International WooCommerce stores typically rely on a collection of plugins: WPML or Polylang for translations, WooCommerce Currency Switcher or Aelia for multi-currency, and WooCommerce Tax for VAT by country. On Shopify, many of these are unified into a single feature: Shopify Markets. Understanding how to replicate your WooCommerce international setup in Shopify is essential before migration.

WooCommerce international stack vs Shopify Markets

WooCommerce approach	Shopify equivalent
WPML / Polylang (translations)	Shopify Markets + Translate & Adapt app (or third-party: Weglot, Langify)
WooCommerce Multilingual & Multicurrency	Shopify Markets (built-in multi-currency)
WooCommerce Currency Switcher	Shopify Markets (auto currency by country)
Country-specific pricing (price lists)	Shopify Markets: price adjustments per market
Country-specific product visibility	Shopify Markets: product availability per market
Separate subdomains/subdirectories per language	Shopify Markets: domain/subdomain/subfolder per market
EU VAT rates by country	Shopify Tax: automatic EU VAT via Shopify Markets
hreflang tags	Auto-generated by Shopify Markets

What is Shopify Markets?

Shopify Markets is Shopify's built-in international commerce framework available on all paid Shopify plans. It allows you to:

Create separate "markets" for different countries/regions
Set different prices, currencies, languages, and domains per market
Automatically convert prices to local currency at checkout
Control product availability per market (e.g., some products only sold in specific countries)
Handle localized tax settings per market (VAT-inclusive in EU, tax-exclusive in US)

Key limitation: Shopify Markets does not handle content translation natively — product descriptions, page content, and theme text still need a translation app or manual translation.

Multi-currency setup

WooCommerce Currency Switcher plugins typically let customers manually switch currency. Shopify Markets auto-detects customer location and displays prices in local currency.

Setting up multi-currency in Shopify

Shopify Admin → Settings → Markets
Create a market for each region (e.g., "European Union," "United Kingdom," "United States")
Add countries to each market
Under each market → Preferences → Currency: set local currency (€, £, etc.)
Currency conversion is automatic using real-time exchange rates (Shopify charges a 1.5% currency conversion fee unless using Shopify Payments)

Fixed vs live exchange rates: Shopify Markets uses live rates by default. If your WooCommerce store used fixed exchange rates (e.g., you manually set 1 USD = 0.92 EUR), you can set manual exchange rates in each market's currency settings instead.

Localized pricing (different price per market)

Shopify Markets supports price adjustments per market — instead of just converting USD to EUR at the live rate, you can set specific prices per market:

Markets → Your market → Manage pricing
Choose "Set prices for this market"
Adjust prices as a percentage of base price or set fixed prices per product

This replicates WooCommerce WMPL+WooCommerce Multilingual's country-specific price lists.

Content translation

Shopify Markets does not automatically translate content. For product descriptions, page copy, and navigation, you have two options:

Option A: Translate & Adapt (free, by Shopify)

Shopify's own translation app lets you create translations for any store content:

Install Translate & Adapt from App Store (free)
Connect it to your Shopify Markets setup
Translate product titles, descriptions, collections, pages, navigation, and email templates
Manual translation or connect to a machine translation service (DeepL integration available)

Translating existing WooCommerce content (from WPML or Polylang): export translations from WooCommerce and import them via Translate & Adapt's CSV import or the Shopify Products CSV import with translated fields.

Option B: Weglot

Weglot ($99+/month) is the most popular third-party translation app for Shopify:

Auto-translates all store content using machine translation
Allows manual translation corrections
Creates subdomains or subdirectories for each language automatically
Handles hreflang tags for SEO
Translates dynamic content (product reviews, metafields)

If your WooCommerce site used Weglot (it supports both platforms), Weglot can often export your existing translations and import them to the Shopify integration, preserving translation work.

Option C: Langify or Transcy

Langify and Transcy are alternatives to Weglot at lower price points. Less polished but functional for basic multilingual stores.

Domain structure for international SEO

WooCommerce multilingual setups typically use:

example.com/de/ (subfolder)
de.example.com (subdomain)
example.de (country-code TLD)

Shopify Markets supports all three URL structures. To configure:

Markets → Select a market → Manage domains
Choose: subfolder (e.g., /de/), subdomain (de.yourstore.com), or custom domain
Set up DNS for any new subdomains or country-code domains

SEO consideration: If your WooCommerce site had strong rankings for international URL structures (e.g., yourstore.com/de/products/), replicate the same URL structure in Shopify Markets to preserve link equity. Set up 301 redirects from old international URLs to new Shopify Market URLs.

Shopify automatically generates hreflang tags linking international versions of the same page — critical for preventing duplicate content penalties when the same product page exists in multiple languages.

Shopify Markets Pro (advanced international)

Shopify Markets Pro (part of Shopify Plus or available as an add-on) adds:

Automatic duty and import tax calculation at checkout (customers see landed cost upfront)
Local payment methods per market (iDEAL for Netherlands, Bancontact for Belgium, etc.)
Shopify's own international fulfillment network integration

For non-Plus stores, local payment methods are available through Shopify Payments and local payment gateways (see payment gateway migration guide).

Migrating WooCommerce WPML content to Shopify

Exporting translated product content from WooCommerce

In WPML → WooCommerce Multilingual, export products with translations (CSV export)
The export includes a column per language: product_title:de, product_description:de, etc.
In Shopify, use the Products CSV import with Translate & Adapt: the Shopify Products CSV accepts [title:de] column format for translated fields

Exporting translated pages from WooCommerce

WPML page translations don't export cleanly to CSV. Practical approach for translated pages (About, FAQ, Policies):

Copy translated content manually from WooCommerce pages
Create the page in Shopify and add translations via Translate & Adapt
For many pages: use WPML's XML export and write a conversion script if needed

Currency display and rounding

WooCommerce currency plugins often have custom rounding rules (e.g., round all EUR prices to nearest .99). Shopify Markets has a "price rounding" option per market:

Markets → Select market → Preferences → Price rounding
Options: no rounding, round to nearest whole number, round to nearest .99, or custom

Match your WooCommerce rounding settings here to maintain price consistency for returning customers.

International migration checklist

List all WooCommerce markets/currencies/languages currently active
Create equivalent Shopify Markets for each country/region
Configure currencies per market with live rates or fixed rates as appropriate
Set localized pricing adjustments where needed
Install and configure a translation app (Translate & Adapt, Weglot, or Langify)
Migrate translated product content from WPML export to Shopify
Configure domain structure (subfolder vs subdomain vs country TLD) matching your WooCommerce structure
Set up 301 redirects from old international URLs to new Shopify Market URLs
Verify hreflang tags are generated correctly in page source
Configure EU VAT settings per market (tax-inclusive pricing)
Test checkout in each market: verify correct currency, correct VAT, correct language
Verify Google Search Console has international targeting settings updated

International setup is one of the most complex parts of WooCommerce to Shopify migration. Allow extra time — typically 1–3 days for a store actively selling in 3–5 markets, depending on translation volume.

Setting up Shopify markets for international stores after WooCommerce migration (2026)