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Shopify Markets vs. Expansion Stores: Which one fits you?
Markets and expansion stores solve two different tasks
Markets bundle several markets in one store, expansion stores are additional stores under the same Plus contract. With Shopify Markets you control from a single store what customers see in each country: currency, language, domain, prices and products. Creating regional markets is free on all Shopify plans (Help Center), while individual customizations depend on the plan. An expansion store is a store of its own with its own data, settings and storefronts. It exists on the Plus plan and has to meet conditions such as being the same brand.
This page walks through six situations, names the fitting structure for each and shows what the costs are made of. Where Shopify's information differs between pages or is incomplete, it says what to clarify with Shopify up front. Status: October 2026, prices for Austria and Germany.
Expansion stores are included in the Plus platform fee alongside the main store
Types of expansion stores that are automatically eligible at Shopify
Domain types for markets: country domain, subdomain or subfolder, combinable
Questions decide whether Markets are enough or a separate store is needed
Status of the information: Features and limits come from the Shopify Help Center, from the price pages for Austria and Germany, and from Newsroom, Changelog and shopify.dev, as of 12 and 13 October 2026. The key figures above are based on the Help Center pages on expansion stores and domains and on the price pages, and the 6 counts the questions of our quick check further down. Amounts are in the section What an additional store costs, with country, currency and date. Shopify changes plans, prices and features constantly, so check critical values at the linked source before you decide.
Four terms that often get mixed up
Markets, expansion stores, several stores in one organization and Managed Markets are four terms for different tasks. They apply to different plans.
Shopify Markets
A market is a group of customers that you define in your store. Markets can be made up of countries or regions, of company locations for B2B, of retail locations or of sales channels. According to the requirements and considerations, creating regional markets is free on all Shopify plans, while certain customizations exist only on certain plans.
Expansion store
Expansion stores are, according to the Help Center, additional .myshopify.com stores that fall under the same organization and the same contract on the Shopify Plus plan. Each store has its own settings, configurations and storefronts and operates independently with its own data. The German help page says Erweiterungs-Shop, the English one expansion store, and both mean the same.
Several stores in an organization without Plus
Even without Plus, stores can be grouped in an organization. According to the Help Center there is no specific upper limit, the stores need the same billing currency and must belong to the same store owner. Each store is billed and invoiced separately. According to the organization overview, Plus merchants use expansion stores instead.
Managed Markets, formerly Markets Pro
Managed Markets builds on Markets and adds Global-e as merchant of record, which takes over certain tasks for a fee per order. The changelog entry of 2 July 2024 names the renaming from Markets Pro as of 24 June. According to the Help Center it is available for businesses in the continental United States and for certain stores in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Whether merchants based in Austria or Germany can use Managed Markets is not stated explicitly in Shopify's help. As business location it names only the continental United States and certain stores in Canada and the United Kingdom, Austria, Germany and Switzerland appear there only as destination countries of customers, and the price page for Austria (German) lists Managed Markets as a Plus feature without naming a location condition. If you plan with it, have Shopify confirm availability for your own business location up front.
Four structures, briefly explained
Sorting them into four structures is our own, the conditions for each structure come from the Help Center. Which one fits you is shown by the six situations below.
Six situations and the structure that fits
The structure follows the situation, not the other way around. Each situation gives the answer first, then the reasoning with sources and, where Shopify names no clear rule, what we recommend.
Situation 1: One brand, several countries, one range
Markets are enough when only country, currency, language or price list differ.
Product catalogs, currencies, domains and languages, discounts as well as duties and taxes are available per market on all plans (Help Center), and the plan table lists Starter and Basic in one column. The page on international domains names the Basic plan or higher for domains, however, so plan domains per country on Starter only after checking with Shopify. Catalogs control which products are available in which market and at what price, and prices can appear in the local currency with automatic exchange rates.
Because everything sits in one store, you maintain products, inventory and settings only once. With expansion stores this is different, see the section on them further down.
Situation 2: One brand, but an adapted theme or checkout per country
In one store there is no separate theme per country, but you can customize the one theme per market, and your plan decides how far.
Market-specific theme customizations start at Advanced, as do customized checkout and account pages per market. Checkout blocks per market, including the information, shipping and payment pages of three-page checkouts, and business entities per market are available only on the Plus plan, according to the plan table.
Only one theme can be published (Help Center). What you can customize per market is that one theme, with individual messages, layouts and visual elements according to the Markets page (German).
Per market you can customize section content such as text, images and banners, the visibility and order of blocks, and section-level settings (Help Center). Global theme settings such as colors and typography, as well as Liquid templates, cannot be changed per market on any plan.
Situation 3: A separate legal entity per country
This is where the standard ends: business entities exist only with Plus, and selling through several entities requires Shopify Payments.
Business entities are available only on the Plus plan. Selling through multiple entities with Shopify Payments is available only for organizations on the Shopify Plus plan and the Shopify Enterprise Commerce plan, requires the new Markets version and cannot be combined with Managed Markets or with automated tax filing.
Whether business entities in one store or one expansion store per entity fit better depends on tax, payment and maintenance effort. There is no general rule for it, it is a decision for the individual case. More in the section on legal entities and payment.
Situation 4: Own team, own data and own storefront per region
Then an expansion store is the route Shopify describes for separate data and storefronts, provided brand and range match the main brand.
The help page on expansion stores names international expansion as the first purpose: the same brand, the same name and the same products, offered in a different language, region or currency. Each store operates completely independently with its own data, settings and configurations, products, collections and inventory are not synced by default, and certain data such as inventory can be synchronized with third-party apps or an ERP system if needed.
