Implementing Multi-Currency on BigCommerce

Global ecommerce growth means one thing: customers expect to shop in their own currency. To meet this demand, BigCommerce offers a powerful multi-currency feature.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• How Multiple Currency Support Can be Beneficial for your Brand
• Preparing Your Storefront for Multi Currency Implementation
• Turning on Multiple Currencies in BigCommerce
• Understanding Conversion Rates
• How Shogun Helps Stores Expand Internationally

How Multiple Currency Support Can be Beneficial for your Brand

Expanding into international markets is about more than just convenience—it’s a strategic move to make customers feel at ease and enhance their trust in your brand by offering familiar pricing in their local currency.

A smoother shopping experience equals more completed purchases, which means more revenue for your business.

Let’s dive into specific benefits:

1. Increased trust and loyalty: According to a recent study, 76% of customers feel more comfortable purchasing products that display prices in their local currency. By offering localized pricing, you remove a key obstacle in the buyer’s journey, making it easier for customers to understand the cost and feel confident in their purchase. Displaying prices in local currencies makes customers feel more confident about the final cost they’re paying and reduces surprises related to fluctuating exchange rates.
2. Better shopping experience: Multi-currency support enhances the user experience. It allows customers to avoid the hassle of converting prices themselves, removing the mental effort involved in figuring out exchange rates. This added convenience helps speed up decision-making and can even lead to more impulse purchases, as customers feel more at ease moving through the buying process quickly.
3. Reduced cart abandonment rates: In a study by the Baymard Institute, unexpected costs such as currency conversion fees are a major reason for cart abandonment. By offering the ability to see final prices in their native currency, shoppers are more likely to complete their purchase. Offering customers the ability to pay in their local currency helps avoid confusion and builds trust.
4. Increased global reach: By doing this, you can extend your reach globally, as customers are more inclined to buy when they see prices in a currency they are familiar with. This opens the door to new international markets, ultimately growing your business’s global presence.
5. Competitiveness in international markets: Offering multi-currency support helps you stay competitive in markets where localized pricing is already standard. Brands like Nike, Sephora and ASOS offer their customers a local currency option, and it sets an expectation for how pricing should be handled. If your store doesn’t offer local currency options, customers might opt to shop elsewhere where they feel more comfortable making a purchase.

Challenges of Implementing Multi-Currency Support

While there are many benefits to offering multi-currency support, it does come with some challenges that ecommerce merchants need to be aware of. These include:

• Currency conversion fees: While offering local currency prices is great for the customer, you as a merchant may face currency conversion fees from payment gateways. These fees can eat into your profit margin. However, many payment processors allow you to pass these costs onto the customer if needed.
• Exchange rate fluctuations: Dynamic exchange rates can cause prices to fluctuate often, which may confuse customers or cause inconsistencies in pricing. Balancing between keeping conversion rates accurate and preventing too much variation is key to avoiding customer dissatisfaction.
• Tax and compliance complexities: Dealing with multiple currencies also means managing various tax systems. Different countries have varying tax regulations, and it’s crucial to ensure your business complies with these local rules when selling across borders. For example, VAT in Europe differs from tax requirements in the US, and not accounting for these differences can result in legal complications.

Preparing Your Storefront for Multi-Currency Implementation

Before diving into the technical aspects of enabling multi-currency support in BigCommerce, preparation is key. Ensuring your storefront is ready will save you headaches down the road.

1. Choose a multi-currency compatible payment gateway: The first step in enabling multi-currency is ensuring that your payment provider supports it. Popular options like PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.Net all allow payments in multiple currencies. These gateways automatically handle conversion rates, ensuring accuracy in the amounts customers pay and what you receive.
2. Define clear shipping guidelines: Since shipping costs and regulations can vary from country to country, make sure your shipping settings are customized to match the currencies you support, with specific rates for each region.
3. Adjust your tax settings for each country: Make sure that tax configurations are properly localized and tailored to meet the specific regulations and requirements of each region you serve.
4. Determine a pricing strategy: As discussed, deciding between dynamic and static conversion rates is crucial. Dynamic conversion rates, which fluctuate based on the real-time market, allow for precision, while static rates provide consistency for customers. Many stores prefer dynamic rates for accuracy, but static rates offer predictability.
5. Plan for customer service: Having a customer service team equipped to handle questions about currency, refunds in different currencies, and exchange rates is essential. Make sure your team is equipped to support customers from different regions, addressing any questions or concerns they might encounter based on their location. Equip them with the knowledge and tools to handle inquiries related to currency, shipping, and taxes for different locations.

