The world is a large and diverse place. Efforts have been made to standardize a lot of things but some still evade us. Even the very number of countries in the world remains disputed. It all depends on whose side you are on in several territorial disputes all across the globe. 

This makes localization incredibly important when expanding to another country. Take the example of measurement. Every other country in the world uses the metric system to measure length and weight but Myanmar, Liberia, and the USA still cling to imperial units. 

Shoe size is another measurement that can leave you drowning in returns and one-star reviews if you neglect localizing it. The USA, the EU, and the UK all use entirely different standards.

US Sizes UK Sizes EU Sizes
6 5.5 39
6.5 6 39
7 6.5 40
7.5 7 40-41
8 7.5 41
8.5 8 41-42
9 8.5 42
9.5 9 42-42
10 9.5 42-44
10.5 10 43-44.5
11 10.5 44-45
11.5 11 44-45

 

Some things you can localize:

 

Some Shopify apps

There are some apps to help with customizing the experience based on their country.

Automatic redirect:

Shopify guide:

And you can look through the shopify apps yourself:

 

Country selection screen

If the shopper’s country isn’t one that you have a website for (and thus cannot you auto-detect it and redirect to it), Reserved’s country selection screen could be a good option. But I’d recommend mentioning something to the effect that you noticed they appear to be in Canada, and that you don’t have a Canadian store – and to please choose a country from the list below. 

 

Examples