This pays off when teams, processes or legal entities are separate per region and you are willing to carry the maintenance effort of a second storefront. If only currency and language differ, markets are enough.
Situation 5: Wholesale and consumers under one brand
Both work: B2B markets in one store or a dedicated B2B store, and according to Shopify the decision is hard to change later.
According to the plan table, Shopify B2B is available on Basic, Grow, Advanced and Plus. The store type page describes a blended store for B2B and D2C and a dedicated B2B store, which requires a separate Shopify store, and points out that the decision is hard to change later.
On the Plus contract, B2B wholesale stores and D2C stores for wholesale-only merchants are pre-approved expansion store types, with one free store each per contract.
How B2B without Plus works is answered in the FAQ below, which points to the detailed page on it.
Situation 6: Several brands under one roof
Expansion stores require the same brand, and with several brands you need a Plus contract of your own per brand, according to Shopify.
On standard contracts, expansion stores must be extensions of the main brand, be identical to it in store name and branding, carry the same types of goods and services and use USD or INR as billing currency (help page). For several brands the page names a multi-brand agreement that requires each brand to have its own separate Plus subscription. The price page for Austria (German) says the same as a separate Plus contract per brand.
Price and terms of the multi-brand agreement are something you clarify directly with Shopify Support, the help page refers there.
Expansion stores exist on the Plus plan. Without Plus you group several stores in an organization, and each store is billed and invoiced separately.
Which structure fits which situation
For each of the six situations, Shopify describes at least one route, and for a legal entity of its own per country it exists only with Plus. The sources for each situation are in the text above.
The green check mark means Shopify describes the route for this case. The dashed frame means possible, but our own assessment. The cross means not intended according to Shopify.
The diagram is in German. Its rows correspond to the six situations in the text.
What Markets can do and on which plan
Markets control catalog, currency, domain, language, discounts and taxes per market on all plans, with domains from Basic, while design per market depends on the plan.
On all plans in the table
The plan table in the Help Center lists Starter and Basic in one column and shows these features for all plans, although the page on international domains names the Basic plan or higher for domains:
- Customize product catalogs per market
- Customize currencies per market
- Customize domains and languages per market
- Apply discounts to specific markets
- Manage duties and taxes per market
From Advanced and only with Plus
Customizing the theme per market and checkout and account pages per market require Advanced or Plus. Checkout blocks per market and business entities per market exist only with Plus according to the plan table. Payouts in multiple currencies require Advanced or Plus.
Limits that Shopify names itself
The requirements and considerations name, among other things:
- Only one theme can be published, and staff permissions cannot be assigned per market.
- Post-purchase apps work only in the store's default currency, and fixed-amount discounts can only be created in the default currency.
- A market can only be activated for countries and regions with configured shipping rates.
- Payments in multiple currencies require Shopify Payments or Adyen.
According to the Plus plan page and the market types page, there is no limit on the number of country and region markets on all plans.
Which payment providers apply to multiple currencies is not stated the same way on all pages: the requirements name Shopify Payments or Adyen, the page on international domains only Shopify Payments. To be safe, plan with Shopify Payments and clarify Adyen with Shopify up front.
Other market types
Markets can also be formed from company locations for B2B, retail locations and sales channels. B2B markets exist on all four plans (plan table), with at most 3 active catalogs across all B2B markets on Basic, Grow and Advanced. Retail markets are available on all plans, and customizing their catalogs requires POS Pro or the Plus plan. Sub-region markets are available only as an early access feature. Both are stated on the market types page.
What an expansion store is and what it is not
An expansion store is a store of its own under the Plus contract, not an additional market and not a copy that keeps itself up to date.
Contract and number
Plus organizations can have a maximum of ten stores on their contract with no additional cost: one main store and nine expansion stores (help page). Staging stores do not count towards the limit. If you need more than ten stores, you have to contact Shopify Support.
If a requested store exceeds the limits of your contract, a trial store is created instead (help page). A request goes to Shopify Plus, you approve an additional fee, and the store is upgraded after processing, within a few days according to the page. The help page names no amount.
The price pages and the help page describe the additional costs differently: the price pages speak of an unlimited number of online stores, but only one brand per contract, with an amount per additional store, while the help page refers to Shopify Support from the eleventh store on and names no amount. Whether both mean the same route is something to clarify with Shopify before you plan, and until then you calculate with the amount on the price page.
Requirements and types
Standard contracts come with four conditions (help page): the store is an extension of the main brand, it is identical to it in store name and branding, it carries the same types of goods and services, and its billing currency is USD or INR. Five types are automatically eligible:
- International stores: the same brand and the same products in a different language, region or currency
- B2B wholesale stores: identical products as the main brand, with user login and B2B organization association
- D2C stores for wholesale merchants: for merchants selling exclusively wholesale who want a D2C storefront with identical products
- Employee-only stores
- Physical retail locations: stores with no online transactions
One free store per contract applies for B2B and for D2C (help page). The billing currency USD or INR is separate from the store's selling currency.
The introduction of the help page names product line extensions with differing products, while the conditions require the same types of goods, and the type list does not include product lines or VIP stores. Clarify with Shopify up front whether a planned store of this kind is allowed, whether the free B2B store counts within the nine or on top, and what applies to customers billed in euros.
