As a Gold Partner, we have driven internationalization with Shopware in the form of international e-commerce projects in several projects. Because we have already implemented e-commerce projects in several countries outside of Germany. For example in:
Russia: The market is dominated in particular by the very strong position of Yandex. Thus, this service offers a wealth of services in addition to the search engine, analogous to Google in the rest of the world. Therefore, we have also developed a Yandex plugin for payment.
Unfortunately, we are not allowed to name these references publicly. However, in conversation we will be happy to show you what we have done in the international environment.
These are e-commerce activities for companies with local headquarters. And not just a pure delivery to other countries from Germany. Because that is already possible worldwide with Shopware without any problems.
Differences in international e-commerce
The first distinguishing feature in the individual countries when internationalizing with Shopware is payment methods. For this reason, we have already used Adyen as a payment provider several times and are now also partners with the company from the Netherlands. We have also developed our own Shopware plugin for processing payments with Adyen. The advantage of Adyen is the consideration of individual payment methods in each country. For example, Carte Bancaire in France or iDEAL in the Netherlands have a strong position, but are unknown here in Germany. On its website, adyen has compiled a very good overview of which payment methods are popular in which countries.
Furthermore, the connection of logistics solutions often varies greatly from country to country. In addition to the well-known logistics providers such as DHL or UPS, national partners are also very often used. For this, corresponding connections usually have to be created individually first.
For the necessary translations of products, categories and other contents of the online store we gladly fall back on our partner Eurotext. Eurotext not only offers translations by native speakers, but also translations optimized for the target group (B2C/B2B) with high professional standards.
Internationalization of Shopware
The internationalization of Shopware is a topic that Shopware AG is currently pushing ahead with. This is because the company from Münsterland and its product have their roots in Germany and still have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to internationalization. Thus, most online stores that are implemented with Shopware are still from German e-commerce providers and companies. The agencies and the ecosystem around the online store software are also still very German.
This is also reflected in the market shares of the software. While Shopware is certainly one of the market leaders in Germany, Magento or Shopify tend to hold this position worldwide. Reliable figures on market shares are difficult to obtain or define. For one thing, the systems used are often difficult to identify from the outside. That is, it is not transparent which systems are used in which online store. On the other hand, the question arises as to whether the absolute number of installations or the sales volume generated with the stores is more decisive.
A trend analysis in Google can at least consolidate impressions gained. It provides an overview of which search terms are popular in which countries:
Most searches in Google revolve around Shopify or Magento.
This shows that Shopify, Magento and WooCommerce, the e-commerce extension for WordPress, are more popular internationally. Shopware is more focused on Germany in this area.
However, Shopware is actively working on the further internationalization of its software. This is also reflected in the increasing number of international Shopware partners and solution providers. Events, both online and offline, are also now much more international.
Internationalization Pimcore
In contrast, our second focus software Pimcore is significantly more international. This is certainly related to the origin of Pimcore in Austria and the clear international focus from the beginning. Therefore, the software for data management is also used worldwide. Thus, the agencies and partners also come from a variety of countries. Especially at the last partner event Pimcore Inspire 2020, the international community of the open source software was impressively demonstrated.
However, we are confident that the internationalization of Shopware will progress. We would be happy to advise you on setting up your international e-commerce activities. Please contact us.
