Best Ecommerce Platform for International Selling

The Complexity of Selling Internationally

International ecommerce involves more than translating your website and accepting foreign credit cards. Customers in different countries expect to see prices in their local currency, pay with their preferred payment methods (which vary significantly by region), and understand shipping costs and delivery timelines upfront. Regulations require you to handle import duties, VAT or GST collection, and data privacy compliance. And search engines need hreflang tags and localized content to rank your store in local search results.

A platform that handles these complexities natively saves you from assembling a patchwork of third-party tools that may not integrate smoothly. The platforms that do this best are the ones built with international commerce as a core feature, not a bolted-on afterthought.

Shopify Markets: Best All-in-One International Solution

Shopify Markets is a built-in feature that lets you manage international selling from a single Shopify store. Instead of creating separate stores for each country (which multiplies your management burden), Markets lets you configure market-specific settings for currency, language, pricing, domains, duties, and product availability from your existing store.

Multi-Currency

Shopify Markets supports selling in over 130 currencies. When a customer visits your store, their currency is detected automatically based on their location. Prices display in the local currency, and the customer pays in that currency at checkout. You can let Shopify convert prices automatically based on exchange rates (with rounding rules you define), or you can set fixed prices per market for specific products or your entire catalog.

Automatic currency conversion uses current exchange rates and lets you apply rounding rules. For example, you can set a rule that rounds all converted prices to .99, so a $25 product converts to 22.99 EUR rather than an awkward 23.17. Fixed pricing lets you set strategic prices per market, which is important when pricing psychology or competitive positioning differs between countries.

Language Translation

Shopify Markets supports multiple languages through Shopify's translation system. You can translate your storefront content (product titles, descriptions, navigation, emails, and checkout) into any of Shopify's supported languages. Translation apps like Langify, Weglot, and Shopify's own Translate and Adapt app handle the translation workflow. Weglot provides automatic machine translation with human review, while Langify and Translate and Adapt support manual translation for stores that want precise language control.

International Domains

Shopify Markets supports subdomains (de.yourstore.com), subfolders (yourstore.com/de), and country-specific domains (yourstore.de) for different markets. Each domain or path serves content in the appropriate language and currency. Shopify automatically generates hreflang tags that tell search engines which version of the page to show to searchers in each country, which is essential for international SEO.

Duties and Import Taxes

Shopify Markets calculates and collects duties and import taxes at checkout for shipments to countries that require it. When a customer in the EU purchases from a US-based store, Shopify can display the VAT amount, add it to the order total, and collect it at checkout. This delivered-duty-paid (DDP) experience means the customer pays the full landed cost upfront and does not receive an unexpected bill from the carrier at delivery. Unexpected duty charges are the number one reason international customers refuse packages or request chargebacks.

BigCommerce: Strong Multi-Currency on Every Plan

BigCommerce includes multi-currency support on every plan, covering over 100 currencies. Customers see prices in their local currency based on automatic detection or a currency selector. The platform converts prices using live exchange rates and supports rounding rules. Unlike Shopify, BigCommerce does not require a specific payment plan or feature tier to access multi-currency checkout.

Multi-Language

BigCommerce supports multi-language storefronts through its multi-storefront feature (available on higher plans and Enterprise) or through translation services integrated with the platform. The Stencil theme framework supports locale-based translations, and the platform can serve different languages based on the customer's browser settings or manual selection.

BigCommerce's multi-language support is functional but less integrated than Shopify Markets. Creating a fully translated storefront typically requires more manual configuration, and the translation workflow is less streamlined than Shopify's translation app ecosystem.

International Payment Methods

BigCommerce's zero transaction fee surcharges become particularly valuable for international selling. Many countries have preferred local payment methods that are not supported by Shopify Payments, such as iDEAL in the Netherlands, Bancontact in Belgium, Sofort in Germany, or Boleto in Brazil. On Shopify, using a third-party gateway to support these methods triggers the transaction fee surcharge. On BigCommerce, you can integrate any supported local payment gateway without additional fees.