What is shared and what is not
Each expansion store operates completely independently with its own data, settings and configurations (help page). Store settings, products, collections and inventory are not synced between stores by default, and certain data such as inventory can be synchronized with third-party apps or ERP systems. Data can only be imported when a store is created, from another store in the organization: themes, products and collections, and files. After that you maintain it manually.
Organization, contract and billing are shared: on Plus, all stores of an organization come together in one billing account and on one invoice (billing page), and users and billing can be managed centrally. Reports can be shown at store or organization level, and organization analytics exist only with Plus (analytics page).
Apps are billed per store and not for the entire organization (help page). On Plus you need a separate theme license for each storefront where a theme is used (page on unlicensed themes).
Whether customer profiles, customer accounts and orders are shared or separate between expansion stores is not stated explicitly in Shopify's help, and the import list does not name them either. Likewise, there is no promise there that customers can sign in to all expansion stores with a single login. Plan with separate customer data and logins per store and clarify with Shopify up front what you need beyond that.
The pages answer the theme license for staging stores in opposite ways: the German help page on expansion stores exempts staging stores, while the English version and the theme pages require additional licenses for development or staging stores as well. To be safe, budget the license for staging stores until Shopify confirms otherwise in writing.
Creating and adding
When you create a store, you choose whether it is meant for staging or production, and staging stores are not intended for selling products (store overview). Before that, the main store needs a payment method and a complete billing address. Adding an existing store to the organization goes through Shopify Plus Support (help page).
One contract, but each store on its own
Contract, billing and administration are shared, while data, products, inventory, storefront and apps are separate. On the right is the page on which Shopify describes the point.
Whether customer accounts and orders are shared or separate is not stated explicitly in Shopify's help. Have Shopify confirm that before you decide.
The diagram is in German. Its three groups correspond to the section What is shared and what is not.
What an additional store costs
Creating markets within the same store costs nothing, fees arise with currency conversion, payouts in multiple currencies and Managed Markets, and expansion stores add up Plus fee, fee from the eleventh store, theme license per storefront and apps per store. The amounts below come from the price pages and apply as of the date given in each case, so check them again before you decide.
Markets: fees within the same store
Creating regional markets is free on all plans (Help Center). With automatic exchange rates a conversion fee is included in the displayed price, with manual rates it is not and is reflected in your payouts instead (page on local currencies). For currency conversion, the fees page names 1.5% for the United States, 2% for France and 2% for all other Shopify Payments regions, depending on the store's primary country. It does not name Austria and Germany.
Which rate applies to merchants based in Austria or Germany is not stated explicitly in Shopify's help: the page on local currencies names 1.5% or 2% depending on the store's location, and the fees page does not name Austria or Germany. Calculate with the higher rate of 2% to be safe and have Shopify confirm the rate for your location.
Payouts in multiple currencies exist only with Advanced or Plus (help page). For payouts in a foreign currency, meaning not the domestic one, the page names a fee of 1.5% (Advanced) or 1% (Plus) in global regions. For Austria and Germany, the list of payout currencies names EUR as the domestic currency and further currencies such as CHF, USD and GBP.
Which of these fees applies to merchants based in Austria or Germany is not assigned explicitly by either page, so get the assignment from Shopify up front.
Managed Markets charges a transaction fee of 3.25% on the Plus plan and 3.5% on Basic, Grow and Advanced, plus currency conversion and the Shopify Payments fee (help page). It is available in the continental United States and for certain stores in Canada and the United Kingdom, and the page does not name Austria or Germany for this.
Expansion stores: the cost chain
According to the price page for Austria (German), Plus starts at €2,100 per month on a three-year term and at €2,250 on a one-year term, each for standard setups and standard integrations. More complex businesses with higher volume move to a variable platform fee based on revenue and business model, the amount of which the page does not name. The main store and nine expansion stores are included. Each additional store costs €250 per month, or a revenue share is due for all stores, the amount of which the page does not name. The price page for Germany (German) named $2,300 per month as the starting price, $2,500 on a one-year term and $300 per additional store. Both price pages as of 13 October 2026.
The price pages leave open whether the amounts are net or gross, so clarify that in the offer. The currency information also differs: for adding stores, the help page names only USD or INR as billing currency, whereas the Plus plan page lists Austria and Germany in the euro row (€2,100 on a three-year term, €2,250 on a one-year term), the Austria page quotes in euros, and the German price page quoted US dollars on 13 October 2026. Have Shopify confirm whether the €250 corresponds to the fee the help page mentions from the eleventh store on before you calculate with it.
Theme license and apps come on top. On Plus you need a separate theme license for each storefront where the theme is used (page on unlicensed themes), and apps are billed per store (help page). The price pages name the one-time purchase of themes and required third-party apps as further optional costs.
The annual cost of the structure is made up of twelve monthly fees for Plus, twelve monthly fees per store beyond the ten included, the theme licenses per storefront, the app fees per store and the maintenance time per store. Example with the Austria page: with twelve stores, that is the main store plus eleven expansion stores, two stores are not included. That gives 2 × €250 × 12 = €6,000 per year in addition to €2,100 × 12 = €25,200 for Plus on a three-year term, together €31,200 per year without themes, apps and maintenance.
Ongoing maintenance per store (products, theme, apps, legal texts, support) arises again for each expansion store, because settings, products, collections and inventory are not synced by default. How high this effort is depends on your team and processes, so work it out for your case before you decide on several stores.
SEO and domains: country domain, subdomain or subfolder
For getting started, Shopify names subfolders as the best option, while country domains build their own authority and take the most SEO effort.
