Advice for multi country stores vs single with custom order flows?

[shoptube56]

Hi all,

My UK based store is expanding with a USA shipping depot soon.  We are weighing the wisdom of having totally separate stores with separate legal entities, shopify accounts, domains (.com/.co.uk,etc) languages, etc,  With our currently plan, we could accomplish similar functionality by using custom order flows rules, multiple locations and multiple shipping zones more-or-less.  Maybe a little bit of a configuration headache, but probably not more than setting up whole new shopify accounts and new billing entities, importing theme code, skus, etc would be a hassle as well. 

For those who have multi-country shipping, any advice?  Thank you!

[UjjawalS]

hi @shoptube56 I have found a similar thread here - https://community.shopify.com/c/international-commerce/can-i-split-my-shopify-store-for-both-us-and-...

Please feel free to check it out.

[shoptube56]

Hi, yes I saw this but the instructions are invalid.  

eg.

It’s not possible to add separate Shopify accounts/geos as sales channels but the post instructs you to?

[FunkyChef]

Had the same question and determined through many shopify chats that it would be simpler to just open a new "location' vs a new store (I'm in the US going to the UK). I've done so now, and am really struggling with getting local carrier rates for the UK because of my stores address being in the states (which i dont seem to be able to get around). if setting up a new location is something you are considering it may be worth doing a quick trial and setting up a false address location in the US, giving it a product to host as inventory, setting up a shipping carrier and seeing whether you're able to purchase it, to get an idea of what might actually be involved. I've been sitting on this issue for weeks and keep coming back to the same issue which none of the chat supports are actually able to help with. I'm meeting with someone today who doesn't seem to think it should be a problem, so hopefully i can report back here later and say the same thing. Goodluck!

[UjjawalS]

hi@FunkyChef I am not particularly sure if this can be resolved natively in Shopify. However, I can direct you to one of the solutions I recommend to users through our Multi-Carrier Shipping application: set up the warehouse address internally. 

You can try it out here: https://apps.shopify.com/multi-carrier-shipping-label? 

So the application allows you to add warehouse addresses and set conditions on top of that. For example, if you want to ship from the UK warehouse to all customers within Europe, you can set a rule that will define the warehouse as the UK Address. Similarly, the app supports multiple carriers you can add to this condition individually. So anytime a customer tries to place an order from the UK, he will see the shipping rates from the UK-based carriers that will be calculated from the UK warehouse address.

[shoptube56]

Hiya, thanks for sharing your experience!  The address country location of the Shopify account does seem to control a lot like which apps you can install, shipping rates, carriers, etc.  I also have this issue going the other way from UK -> US.

When you mention opening a new "location" vs "new store" can you elaborate a bit more?  e.g. are you only using the Shopify Locations feature and adding the UK as a country?  Or do you signing up with a new Shopify account using UK business information?  Thank you!

[FunkyChef]

Interesting that you're having the same issue in the other direction. 

so i was debating whether to open a whole new store (based in the UK) vs just opening up a new fulfillment "location" under my US store, which would be the UK. I've done the latter as setting up a new store seemed to be a lot more work in terms of different addresses/ bank accounts/ Domains etc. I did stumble across this however which was from another chain:

"If you want to expand your Shopify store to the US, you can create a separate Shopify store under the US company and link it to your existing store as a sales channel. This will allow you to manage both stores from a single account and simplify the setup. To set up the US store, you will need to register for a US tax ID and set up a US-based payment gateway. You can then create a new Shopify store for the US market and use the Shopify multilingual feature to add support for different languages and currencies. Once the US store is set up, you can link it to your existing store as a sales channel. This will allow you to manage both stores from a single account and handle the listing all in one place. You can use Shopify's built-in features or third-party apps to manage sales tax collection for both the US and international stores. For example, you can use an app like TaxJar or Avalara to automatically calculate and collect sales tax based on the customer's location. Overall, expanding your Shopify store to the US market is a great way to grow your business, and with the right setup, you can manage both stores from a single account and simplify your operations. Just make sure to consult with a Shopify expert or accountant to ensure that you are compliant with all relevant tax laws and regulations."

i might be giving this ago if i can't find a solution to the location setup. 

[shoptube56]

Thanks for this!  I saw something similar (and posted about it) but the part that doesn't make sense to me is "link it to your existing store as a sales channel."  I can't find any information on how to accomplish this or if it's even possible with the level of account I have.  Is this an Enterprise feature for Shopify Plus?