Turning on Multiple Currencies in BigCommerce

Now that you’ve prepared your store, it’s time to enable multi-currency support on BigCommerce. Follow these steps:

1. Log in to your BigCommerce account: Go to your BigCommerce control panel and navigate to the currency settings
2. Go to the “Settings” section: Under “Settings,” find the “Currencies” option. You can manage your storefront’s currency options here.

3. Add a new currency: To introduce an additional currency, simply navigate to the “Add New Currency” option and select the currencies you’d like to enable from the available list. BigCommerce supports over 100 currencies, so you’ll have plenty of options.

4. Set conversion rates: You can opt for dynamic rates offered by your payment provider or manually set fixed conversion rates for your store. Many merchants opt for dynamic rates because they automatically update, ensuring accuracy.

5. Select the default currency: This is the currency displayed to customers if their location doesn’t fall under one of the regions you’ve set specific currencies for.

6. Customize display vs. transaction currencies: The currency shown to customers on your site is the display currency, while the currency in which payments are processed is known as the transaction currency. For instance, a customer might see prices in GBP (display currency), but the transaction is settled in USD (transaction currency).

BigCommerce makes it simple to manage different currencies and ensures your customers see relevant pricing based on their location. This feature is particularly beneficial for merchants operating in multiple regions.

Understanding Exchange Rates and Conversion Rates

Managing exchange rates is a key part of multi-currency support, as it directly affects your product pricing and profit margins. Understanding how these rates fluctuate is essential for accurately pricing products across different regions.

Dynamic vs. Static Conversion Rates

• Dynamic rates: These rates fluctuate in real-time based on market conditions. While they provide the most up-to-date pricing, they can cause inconsistencies in what customers see from day to day. The advantage here is accuracy, but the downside is potential customer confusion if prices fluctuate too much.
• Static rates: Static rates allow you to set fixed prices in different currencies. While they offer the latest pricing information, these rates can lead to fluctuations in what customers observe from one day to the next. If the market changes drastically, you may end up losing profits due to outdated conversion rates.

Why Transparency in Pricing Matters

Regardless of whether you choose dynamic or static rates, transparency is key. Ensure that customers clearly understand the currency in which they are making their purchases, particularly if the currency shown on your site differs from the one used for processing transactions. This clarity helps avoid confusion and enhances the shopping experience. Display clear messages on product pages and at checkout to ensure no surprises during the purchasing process.

Display vs. Transaction Currency

When implementing multiple currencies, it’s crucial to distinguish between display currency and transaction currency. The display currency is what customers see on your website, while the transaction currency is the actual currency used for processing payments. 

• Display currency: This refers to the currency in which prices are shown on your online store, and this is typically determined by the customer’s location or their account settings.
• Transactional currency: On the other hand, is the currency used for processing the actual payment during the checkout process.

For example, a customer in Australia views prices in AUD on your website, but the actual payment is processed in GBP. To ensure a smooth shopping experience, it’s essential to clearly inform customers about the currency that will be used for the transaction at checkout, minimizing any potential confusion.

How Shogun Helps Stores Expand Internationally

For ecommerce brands looking to expand internationally, Shogun offers a range of tools to create personalized, multi-currency storefronts. Shogun’s integration with BigCommerce’s Multi-Storefront (MSF) allows merchants to customize landing pages, experiments and personalized experiences for each storefront.

Key features Shogun offers include:

1. Localized content: Shogun allows you to build customized pages that display varied content tailored to the visitor’s geographic location (localized content). This feature helps enhance the shopping experience by ensuring that users see relevant information based on where they are accessing the site. For example, shoppers in France may see product prices in EUR, while Canadian customers see prices in CAD.
2. Personalized storefronts: Merchants can use Shogun to build region-specific landing pages that display the appropriate currency, products, and promotions for BigCommerce multi-storefronts. For example, a brand based in the US could present its product catalog in GBP for customers in the UK while also promoting a special offer exclusively for UK residents. This approach not only caters to local preferences but also enhances the shopping experience by making customers feel valued and understood.
3. Geo-targeting features: Shogun’s geo-targeting feature enables merchants to tailor the shopping experience according to the customer’s location, allowing for a more personalized approach. Whether it’s localizing product descriptions, offering region-specific promotions, or adjusting pricing, Shogun helps create a seamless international shopping experience.

A case study by Monetate revealed that ecommerce brands using its personalization tools for international storefronts saw a 20% increase in revenue.