International domains are available from the Basic plan (help page on domains). You can use top-level domains, subdomains, subfolders or a combination of them, but no international domains via the myshopify.com domain.
Shopify names subfolders as the best option when you first set up international selling, because the region-specific URLs benefit from the existing search ranking and domain authority of the primary domain. Country-specific domains, by contrast, develop their own authority and ranking and require the most time and effort. The Markets SEO page recommends subfolders for most stores.
Pure language subfolders such as /fr or /en exist only in the primary market, in secondary markets you combine language and country code, for example /fr-ca (help page on domains). You cannot set a market with configured subfolders as the primary market until you have updated the domain settings (page on managing markets). Shopify announced multiple domains on the primary market on 11 September 2023 (changelog), and the help page on domains describes them today. If you add several domains to the same market, point each one at a different language, otherwise search engines might treat the content as duplicate, which can lower the ranking.
Shopify generates hreflang tags automatically, but only for markets with their own domain, subdomain or subfolder, and an x-default tag points to the primary domain. Shopify sets canonical URLs automatically on all pages. With several market versions of the same page, each version has a self-referencing canonical URL, and the hreflang tags connect the versions (Markets SEO page).
You can turn off the automatic hreflang tags under Online Store > Preferences (Markets SEO page). If you want to manage them yourself, you need to add your own hreflang tags to the theme, otherwise your SEO can suffer.
Shopify's help names no explicit rule for the hreflang tag of the default language in the primary market, so check the page source after launch to see which tags are actually delivered.
For customers from the EU, the help page on domains says that to comply with local legislation they are not automatically redirected within the EU. The page on automatic redirection is more specific: the exclusion applies to country-specific EU domains such as .at or .de, while for domains without country reference such as .com or .shop, EU customers can be redirected automatically.
The help page on the Geolocation app names 1 February 2025 as the end of installability and 24 March 2025 as the date the app is switched off. According to the page, anyone selling to EU customers with an EU domain still needs a consent-based localization strategy.
Settle the domain structure before design and migration: a later change usually needs redirects, and the ranking can fluctuate for a while.
Shopify handles hreflang and canonicals, the domain choice stays with you
Shopify sets hreflang for markets and canonical URLs automatically, while domain type and language targeting remain your decision. The automatic hreflang tags can be turned off, and then you maintain your own in the theme.
For separate stores, your own tags may be needed (developer documentation on hreflang), and Shopify gives no instructions for it, so you solve it in the theme or with an app.
The diagram is in German. Its two columns and the box with the open points correspond to the section SEO and domains.
DACH in practice: four points that help decide the structure
The choice of the four points is our own, the statements on them come from the Help Center and are sourced in the section below. Shopify's Markets help gives no example for Switzerland, so anyone serving Swiss customers clarifies the setup with Shopify up front.
DACH in detail: language, taxes, payment methods and duties
For Austria, Germany and Switzerland, there are four questions that help decide the structure: language per domain, tax registration, payment method and duties. The information comes from the Help Center, and where something is missing or differs there, it says what to clarify up front.
Same language, several countries
If you add several domains to the same market, each should target a different language, otherwise duplicate content can worsen the ranking (help page on domains).
Three country domains with the same language, for example .at, .de and .ch with German content, fall under this advice if you assign them to the same market. For separate markets per country the page does not comment. As a way to mark localized URLs as regional versions instead of duplicates it names automatically generated hreflang tags, but no solution for exactly this case. For country domains with the same language, plan separate markets, content of its own per country and clean hreflang tags.
With the Translate & Adapt app you can adapt product descriptions, promotional banners or legal texts per region, even if the same language is spoken there (help page on domains and languages).
Shopify's Markets help gives no example for Switzerland and none with language code plus country code for German, such as de-at, de-ch or de-de. Shopify gives /fr-ca, /en-ca, /en-eu and /fr-fr as subfolder patterns and says that language-only subfolders such as /fr are possible only on the primary market. Test the structure you want in a development store before launch.
The page on automatic redirection gives an example: if you use .de for Germany and .fr for France, a customer from France visiting the .de domain is not automatically redirected. The list of the country-specific EU domains it means includes .at, .de and .eu, among others. Customers switch manually through a country and language selector, and for recommendations the page refers to a third-party app.
The same rule applies to .at and .de, so a visitor from Austria on the .de domain is not automatically redirected to .at. The page's list names only EU countries and gives no rule for .ch.
VAT in the EU
The rate for customers in other EU countries depends on whether you exceed the registration threshold of €10,000 (help page on setting up EU taxes). Below it, your local rate is charged, above it the rate of the destination country applies. For that you register for a VAT ID through the One-Stop Shop (OSS) or directly in that country. The OSS scheme is meant for merchants with locations in the EU.
At exactly €10,000 the pages differ: the setup page charges your local rate as long as you do not exceed the threshold, while the reference page and the migration page name the rate of the customer's location from €10,000 in total. If you are close to the threshold, agree on the setting with your tax advisor.
You can only use OSS if your shop uses Basic Tax or Shopify Tax (migration page).
Basic Tax is available in the EU only if your store was set up to collect tax there before 13 May 2026 (reference page, as do the setup and migration pages). If Basic Tax isn't available to your store, Shopify Tax or manual tax settings remain.
An expansion store that you create after 13 May 2026 cannot have been set up to collect tax before that date, so it has no Basic Tax in the EU, and OSS would then run through Shopify Tax. This is our conclusion from Shopify's rules, so have Shopify or your tax advisor confirm it before you create the store.
