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Migrating your store to Shopify POS

Migrating your store to Shopify POS Key Highlights Shopify Point of Sale App (Shopify POS) enables retail stores to...

Boost Sales with Innovative Shoppable Ads

Introduction In today’s fast digital world, what consumers want is convenience. Shoppable ads have become important ...

Shopify Meta Descriptions That Drive Clicks and Sales

Effective Shopify meta descriptions boost visibility and clicks. Prioritize high-traffic pages, align with search int...

The Importance of Universal Product Codes (UPC) in Shopify

Key Highlights Universal Product Codes (UPCs) are crucial for identifying and tracking products in retail and e-com...

Understanding Conversion Modeling in eCommerce

Understanding Conversion Modeling in Shopify

Key Highlights Conversion modeling uses machine learning to predict user behavior and conversion paths, even when t...

International Shipping Rates for eCommerce 2025

International Shipping Rates for Shopify 2025

Introduction As we move closer to 2025, international shipping is changing. This brings chances and challenges for e...

Most small businesses shy away from sales that are too complex to ship, such as filling out duties and taxes for border agents to review, or believe their products wouldn't attract an international audience. Overcoming these barriers can lead to significant eCommerce growth.

Online Shopping Growth

By 2023 global eCommerce is estimated to reach $7Bn with the highest growth potential expected in South America, the Middle East, Central/Eastern Europe, and Africa. Key barriers include:

Localization of your online store: translations, currency, and managing multiple sites/inventory/language.
Data and International Compliance: taxes and regulatory requirements like the CE stamp for Europe.
Shipping and Customs Forms: duties, tariffs, and return costs at checkout.
International Payments: local payment methods need research per country/region.
Managing customer support: languages and time zones.

3 Steps to take Stripe Payments Global

BigCommerce has partnered with Stripe to offer merchants up to 195 currencies and dozens of local payment methods.

1. Evaluate your business: Start with a geographical map — for USA small businesses, Canada or Mexico might be your first review. Check market size/barriers to entry, market appeal/demand, competitive landscape, and ease of entry (localization, regulations, logistics, taxes).

2. Launch your business in a new country: Optimize your checkout flow for the region with recognizable payment options so customers feel comfortable transacting. Ensure there's no checkout friction — what works in the country of origin might not work next door.

3. Optimize your business: Post-launch, review your business to leverage the multi-country operation and consolidate warehousing, banking, and logistics partners.

Conclusion

When going international, consider opening a local entity to fall in line with the country's requirements for taxing, banking, and regulatory permits. While there is a lot to consider, lowering your complexities for your first step is key. BigCommerce and Stripe cover the payment risks well; the logistics, business entity, and business case will need to support it. If you need assistance understanding the regionalization of payments in BigCommerce or other platforms, feel free to reach out to us at wish@thegenielab.com

Related reading:

Planning to expand internationally? Our Shopify Plus agency can help with multi-currency setup and global payments.

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