Managing multiple Shopify stores to serve different customer groups is a smart business move. However, one common challenge is redirecting customers to the correct store based on their location. Since Shopify restricts checkout customizations unless you’re using Shopify Plus, this might seem tricky.

Don’t worry! In this blog post, we’ll explain how to detect a customer’s location and redirect them to the right store on Shopify. Let’s get started!

Why We Need to Get Customer’s Locations and Redirect Them to the Right Store? 

Understanding your customers’ location and automatically redirecting them to the most relevant store can significantly improve their shopping experience, boost conversions, and manage your business more effectively. 

Here are the key benefits of getting customer location data and redirecting them to the right store:

Benefits of getting the locations of customers

• Better Customer Insights: Location data helps you understand customer preferences and behaviors, allowing for personalized offers and product recommendations that drive engagement and sales.
• Attract New Customers: Location-based promotions can attract first-time customers from different regions, helping to grow your customer base and boost sales.
• Targeted Marketing: Tailor your ads and offers to specific regions for more relevant, compelling marketing that converts better and resonates with local customers.
• Improved User Experience: By detecting customers’ locations, you can show them localized pricing, shipping options, and product availability, making the shopping process smoother and more intuitive.

Benefits of redirecting customers to the right store based on their location

• Better Convenience: Customers are automatically directed to the right store, showing them products, shipping, and prices relevant to their region, improving their shopping experience.
• SEO and Local Ranking: Redirecting customers to region-specific stores helps improve SEO, making your site more visible in local search results.
• Compliance with Local Laws: Ensure your store complies with regional tax rates, shipping policies, and product regulations, reducing the risk of issues.
• Efficient Shipping: Redirecting customers ensures they only see region-specific shipping options, helping avoid delays and unexpected shipping fees.
• Preserve SEO Value: Using a 301 redirect ensures any existing SEO traffic is maintained, even when changing or updating product pages.
• Accurate Product Availability: Direct customers to stores with products available in their region, reducing frustration and cart abandonment.

How to get the location of a customer on Shopify

There are three main methods to get the customer’s locations on Shopify. Keep tracking our posts to see the full explanation of each technique.

Method 1: Allow customers to select their locations in the Checkout Page

Ship Sketch by Omatic is a user-friendly app that integrates with Shopify to collect customer location data during checkout. It helps users in regions where addresses are not standardized and allows them to select their exact location on a map, ensuring accurate shipping rates and smooth delivery. Below are the seven steps to set it up:

Step 1: Install Ship Sketch and Set Up Delivery Areas

• To begin, you need to install the Ship Sketch app on your Shopify store. After that, set up your delivery areas within the Shopify admin panel. 

• These delivery zones will determine which locations are eligible for shipping, based on the customer’s address or the map selection.

Step 2: Enable the Checkout Map Feature

• Once installed, click the “Ship Sketch app” button from your Shopify admin panel.

• Click the “New Delivery Area” button in the upper right corner of the map to toggle drawing mode.

Step 3: Create the Delivery Coordinates Product

In this step, you will need to create a “New Delivery Area” within Shopify. This unique product will store the customer’s latitude and longitude coordinates. Here’s how to set it up:

• Go to your Shopify admin and create a new product.
• Title it (e.g., “Customer Delivery Coordinates”).
• Set the vendor as “Ship Sketch.”
• Set the price to 0 (free).
• Mark the product as requires shipping to allow Shopify to calculate shipping costs based on location.
• Do not track inventory for this product.
• Hide this product from search results so customers do not see it in your store.

Step 4: Install and Customize the Map on Checkout

Once you’ve set up the product, the map will appear on the checkout page. Customers can now see a map where they can choose their exact location.

Step 5: Map Location and Delivery Zones Integration

When customers select their location, the map will compare their coordinates against the delivery zones you’ve set in Shopify.

If their location matches one of your predefined shipping areas, the checkout will automatically display the relevant shipping options and costs.

Step 6: Enable Automatic Location Selection for Returning Customers

When a customer with an account completes an order, their location is saved and pre-selected for subsequent orders. 

This saves time for returning customers, ensuring a smoother and more personalized shopping experience.

Step 7: Test and Optimize

Before going live, test the map and delivery zone integration to ensure it works as expected. 

Method 2: Enable address autocompletion

If you’re looking for a simpler, less complex method to gather customer location data, enabling address autocompletion can be a great option. This feature streamlines the checkout process by suggesting address options as customers start typing in their shipping or billing details. 

Step-by-Step Guide to Enable Address Autocompletion:

• Step 1: In your Shopify admin panel, go to Settings > Checkout.
• Step 2: Scroll down to the “Address Autocompletion” section and toggle the option to “Enable address autocompletion.”
• Step 3: Once enabled, customers will automatically receive suggested address completions as they begin typing. This feature uses Google’s address database to provide accurate location suggestions.