The setup page describes the registrations as steps in the Shopify admin and does not explicitly name maintaining them per store. Because an expansion store operates completely independently with its own settings (help page), the registrations have to be entered there again. Whether and how that is necessary in your case is something to clarify with your tax advisor.
Payment methods and currency
To offer local payment methods in countries outside your business location, make sure those countries are set up as markets. Each method is available only to customers in a supported country who select an eligible currency.
EPS is available to customers in Austria who pay in euros. Only merchants in Austria, Germany or France who sell in euros can receive payments with EPS. Klarna is shown to customers across a range of European countries, including Austria, Germany and Switzerland. For payments in local currency, customers can check out with it if you have a market set up in one of the currencies CHF, CZK, DKK, EUR, GBP, NOK, PLN and SEK.
TWINT is available to customers in Switzerland who select CHF, but not for subscription products. The Shopify Payments account must be located in one of the listed countries, including Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and Switzerland, and CHF must be accepted at checkout.
In addition, your shop must make accessible a legal notice with company name, legal form, address and contact, and terms of service with place of jurisdiction and a note on the right of withdrawal (TWINT page). Products must be clearly priced in CHF, Switzerland must be a shipping option for physical goods, and Swiss VAT must be displayed at checkout.
The TWINT page does not describe how to set up Swiss VAT at checkout, so clarify the setup up front with your tax advisor and Shopify.
Duties and import taxes
If you ship abroad, your customers may be charged duties and import taxes on delivery (help page on duties and import taxes). Instead, you can already collect an estimated amount of these costs at checkout.
Duties and import taxes are not calculated on shipments within the same country or between EU member states (page on considerations). Some countries, including Switzerland, also need a product weight for the calculation (page on charging at checkout).
If you use Shopify Markets on its own, you remain the merchant of record, and tax registration, duties and customs compliance stay your responsibility (Managed Markets overview). Managed Markets itself is available to businesses in the continental United States and to certain stores in Canada and the United Kingdom, and the page names no availability for Austria, Germany or Switzerland.
Whether the duties feature is available to merchants based in Austria or Germany is not stated in Shopify's duties help, so have Shopify confirm it up front.
Legal entities and payment: business entities or a store of your own
Several legal entities can also be run in one store on Plus, and the limits lie in payment methods, subscriptions and combinability with other features.
What a business entity is
A business entity is the legal entity that processes payments for orders in a market (help page). By default, all orders run through the primary Shopify Payments account tied to the store's home country. If you have several accounts for different legal entities, you assign each entity to a market.
Submarkets inherit the business entity of their parent market by default, an explicit assignment on the submarket overrides it, and with several parent markets the oldest entity applies (page on business entities). A change affects only new orders. The page mentions rules in some regions on which entity may process payments for customers in that region and advises checking the assignment with legal or financial professionals.
What selling through several entities requires and excludes
Selling through several entities with Shopify Payments means (help page on selling with multiple entities):
- It is only possible with Shopify Payments, the entities must be located in a country where Shopify Payments is supported, and the new Markets version is required.
- The main account is the primary entity, and additional external payment methods, except PayPal, appear only in checkouts and markets tied to the primary entity.
- If the primary entity uses an external payment provider, you can add Shopify Payments to a secondary entity only by deactivating that provider.
- All subscription payments run through the primary entity.
- Selling through several entities cannot be combined with Managed Markets or with automated tax filing.
- Not supported are assigning the entity by shipping address, marketplace and commission models, and consolidating B2B rates from existing stores.
- When moving from several stores to several entities, custom Shopify Payments rates are not preserved.
For certain payment methods to be available, the entity processing the transaction must have the required currency as its default payout currency, not just as an available payout currency. As an example, the page names Interac in Canada with CAD.
Your Shopify Payments region determines your domestic currency, which is the default currency for your payouts (page on payout currencies). For Austria and Germany that is EUR, and CHF counts as a non-domestic currency there, while for Switzerland CHF or EUR are domestic.
Whether the same applies to TWINT as to Interac, meaning the entity would need CHF as its default payout currency, is not stated in Shopify's help. If you plan TWINT with several entities, have Shopify confirm it up front.
Since 15 May 2026, eligible merchants can sell through several legal entities in the same country with Shopify Payments (changelog). Until then, merchants often needed separate stores or expansion store workarounds for this.
The changelog post names eligible merchants but no plan. The help page on selling through several entities names Plus and Enterprise Commerce, the page on business entities only Plus. Plan selling through several entities on Plus, therefore, and have Shopify confirm eligibility for other plans.
When a store of your own still fits
A store of your own fits when a region is to run payment processing, apps, team and data completely separately, or when the limits above apply, for example with subscriptions, external payment methods or automated tax filing.
Business entities in the same store fit when catalog, team and maintenance are run once and these limits do not matter. There is no general rule for this, it remains a decision for the individual case.
Day-to-day operations: permissions, reports, apps and upkeep
With markets your team works in one store, with expansion stores in several that are connected through the organization and the contract. The differences show up in permissions, reports, apps and the upkeep of theme and content.
Permissions and roles
With markets, staff permissions cannot be assigned per market (requirements and considerations).
With several stores, users and billing can be managed centrally for all stores (help page on expansion stores). The Organization administrator role is available only for stores on Plus or in a multi-store organization, and it grants permissions for almost all features and resources in the organization and all of its stores (overview of roles). Custom organization-level roles are available only for organizations on Plus and for Partner organizations (page on organization permissions).
