. Understating delivery times leads to chargebacks and negative reviews.
Localisation That Actually Matters
Localisation is not just currency conversion. The stores winning internationally pay attention to the details that make customers feel at home:
- Domain and URL structure. Shopify Markets can create subfolders (yourbrand.com/en-us) or you can set up country-specific domains (yourbrand.us). Subfolders are easier to manage and keep your SEO authority consolidated.
- Localised content. Swap out references to Australian seasons when targeting the Northern Hemisphere. Your “winter sale” in July confuses American and British customers who are in the middle of summer.
- Payment methods. Enable Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay at minimum. For European markets, consider adding Klarna. For Asian markets, look at payment methods popular in those regions.
- Social proof. Show reviews from customers in the same market when possible. Seeing reviews from other US customers builds more trust than reviews from Australian buyers.
International SEO and Marketing
Setting up your markets is only half the battle. You also need to drive traffic from those markets. Shopify Markets automatically generates hreflang tags, which tell Google about your market-specific pages. This helps you rank in local search results for each market.
For paid acquisition, create market-specific ad campaigns. Your Meta Ads targeting US customers should use USD pricing, reference US shipping times, and feature creative that resonates with the American market. Copy-pasting your Australian campaigns with a currency swap does not work — the messaging needs to feel native.
Email marketing should also be segmented by market. Create separate flows for international customers with market-specific shipping information, local currency pricing, and relevant seasonal promotions. A BFCM campaign that references Boxing Day sales will confuse your US audience.
The Compound Effect of Multi-Market Selling
Here is where it gets exciting. Each new market you open is like multiplying your addressable audience. Australia has 26 million people. Adding the US gives you access to 330 million. The UK adds another 67 million. New Zealand is small at 5 million but converts at the highest rate for Aussie brands because of cultural familiarity.
One eCommerce Circle member selling handmade jewellery added just two markets — New Zealand and the US — and grew total revenue by 28% in four months. Another member in the activewear space found that their US customers had a 22% higher AOV than their Australian customers because the brand had a premium perception overseas.
The operational overhead is minimal once set up correctly. You are shipping from the same warehouse, managing the same inventory, and using the same Shopify admin. The marginal cost of each international order is just the shipping difference.
Start With One Market, Then Scale
Do not try to go global overnight. Pick your single best international opportunity — for most Aussie brands, that is New Zealand or the US — and get it running profitably. Nail the pricing, shipping, and localisation for one market before adding the next.
Inside the eCommerce Circle, international expansion is part of our growth framework. We help members identify their highest-potential markets, set up Shopify Markets correctly, and build market-specific acquisition strategies so international revenue becomes a reliable growth driver rather than an afterthought.
If you are doing $20K+ per month domestically and have not explored international selling, you are probably leaving $4-6K per month on the table. The tools are built into Shopify. The demand is there. You just need the right strategy.
