What is Shopify Markets?
Shopify Markets allows merchants to create different international selling experiences from a single Shopify store.
Depending on the market, merchants can configure:
* Currencies
* Languages
* Domains and URL structures
* Market-specific pricing
* Product availability
* Content and merchandising
* Market-specific customisations
This means a brand can use one Shopify store while presenting different experiences to customers in different countries.
For example, an ecommerce brand might operate its primary store in English and GBP, while creating a Middle East market that supports Arabic and English, displays prices in local currencies and uses a region-specific domain or URL structure.
The result is not necessarily a collection of separate websites. Instead, Shopify can provide a central platform with different localised experiences for different markets.
That can make international expansion significantly easier to manage.
Supporting multiple currencies on Shopify
One of the most important elements of international ecommerce is allowing customers to shop in a currency they understand.
A customer in the UK may be comfortable seeing a product priced at £100. A customer in the UAE is likely to expect to see the equivalent price in AED. A customer in Saudi Arabia may expect to see SAR.
Displaying prices in a customer's local currency removes unnecessary mental calculations and creates a more familiar shopping experience.
With Shopify Markets, merchants can configure different markets and present prices in the relevant currency. Shopify's international selling infrastructure also recognises the importance of the presentment currency: the currency the customer sees, agrees to pay and is charged in at checkout.
That distinction is important for both the customer experience and the underlying ecommerce technology.
A multi-currency implementation should therefore go beyond simply adding a currency converter to a website.
A proper implementation needs to consider:
Product prices
Customers should see prices in the appropriate currency throughout the shopping experience.
Cart and checkout
The currency shown on product pages should remain consistent through the cart and checkout experience.
Discounts and promotions
Discount codes, sale pricing and promotional messaging need to work correctly across different currencies.
Shipping and taxes
International pricing needs to be considered alongside shipping costs, duties and taxes. A product price that appears attractive can become considerably less appealing if the final cost is unclear.
Payments and refunds
Payment processing, refunds and order management need to support the currencies in which customers actually purchase.
Structured data and SEO
If a website displays different prices to different markets, structured data needs to reflect the appropriate currency. Shopify's developer documentation specifically highlights the importance of ensuring that price currency reflects the currency being presented to the customer.
This is one of the reasons why international ecommerce should be treated as a complete customer journey rather than simply a front-end currency switcher.
Currency localisation is about more than exchange rates
A common mistake is to assume that international pricing simply means converting the UK price into AED or SAR using the current exchange rate.
That may be appropriate for some businesses, but it is not always the best commercial strategy.
Brands may want to:
* Round prices to locally familiar price points
* Set market-specific prices
* Account for shipping and operational costs
* Reflect local taxes and duties
* Maintain appropriate margins
* Create market-specific promotions
* Position products differently in different markets
For example, a direct currency conversion might produce an awkward price. A brand may decide that a rounded local price creates a better customer experience and is easier to use in promotional campaigns.
Shopify Markets provides the infrastructure to support this type of market-specific pricing strategy.
The commercial decision, however, still needs to come from the brand.
Adding Arabic to a Shopify store
Arabic is one of the most important considerations for many brands expanding into the Middle East.
Shopify allows merchants to add multiple languages to a store, with translated content served through localised URLs. This can include products, collections, pages, blog content and other storefront content.
Shopify's Translate & Adapt app can be used to translate and localise many types of store content. Arabic is supported for automatic translation, although machine translation should be treated as a starting point rather than the final version of important customer-facing content.
For a brand targeting Arabic-speaking customers, professionally reviewed translations are particularly important for:
* Product descriptions
* Brand messaging
* Promotional campaigns
* Product benefits
* Shipping and returns information
* FAQs
* Legal and policy content
* Customer service information
A technically correct translation is not necessarily an effective piece of ecommerce copy.
The language needs to sound natural, the terminology needs to be consistent and the message needs to make sense within the cultural context of the market.
Arabic localisation requires right-to-left design
One of the biggest differences between supporting English and supporting Arabic is that Arabic is written from right to left.
This affects much more than the direction in which text is read.
A properly localised Arabic Shopify store needs to consider:
* Text alignment
* Navigation
* Page layouts
* Product information
* Icons and directional arrows
* Image positioning
* Forms
* Menus
* Cart and checkout interfaces
* Mobile layouts
* Mixed Arabic and English content
A website that has simply had its English text translated into Arabic may still have a fundamentally English layout.
That can result in a website where Arabic text appears inside a left-to-right design that feels awkward or broken.
Shopify specifically recommends checking that a theme supports right-to-left languages such as Arabic. Shopify's Theme Store also allows merchants to identify themes with right-to-left support.
This is an important consideration when selecting a theme or building a custom Shopify storefront.
RTL (right to left) support should be considered from the beginning of the design and development process, rather than added as a last-minute CSS adjustment.
Arabic and English can work together
Another important consideration is that the Middle East is not a single market.
English is widely used across international business and ecommerce in the region, while Arabic remains essential for reaching Arabic-speaking customers and creating a more local experience.
Many brands may therefore need to support both languages.
This creates its own design and UX considerations.