Even organization owners and administrators do not automatically get access to new stores created by other users. How to open access once through the Organization page in the settings is described on the page on creating a store.
SAML authentication is available only for Plus organizations, and it can be required for individual users or all users in the organization (SAML page). SCIM user management through an identity provider is likewise available only for Plus organizations (SCIM page).
With one Shopify ID you access all stores for which you use the same email address, and the permissions you grant your staff are still granted store by store (page on the Shopify ID).
Whether the organization prescribes one shared login for all expansion stores is not stated in Shopify's help. The SAML page describes authentication at organization level without assuring this for all expansion stores, so set up and check access store by store.
Because not even organization owners automatically get access to stores that others created, assigning permissions belongs on the checklist for every new expansion store. With markets it happens once.
Reports and numbers
A ShopifyQL query can be modified to display data from multiple stores at once (analytics page). Anyone who wants to see sales and orders across all live stores needs a role with the Organization > View sales and orders across all of your live stores permission. Organization analytics are available only for stores and organizations on Plus.
Without Plus the organization-wide view does not exist, so you combine the numbers of several stores outside Shopify, for example in a reporting setup of your own. With markets the numbers sit in the same store.
Apps, themes and inventory
With markets you create products in the same store, and catalogs control which products are available in which market and at what price.
With expansion stores, apps are billed per store (help page). Recurring app charges are attached to the store and continue billing after you move a store to another organization, unless the charge is canceled (page on grouping stores).
If you import a theme from another store in the organization when creating a store, references to files hard-coded in that theme continue to point to the files in the original store (help page).
Anyone who wants to keep products, collections, inventory and settings in line between expansion stores needs a solution of their own, because they are not synced and share no data by default. Which solution fits depends on your systems.
What recurs with every expansion store
The points above and the sections on costs and DACH give this list, which recurs with every expansion store and happens once with markets:
- Set up and review access and roles for the team.
- Buy a theme license, set up the theme, install and pay for apps.
- Maintain products, collections, inventory and settings, because nothing is synced.
- Set up payment provider, payment methods, shipping rates and tax registrations.
- Manage legal texts, domain, redirects and hreflang.
B2B and consumers: one store, two stores or an expansion store
For B2B alongside the consumer business there are two structures: B2B in the same store or a dedicated B2B store, on Plus also as an expansion store. According to Shopify, the decision is hard to change later.
What differs between a blended and a dedicated store
The page on store type compares both paths in 17 criteria. In the blended store there is one admin for B2B and D2C, inventory is completely shared, most data and settings are shared by default, and the branding is the same. In the dedicated store, admin, inventory, data and settings are separate by default, branding applies only to B2B, and the store can be restricted to B2B customers.
You set up and pay for apps and integrations once in the blended store and again in the dedicated store (page on store type). Anyone who switches later has to repeat most of the setup, including companies, catalogs and online store customizations.
When the B2B store is an expansion store
B2B wholesale stores are an automatically eligible type of expansion store: they carry identical products as the main brand and require a user login and a B2B organization association (help page on expansion stores). Which types exist and how many stores are free is covered in the section What an expansion store is and what it is not.
A dedicated store can be a good fit when you want a separate B2B experience, need distinct inventory, want to restrict the online store to B2B customers or have different staff for B2B and D2C. A blended store can be a good fit when you sell similar products to B2B and D2C customers, share inventory and have the same staff managing both (page on store type).
If wholesale and consumers share brand, warehouse and range, the table points first to the blended store.
How to set up B2B without Plus is answered in the FAQ further down, which points to the detailed page on it.
The way back: merging stores or splitting them again
For the way back, Shopify's help describes closing, removing and transferring stores, but no procedure for merging stores. Importing from another store in the organization is possible only when a store is created.
What Shopify says about closing, removing and transferring
Deactivating a store on the Plus plan runs through Shopify Plus Support (page on deactivating a store), and so does removing a Plus store from the organization (page on removing a store). A deactivated store's information is guaranteed to be kept for two years in case you want to reopen it, and its myshopify.com domain cannot be used for a new store.
Removing the only store in an organization deletes the organization (page on grouping stores). On Plus, stores can be transferred through the Shopify admin, and for complex tasks the page names Plus Support (page on changing or transferring ownership).
Who does what on Plus is not clear-cut: the page on deactivating a store sends Plus stores to Shopify Plus Support and, for the subscription, to a Merchant Success Specialist, but also says that for security reasons support cannot deactivate the store for you. For transfers, the page on ownership names Plus Support in addition to the Shopify admin. Shopify's help describes no procedure for merging expansion stores. Clarify the route with your Shopify contact before the rebuild.
Merging several stores into one
You can import data from another store in the organization only when you create a store: themes, products and collections, and files (help page on expansion stores). Customers and orders are not on that list, and afterwards you manage the data manually.
If you switch from several stores to several business entities in one store, individual Shopify Payments fees are not retained, and merging the B2B rates of existing stores is not supported (page on selling with multiple entities).
Merging into an existing store therefore runs through exports and imports, custom scripts or apps, and customers, order history and subscriptions need a plan of their own. Shopify's help contains no procedure for this.
These points belong in every plan for a merge:
- Data: which products, collections, customers, orders and subscriptions have to move to the target store and which deliberately do not.
- URLs: one redirect target per old URL, plus canonical and hreflang in the target store.
- Markets in the target store: countries, currencies, domains and catalogs, plus payment methods and tax registrations per country.
- Review apps, roles and legal texts in the target store and keep an eye on the app billing of the old stores.
