Going Beyond Shopify Markets: How Global-e Elevates Your International Sales
Expanding a business globally presents immense opportunities for brands that have saturated their domestic market and possess the infrastructure to venture into new markets.
Luis Vicente
Head of Growth
Shopify has demonstrated an exceptional ability to identify common pain points among brands and provide standardized solutions to expand international brand reach. That's why, in August 2021, they launched Shopify Markets, a comprehensive set of tools and solutions designed within Shopify. These tools enable brands to adapt content, prices, products, currency, and languages locally, eliminating many barriers when venturing into international sales.
As observed, Shopify Markets facilitates the configuration and localization of shopping experiences. However, it does not automatically guarantee an exponential growth in sales in those target markets. For instance, if you're a Spanish brand looking to enter the US market, have you considered how you'll attract new users?
It also does not guarantee that once those international sales come in, the brand will be capable of handling all the operational aspects of regulations, shipments, taxes, and customs that vary in each country and can even differ within states, such as in the United States.
This is where Global-e differs from Shopify Markets. Besides offering the necessary technology to localize shopping experiences quickly and efficiently, they also provide you with a team of international commerce experts. They will assist in your landing in new markets and manage all the operations, allowing your team to focus on what truly stands out: product and brand development and sales.
This article focuses on how Global-e can help your brand increase its international presence and sales and its differences compared to Shopify Markets.
Tailored Guidance for Global Expansion
Embracing internationalization, with a focus on localization, brings forth numerous benefits for brands, yet it also presents challenges and unfamiliar situations. Our target audience in different regions may be governed by different behaviors. Cultural nuances and consumer behaviors vary in each area, and brands that truly want to sell successfully must take them into account.
In this uncertain terrain, Global-e can be helpful. In addition to removing all the friction points between the merchant and the consumer, Global-e's clients have access to an international team of Key Account Managers who will address queries and provide insights and recommendations on the local market, including shipping strategies, returns, duties and tax considerations, along with local consumer expectations when buying online, with the aim of optimizing international conversion rates.
Ensure an Exceptional Customer Experience
Acquiring a new customer can cost between 5 and 25 times more than retaining an existing one. By offering a localized experience, you can foster loyalty and increase the lifetime value of your customers. In this sense, when a user makes their first purchase in an online store, their experience must be exceptional from the first to the last moment. Only at this point will we build customer loyalty and benefit from positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
In this way, every point of contact is crucial to ensure an optimal experience. When selling internationally, different factors come into play that can jeopardize this experience: shipments, additional taxes, or customs are just some of the aspects managed by third parties. However, if issues arise, our brand will be affected and held responsible for creating a poor shopping experience, contrary to our desired outcome.
Global-e positions itself as a trusted partner for any brand engaged in international sales. It collaborates closely with brands to manage international orders from the warehouse to the hands of the end customer, proactively addressing any issues that may arise throughout the process, and ensuring an optimal and satisfying experience for both the brand and the end customer. Additionally, Global-e provides transparency in the checkout process, ensuring that users are always aware of the exact cost of the product, with taxes and duties presented visually for a clear and straightforward purchasing experience.
Make it Easy
Are you conducting large-scale sales in various countries or regions such as the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Spain, Korea, or Australia? If so, you are likely already familiar with the bureaucracy and specific procedures you must undertake in each country to comply with regulations, as well as the challenges involved in reconciling sales.
Both Global-e and Shopify Markets offer you the opportunity to sell in these markets and tailor the shopping experience to local preferences. However, the key distinction lies in working with Global-e, where this platform acts as an intermediary, taking legal responsibility for selling products in each country. In this context, your brand becomes a client of Global-e, and they issue a single invoice that encompasses all sales made in all countries.
Conclusion
In summary, Shopify Markets may be the perfect option for brands with lower international sales volumes. However, for brands already achieving significant sales in different countries, evaluating solutions like Global-e becomes interesting. Global-e allows optimal service, freeing up time to fully exploit the brand's potential and elevate your international sales. In conclusion:
Shopify Markets is a standard 'Do It Yourself' solution, providing brands with all the necessary tools to customize their shopping experiences independently. While Shopify Markets is a powerful and accessible solution for any brand, it places the responsibility for the entire international selling process, including dealing with suppliers and infrastructure, squarely on the brands.
On the other hand, Global-e offers a 'Do It for Me' solution that elevates cross-border selling to the next level by eliminating friction points between the merchant and the consumer. What does it mean?
Global-e guides brands through the process.
Ensures an exceptional consumer experience.
Simplifies critical aspects such as taxes, customs, shipping, and financial compliance.