WooCommerce: Maximum Flexibility, Maximum Setup

WooCommerce can be configured for international selling through a combination of plugins, but the setup requires more work than Shopify Markets or BigCommerce's built-in tools.

Multi-Currency Plugins

WooCommerce Multi-Currency by CURCY ($49) and Currency Switcher for WooCommerce by Aelia ($99/year) add currency detection, conversion, and multi-currency checkout. These plugins support automatic conversion based on exchange rates, fixed pricing per currency, and currency-specific payment gateway routing (so customers paying in EUR are processed through your EU payment gateway).

Multi-Language Plugins

WPML (WordPress Multilingual Plugin, $99/year for the CMS version, $199/year for the Multilingual CMS that includes WooCommerce support) is the industry standard for WordPress translation. WPML lets you translate every element of your store: products, categories, pages, menus, widgets, emails, and checkout. It supports professional translation services, machine translation via DeepL or Google, and manual translation workflows. Each language version gets its own URL structure with automatic hreflang tags.

Polylang is a free alternative with a WooCommerce integration ($99/year for the premium version). TranslatePress ($199/year for the Business version) provides visual front-end translation, letting you translate your site by clicking on elements and editing directly on the page.

Tax and Duties

WooCommerce's built-in tax system supports different tax rates by country, state, and city. For EU VAT handling, the EU VAT Number plugin ($29/year) validates VAT numbers and applies tax-exempt pricing for B2B transactions within the EU. For duty calculation, third-party integrations with services like Zonos or Avalara handle landed cost estimation at checkout.

WooCommerce's International Advantage

WooCommerce's flexibility becomes an advantage when your international requirements are unusual. Stores selling to regions not well-supported by Shopify Markets or BigCommerce, such as parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, or the Middle East, can integrate local payment gateways and shipping carriers through WordPress plugins. The open-source architecture means there are no platform restrictions on which countries, currencies, or payment methods you can support.

Squarespace: Limited International Support

Squarespace added multi-currency support through Stripe, but the implementation is basic compared to Shopify Markets or BigCommerce. Prices are converted automatically based on the visitor's location, but you cannot set fixed prices per market. Translation is not built in, and creating a multi-language site on Squarespace requires duplicating content and managing multiple pages manually, which is impractical for large stores.

If international selling is a core part of your business, Squarespace's limitations make it the wrong choice. The platform is best suited for stores selling primarily to one domestic market.

Key Considerations for International Selling

Payment Method Coverage

Credit cards are the default online payment method in the US, UK, and Australia. But in many other markets, alternative payment methods dominate. Bank transfers and iDEAL account for over 50% of online payments in the Netherlands. Boleto is essential for selling in Brazil. Cash on delivery remains significant in parts of Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Your platform needs to support the payment methods your target markets prefer, either natively or through third-party gateway integrations.

Shipping Logistics

International shipping involves customs declarations, harmonized system (HS) codes for product classification, and carrier selection. Platforms that integrate with international shipping carriers like DHL Express, FedEx International, and UPS Worldwide simplify this process. Shopify Shipping provides discounted rates from DHL Express for international shipments. WooCommerce and BigCommerce integrate with multi-carrier shipping plugins that support international carriers and generate customs documentation.

Legal and Tax Compliance

Selling to the EU requires compliance with GDPR for data privacy and collection of VAT on sales below the import threshold. Selling to the UK requires separate VAT registration and collection post-Brexit. Selling to Canada requires GST/HST collection in certain circumstances. Your platform needs to support the tax rules for each market you sell to, either through built-in tax calculation or integration with tax compliance services like Avalara or TaxJar.

Platform Rankings for International Selling

Best overall: Shopify Markets. Complete international toolkit built in, including currencies, languages, domains, duties, and market-specific pricing.

Best multi-currency on a budget: BigCommerce. Over 100 currencies on all plans with no surcharges for local payment gateways.

Most flexible for unusual markets: WooCommerce. Plugin-based architecture supports any country, currency, payment method, or shipping carrier.

Not recommended for international: Squarespace and Wix. Limited currency, language, and payment method support.