- Sequence: staged country by country instead of on one day, and close the old stores only once data, redirects and payments work.
Splitting one store into several
A new expansion store can take over themes, products, collections and files from a store in the organization when it is created, and afterwards operates completely independently with its own data, settings and configurations (help page on expansion stores).
A country-specific domain develops its own domain authority and its own search ranking and takes the most SEO effort (help page on domains).
The Markets SEO page describes hreflang and canonical for markets in one store. The developer documentation on hreflang names separate Shopify stores on different domains as a setup that Markets cannot coordinate and for which you might need your own tags. Shopify gives no instructions on how separate stores mark up each other. When splitting, you therefore set hreflang and canonical between the stores yourself in the theme code or through an app, switch off the automatic hreflang tags if needed, and a new domain builds its ranking from scratch.
Before any merge or split, create a redirect table per old URL and check hreflang and canonical after the move.
What is online and what Shopify actually writes
Many guides on Markets and expansion stores are outdated or imprecise, because Shopify keeps changing plans and features. Below are the most common statements online, each with what Shopify writes today, as of 12 October 2026.
Are markets available only from Advanced or only with Plus?
Several guides write that markets exist only from the Advanced plan, that they are fully usable only with Plus, or that they can cost extra depending on the plan.
Creating regional markets is free on all plans (requirements and considerations). The theme customization per market and the checkout and account pages per market require Advanced or Plus, and checkout blocks per market and business entities per market exist only with Plus according to the plan table.
How many markets does a store allow?
Some guides name 3 markets for Basic and Grow, others up to 50 markets on all plans.
The Plus plan page says that all plans include an unlimited number of markets for countries or regions, and the page on market types states no limit for country and region markets, and a cap of 3 markets is not mentioned there.
How many expansion stores are there, and does it work on every plan?
Several guides speak of up to ten expansion stores or multi-stores. Others write that several stores work on every plan, or that expansion stores are not a Shopify feature.
Plus organizations can have a maximum of ten stores without additional cost, one main store and nine expansion stores (help page). Several stores without Plus exist as an organization (page on grouping stores), while the term expansion store belongs to the Plus plan.
Does Managed Markets apply to us?
Some guides name only a seat in the USA as the requirement, others still use the former name Markets Pro.
Markets Pro has been called Managed Markets since 24 June 2024 (changelog). It is available to businesses in the continental USA and to certain stores in Canada and the United Kingdom (help page).
The requirements page for Managed Markets names only the continental USA, Canada and the United Kingdom as the seat of the business, and Austria and Germany appear there only in the list of destination countries. The Austrian Plus page lists Managed Markets among the exclusive Plus features, while the overview page requires at least the Basic plan. Shopify's help makes no explicit statement for merchants based in Austria or Germany, so have the availability confirmed before you plan.
Is automatic redirection by country a markets feature?
Some guides list automatic geolocation or redirection by country as a built-in markets feature.
The automatic redirection is a setting in the admin under Online Store > Preferences. For markets with their own domain, subdomain or subfolder it sends customers to the URL of the market, and on a shared domain it adjusts currency and language. EU customers are not automatically redirected on country-specific EU domains. The help page on the Geolocation app names 24 March 2025 as the shutdown date of the app.
Does a country domain of your own require separate stores?
Some guides name different country domains as a reason for separate stores, others call subfolders a subdomain.
You can use top-level domains, subdomains, subfolders or a combination in one store from the Basic plan, and subfolders use the primary domain (help page on domains).
Does every store need its own legal entity and its own theme?
An older guide writes that a store can represent only one legal entity, so several entities would need several stores, and that theme and landing pages would have to be the same in all markets.
On Plus, each market can be assigned the legal entity that processes payments in that market (page on business entities). Only one theme can be published (requirements and considerations), and the customization of that theme per market exists from Advanced.
What many guides leave out
Many guides leave out the topics that matter for Austria and Switzerland: OSS, EPS, TWINT and language variants such as de-AT or de-CH, and VAT often gets short shrift as well.
Shopify's help describes VAT in the EU with its threshold and OSS, EPS for customers in Austria and TWINT for customers in Switzerland. The details are in the section DACH in detail.
The way back is usually missing too: how several stores can be merged again or one store split into several is described by very few.
Shopify describes closing and removing a Plus store through support (deactivating, removing) and names no procedure for merging. More on this in the section The way back.
And what further expansion stores cost beyond those included in Plus is something few guides name.
The pricing pages for Austria and Germany name an amount per further store. Amount, currency and date are in the section What an additional store costs.
Where Shopify's own pages say different things
Shopify's own pages differ in four places that matter for this decision. The sources are in the list, as of 13 October 2026.
Only Shopify can confirm which version applies:
- Billing currency and amount per further store: the help page names only USD or INR and no amount, while the Austria page uses euros and the Germany page quoted US dollars on 13 October 2026.
- Theme license for staging stores: the German help page on expansion stores exempts them, while the English version and the theme page require additional licenses.
- Invoices: the billing page centralizes all stores on Plus into one billing account and one invoice, while the theme page says, in the context of theme licenses, that each expansion store requires a distinct invoice.
- Payment provider for multiple currencies: the requirements page names Shopify Payments or Adyen, the domains page only Shopify Payments.
Until Shopify clarifies this, you plan with the less favorable reading and have the version that applies to your contract confirmed in writing.
Your quick check in six questions
This check is our own assessment, and the sources are in the sections above. Each question tells you what a yes means, and the order is not a ranking.
