How We Launched a Localized Shopify International Storefront in Under a Week for Plushie Dreadfuls
Ryan Kodzik 
As a brand’s digital footprint grows, the data often signals massive opportunities beyond domestic borders that are too strong to ignore.
For Plushie Dreadfuls, engagement and order metrics had been climbing globally — particularly in Japan — revealing a high-intent audience that transcended language barriers. Japan represented 7.87% of total site traffic, second only to the US, but the real signal was in the Average Order Value (AOV). Japanese customers were spending 27.5% more per order than the overall store average.
They were already buying. They just didn’t have a localized experience built for them yet.
We specialize in helping brands identify these international clusters and transforming that raw data into a fully realized global expansion strategy. By leveraging the brand’s unique aesthetic and emotional resonance, we provide the framework for Shopify stores to scale seamlessly into diverse international markets.
How We Did It
One Shopify Store, Two Markets
Most brands assume launching in a new country means spinning up an entirely separate Shopify store. It doesn’t. Using Shopify Markets, we built plushiedreadfuls.jp as a dedicated Japanese storefront — its own domain, its own language, its own market settings — all from within the existing Shopify admin. No second store, no duplicate product catalog, no split operations.
Inventory is shared. Products can be published to both storefronts simultaneously or pushed to a specific market individually. Content can be tailored per market when needed or kept consistent across both. One admin, one team, two markets.
Localized the Site Into Japanese
We translated the site into Japanese using Shopify’s translation tools, with Google Translate handling the initial pass and manual override capability for any copy that needed refinement. The result is a site that reads naturally in Japanese — not a machine-translated version of the English store.
Payment processing was updated to reflect Japanese preferences and local requirements.
Built Localized Email Infrastructure From Day One
Localization doesn’t stop at the storefront. If a Japanese customer signs up and receives an English-language welcome email, you’ve already broken the experience.
We built the email infrastructure to match the storefront: Japanese-language pop-ups, flyouts, and a dedicated welcome flow — all live from launch day. Then we created geographic segments in Klaviyo to ensure all automated communications serve Japanese content to Japanese customers going forward.
This kind of geographic flow splitting is critical for international expansion. Without it, brands default to sending English-language automations to non-English audiences — an easy way to tank engagement and leave revenue on the table.
Handled Local Compliance
Launching in a new market means navigating local regulations, not just translating a website. We handled this as part of the build:
Gift cards were disabled for the Japanese storefront pending the merchant documentation required by Japanese law. A dedicated disclosures page was added to meet Japanese eCommerce legal requirements.
Getting this right at launch matters. Compliance issues don’t just create legal exposure — they erode customer trust in a market where trust takes time to build.
🌏 Curious how this all came together? Read the Plushie Dreadfuls case study and see the full story behind the launch.
Launched in Under a Week
From kickoff to live: under a week.
That’s not a typical timeline for an international storefront build. Localization, compliance, payment setup, email infrastructure, translated flows — these are the kinds of projects that usually take months of back-and-forth. We did it in days.
The reason it was possible: Shopify Markets. Rather than building a separate store from scratch, Shopify Markets let us create a dedicated market experience from within the existing admin. Same products, same inventory, same fulfillment operation. What changes is everything the customer sees — the domain, the language, the currency, the payment options, the email communications. We came in with a clear scope, built within a proven infrastructure, and handed over a live, compliant Japanese storefront in under a week.
What’s Next
Phase 2 focuses on deepening the Japan customer relationship:
Expanded email automation: The foundational flows are live. Next, we’re building post-purchase sequences, win-back flows, and campaign-specific triggers — all in Japanese, all segmented geographically in Klaviyo so nothing bleeds across markets.
Going global with WhatsApp: Standard SMS works great in the States, but to really connect with an international audience, you have to meet them where they live: WhatsApp. It’s the go-to messaging app for most of the world, offering a much more direct and conversational way to connect. We’re testing WhatsApp as a primary messaging channel to give international customers the same VIP, instant-access experience that US fans get through SMS. It’s about making the brand feel local, no matter where the customer is unboxing their next Dreadful.
The storefront is live. The infrastructure is in place. Now we build on it.
Future Holidays helps eCommerce brands expand into international markets — from storefront localization to email flows built for each audience. If you’re seeing strong signals from outside your primary market, we’d love to look at the data with you.
“Future Holidays truly helped to transform our business – improving online quality perception, customer flow, and smoothing over countless little customer friction points. And they did it with a positive and supportive attitude. We feel less like we’re working with an outside dev team and more like Future Holidays is a natural extension of our team’s culture, values, and goals.”
– American McGee, Founder
Related Articles