For example:
* Arabic copy may occupy a different amount of space than English copy
* Headlines may wrap differently
* Buttons may need different widths
* Navigation structures may need to work in both directions
* Product imagery may need to be adapted
* Some content may need to be written differently rather than directly translated
This is why a bilingual store should be designed and tested in both languages.
Designing the English version first and hoping that Arabic can simply be added later often creates unnecessary compromises.
Shopify's international URL structure supports localisation
International SEO is another important consideration when expanding into the Middle East.
Shopify supports different URL structures for international markets and languages, including subfolders, subdomains and custom domains depending on the store's configuration.
For example, a store might use:
* example.com/en-ae/
* example.com/ar-ae/
* A dedicated country domain
* A market-specific subdomain
The most appropriate structure will depend on the brand's international strategy, existing domain authority, technical setup and SEO objectives.
Shopify also automatically adds hreflang tags (HTML attributes that tell search engines which language and regional version of a webpage to serve to users) for markets and languages when configured correctly. These help search engines understand which version of a page is intended for which language and region.
This can help ensure that Arabic-speaking users are presented with the Arabic version of a page, while English-speaking users are shown the relevant English version.
However, international SEO still requires careful planning.
A successful Arabic SEO strategy should consider:
* Arabic keyword research
* Regional search behaviour
* Search intent
* Arabic product terminology
* Localised metadata
* URL structures
* Internal linking
* Hreflang implementation
* Content quality
Simply translating English keywords into Arabic is unlikely to produce the best results.
Localisation goes beyond language and currency
The biggest mistake brands make when entering a new international market is often assuming that localisation is primarily a translation exercise, but this isn’t the case.
A genuinely localised ecommerce experience may also need to consider:
Payment preferences
The payment methods customers expect can vary considerably between markets.
A brand entering the Middle East should understand the payment methods preferred by its target customers and ensure that its Shopify setup can support the relevant options.
Shipping expectations
Delivery times, shipping costs and fulfilment options can have a major influence on conversion.
Customers should be able to understand:
* Where products are shipped from
* How long delivery will take
* What delivery will cost
* Whether customs or duties apply
* How returns work
Product availability
Not every product needs to be available in every market.
Shopify Markets allows merchants to create market-specific selling experiences, including controlling which products are available to different markets.
Promotions
A promotion that works in the UK may not necessarily work in the UAE or Saudi Arabia.
Promotional calendars, messaging and commercial events may need to be adapted to each market.
Content and imagery
The right imagery, tone of voice and messaging may vary between audiences.
Localisation can involve changing content for a specific market rather than simply translating the original version.
A single Shopify store can support international growth
For many brands, one of the major advantages of Shopify Markets is the ability to expand internationally without immediately creating and managing a completely separate ecommerce infrastructure for every country.
A brand can potentially manage:
* Multiple markets
* Multiple currencies
* Multiple languages
* Market-specific pricing
* Localised content
* International domains
* Different product availability
from a central Shopify ecosystem.
That does not mean international expansion is automatically simple.
The more markets and languages a brand supports, the more important the underlying architecture becomes.
Apps need to be compatible with international selling. Custom functionality needs to understand market and currency contexts. Themes need to support localisation. Analytics and reporting need to distinguish between markets.
For Shopify Plus merchants in particular, international expansion can be built into a broader, more sophisticated commerce architecture.
The challenge is implementation, not capability
Shopify provides many of the tools required to support multi-currency and Arabic localisation.
The challenge is making sure those tools are implemented properly.
A successful Middle East expansion strategy should therefore consider:
1. Which markets are being targeted?
2. Which currencies should be supported?
3. Which languages are required?
4. Does the theme properly support right-to-left design?
5. Which content needs translating?
6. Which content needs adapting for the local market?
7. Which payment methods should be available?
8. How will shipping, taxes and duties be communicated?
9. What URL structure will support international SEO?
10. Which apps and integrations need to be tested across markets?
The technical platform is only one part of the equation.
The customer experience needs to be considered from the first visit through to checkout, delivery and post-purchase communication.
Conclusion
Shopify provides a strong foundation for brands looking to expand into the Middle East.
With Shopify Markets, merchants can create international selling experiences that support different countries, currencies, languages, pricing strategies and localised content from a central platform.
Arabic localisation is also increasingly accessible, with Shopify supporting Arabic translation and the broader Shopify ecosystem supporting right-to-left ecommerce experiences.
But there is a difference between making a Shopify store technically available in Arabic and creating a genuinely Arabic-friendly ecommerce experience.
The best international stores do not simply translate their existing website.
They consider how customers in each market actually browse, search, compare, pay and buy.
For brands expanding into (or out of) the Middle East, that distinction can be the difference between simply being available in a new market and genuinely building a presence there.
At Radiant, we help Shopify and Shopify Plus brands design, build and optimise international ecommerce experiences. As a Shopify Premier Partner with experience supporting brands across multiple markets, we understand that successful expansion requires more than simply changing a currency symbol or adding a translation.
It requires the right combination of platform, technology, design, localisation and commercial strategy. Get in touch with us if you’d like to learn more about working together.