- Are catalogs per market enough to control products and prices per country? Then that points to markets in one store.
- Does a region need a customized theme or a customized checkout? Then you need at least Advanced for that, and Plus for checkout blocks per market.
- Does a legal entity of its own have to process payments? Then you check whether business entities on Plus with their limits are enough or a store of its own is needed.
- Should a region run team, data, apps and storefront completely separately? Then that points to an expansion store on the Plus plan, with all upkeep costs per store.
- Do you also sell to business customers? Then you decide whether B2B runs in the same store or a store of its own with its own branding and inventory is needed.
- Do the stores belong to several brands? Then according to Shopify each brand needs its own Plus contract, while an extension of the same brand does not.
In addition, with every answer you check domain structure, tax registration and payment methods per country, because they help decide what pays off. If you like, we can go through your answers together.
The choice of structure decides upkeep, integrations and the effort of moving. Here is what we help with.
Let's check which structure fits you
Your questions about markets and expansion stores
Sources and status
Last checked: October 2026. The information comes from official Shopify pages, retrieved on 13 October 2026. The prices come from the pricing pages for Austria (euros) and Germany (US dollars). The links lead to the sources (Help Center in the language of this page, individual pages in the other language are named in the text, newsroom, changelog and shopify.dev in English, shopify.com/at and shopify.com/de in German). We deliberately do not link pages from the web. Shopify keeps changing plans, prices and features and does not date most Help Center pages, so check critical values at the source again before deciding. Our worked examples are based on these values.
What has changed
- 11 September 2023: multiple domains can be used on the primary market (changelog).
- 24 June 2024: Markets Pro is renamed Managed Markets (changelog entry of 2 July 2024).
- 24 March 2025: date of the announced shutdown of the Geolocation app (help page).
- 2 April 2026: Shopify announces core B2B features for Basic, Grow and Advanced as well (newsroom, changelog).
- 13 May 2026: cut-off date for Basic Tax in the EU, only stores set up to collect tax there before it can use it (setup, migration).
- 15 May 2026: eligible merchants can sell through multiple legal entities in the same country using Shopify Payments (changelog).
Plans, prices and fees
- Shopify Plus pricing page Austria
- Shopify Plus pricing page Germany
- Help Center: Shopify Plus plan
- Help Center: Billing
- Help Center: Managing billing per store
- Help Center: Fees
- Help Center: Local currencies
- Help Center: Payouts in multiple currencies
- Help Center: Supported payout currencies
Expansion stores and organizations
- Help Center: Expansion stores
- Help Center: Managing organizations and stores
- Help Center: Grouping stores in an organization
- Help Center: Creating a store
- Help Center: Removing a store from the organization
- Help Center: Deactivating a store
- Help Center: Changing or transferring ownership
- Help Center: Viewing and filtering stores
- Help Center: Organization analytics
- Help Center: Organization permissions
- Help Center: Roles managed by Shopify
- Help Center: SAML authentication
- Help Center: SCIM user management
- Help Center: Setting up a Shopify ID
- Help Center: Unlicensed themes
Markets, domains and SEO
- Help Center: Markets overview
- Shopify Markets, page for Austria (German)
- Help Center: Markets requirements and considerations
- Help Center: Market types
- Help Center: Managing markets
- Help Center: Catalogs
- Help Center: Customizing the online store per market
- Help Center: Customizing checkout per market
- Help Center: International domains
- Help Center: Domains and languages per market
- Help Center: Markets and SEO
- Help Center: Automatic redirection
- Help Center: Geolocation app
- Changelog: Multiple domains on the primary market (11 September 2023)
- shopify.dev: Use hreflang tags in your theme
Taxes, payment methods, duties and legal entities
- Help Center: Setting up EU taxes
- Help Center: EU taxes, migration
- Help Center: EU taxes, reference
- Help Center: Local payment methods
- Help Center: EPS
- Help Center: Klarna
- Help Center: TWINT
- Help Center: Duties and import taxes
- Help Center: Duties and import taxes, considerations
- Help Center: Collecting duties and import taxes at checkout
- Help Center: Business entities
- Help Center: Selling with multiple entities
- Changelog: Multiple legal entities in the same country (15 May 2026)
- Help Center: Managed Markets overview
- Help Center: Managed Markets requirements and considerations
- Changelog: Markets Pro is now Managed Markets (2 July 2024)
B2B
- Help Center: B2B features by plan
- Help Center: Store type, blended or dedicated
- Newsroom: B2B for all plans (2 April 2026)
- Changelog: Key B2B features now available on non-Plus plans (2 April 2026)
Pages that say different things
Which pages contradict each other is covered in the section Where Shopify's own pages say different things, with the source for each point.
Limits with source
- One main store and nine expansion stores without additional cost, staging stores do not count, and more than ten stores go through Shopify Support (help page).
- One free B2B store and one free store of the type D2C stores for wholesale merchants per contract, and the page does not say whether they count among the nine expansion stores (help page).
- Up to 3 active catalogs across all B2B markets on Basic, Grow and Advanced (plan table).
- €10,000 registration threshold for sales to other EU countries (setting up EU taxes).
- Transaction fee for Managed Markets: 3.25% (Plus) and 3.5% (Basic, Grow, Advanced), plus currency conversion and the Shopify Payments fee (help page).
- Payout in multiple currencies: 1.5% (Advanced) and 1% (Plus) in global regions (help page).
Does a statement no longer hold? Then write to us at hello@digit-one.com. We will check it against the source and correct the page.