Set up automatic storefront redirection for your customers

When you activate automatic redirection, the storefront that matches the location preferences of your customers is automatically displayed.

Activate automatic redirection

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets.

  2. Click Preferences.

  3. In the Automatic redirection section, activate Country/region redirection.

After you activate country/region redirection, region-specific content is automatically displayed to customers in your online store.

You can also let customers switch manually between countries and languages by activating selectors on your online store. If your theme doesn't have a country or language selector, then you can add them by using a third-party app from the Shopify App Store.

Markets that use dedicated domains

If your market is set up with a separate domain, subdomain, or subfolder, then the country/region redirection setting automatically detects a customer's geolocation and redirects them to the URL that corresponds to their resolved market. For example, if you use a .com domain for your United States market and a .ca domain for your Canada market, then a Canadian customer who visits your .com domain is automatically redirected to your .ca domain.

For markets that use dedicated domains, content is automatically indexed by search engines.

Markets that use shared domains

If your market is set up to share the same domain as another market, then the country/region redirection setting automatically detects a customer's geolocation and adjusts their page to display content (such as currencies and language) that corresponds to their resolved market. For example, if your primary market is United States with USD (example.com), and you have a secondary market for Canada with CAD currency that is set using the primary market's domain, then prices are automatically displayed in CAD when a Canadian customer visits example.com.

For markets that use shared domains, content isn't indexed by search engines.

Country/region redirection in the European Union (EU)

To comply with local legislation, customers from the EU who access a localized experience with an EU country code top-level domain name (ccTLD) aren't automatically redirected. This ensures that customers don't experience a different store from the one that they initially sought to access. If a market uses a domain that isn't specific to a country such as .com or .shop, then EU customers can be automatically redirected.

For example, if you use a domain with a .de TLD for your Germany market and an .fr TLD for France, then a customer from France who visits the .de domain isn't automatically redirected. You can use a third-party app from the Shopify App Store to provide EU customers with country or region recommendations, so that they can select the best experience for their language and location.

Refer to the list below to determine the specific ccTLDs corresponding to EU countries:

  • Austria - .at
  • Belgium - .be
  • Bulgaria - .bg
  • Croatia - .hr
  • Cyprus - .cy
  • Czech Republic - .cz
  • Denmark - .dk
  • Estonia - .ee
  • Finland - .fi
  • France - .fr
  • Germany - .de
  • Greece - .gr
  • Hungary - .hu
  • Ireland - .ie
  • Italy - .it
  • Latvia - .lv
  • Lithuania - .lt
  • Luxembourg - .lu
  • Malta - .mt
  • Netherlands - .nl
  • Poland - .pl
  • Portugal - .pt
  • Romania - .ro
  • Slovakia - .sk
  • Slovenia - .si
  • Spain - .es
  • Sweden - .se
  • European Union - .eu

Language redirection

Language redirection detects a customer's browser language and automatically switches the storefront to match, when that language is available. For a language to be available to customers, it must be added to your store, assigned to relevant markets, have translations added, and be published. For example, if your domain has a .ca TLD and your Canada market's default language is English, when language redirection is activated, a customer from Canada that has their browser’s primary language set to French is automatically redirected to .ca/fr, where the storefront is in French.

Steps:

  1. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Markets.

  2. Click Preferences.

  3. In the Automatic redirection section, turn on Language redirection.

Can’t find the answers you’re looking for? We’re here to help.