Method 3: Get locations of customers through Customer Reports from Shopify

For store owners who want to analyze customer location data after the purchase, Shopify provides a Customer Report feature in your Analytics dashboard. 

Step-by-Step Guide to Access Customer Location Data:

• Step 1: From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics > Reports.
• Step 2: Under the “Customers” section, select the Customers by Location report.
• Step 3: The report will categorize new customers based on their geographical location and provide insights such as:
  • Number of new customers who made their first purchase within a specific timeframe.
  • Total orders placed by new customers since their first order.
  • Total amount spent, including taxes, shipping, and discounts.
  • Based on their entire order history, total orders, and total spent for the new customers.

How to redirect customers to the right Shopify store based on their location

Method 1: Coding

Redirect customer on the login

When customers enter your online business and log in, they will see a My Account page that displays their previous orders and the related shipping and billing addresses. You may change your theme so that they are brought to a new page when consumers log in.

Navigate to Online Store > Themes in your Shopify admin. Find the theme you wish to change, then go to Actions > Edit code. Click customers/login.liquid in the Templates directory. After that, look for the following line of code:

{% form 'customer_login' %} 

Copy and paste the following on a new line below it:

<input type="hidden" name="checkout_url" value="/collections/all">

Replace /collections/all with the relative URL of the page you want users to view when they log in for the value attribute in the line of code you just pasted. Finally, click Save to finish the procedure.

Redirect customer on logout

After logging out, Shopify defaults to redirecting clients to the home page. There is no built-in solution to redirect the consumer to a specific page. Here’s a little script to accomplish the same thing. This script will work for whatever logout links you have on your page. In the theme.liquid, paste the following code just above the closing body tag.

<!--   LOGOUT REDIRECT -->

  <script>

    (function() {

      var REDIRECT_PATH = "/collections/all";

      var logoutBtn = document.querySelector('a[href^="/account/logout"]');

      if(logoutBtn) {

        logoutBtn.addEventListener('click', function() {

          fetch(logoutBtn.href).then(() => window.location.href = REDIRECT_PATH)

        })

      }

    })()

  </script>...

Redirect customer on new account creation

After registering a new account, new clients are automatically brought to the account page. When a client registers for a new account, please follow the procedures below to send them to a specific page. In this example, we’ll develop some simple code that will send consumers to Shopify’s Cart page. Add the code below at the bottom of the layout/theme.liquid, right before the body part. Replace “/checkout” with your preferred redirect destination to divert to a different page.

<script> 

   (function() { 

     var REDIRECT_PATH = '/checkout'; 

     var selector = '#create_customer, form[action$="/account"][method="post"]', 

         $form = document.querySelectorAll(selector)[0]; 

     if ($form) { 

       $redirect = document.createElement('input'); 

       $redirect.setAttribute('name', 'return_to'); 

       $redirect.setAttribute('type', 'hidden'); 

       $redirect.value = REDIRECT_PATH; 

       $form.appendChild($redirect); 

     } 

   })(); 

 </script> ...

If you wish to redirect your consumers to a welcome/congratulations page, you may do it using falling confetti. Scroll down to the templates directory using the navigation on the left. Add a new template by clicking the Add new button. Please choose a page from the drop-down menu and give it a name such as welcome or success page. At the bottom of the file, write the following code:

<canvas id="canvas"></canvas>
<style>canvas {display: block;position: relative;zindex: 1;pointer-events: none;position: fixed;top: 0;}</style>
<script>
var canvas1,ctx,W,H;if(screen.width>=988)var mp=50;else mp=50;var deactivationTimerHandler,reactivationTimerHandler,animationHandler,particles=[],angle=0,tiltAngle=0,confettiActive=!0,animationComplete=!0,particleColors={colorOptions:["DodgerBlue","OliveDrab","Gold","pink","SlateBlue","lightblue","Violet","PaleGreen","SteelBlue","SandyBrown","Chocolate","Crimson"],colorIndex:0,colorIncrementer:0,colorThreshold:10,getColor:function(){return this.colorIncrementer>=10&&(this.colorIncrementer=0,this.colorIndex++,this.colorIndex>=this.colorOptions.length&&(this.colorIndex=0)),this.colorIncrementer++,this.colorOptions[this.colorIndex]}};function confettiParticle(t){this.x=Math.random()*W,this.y=Math.random()*H-H,this.r=RandomFromTo(10,30),this.d=Math.random()*mp+10,this.color=t,this.tilt=Math.floor(10*Math.random())-10,this.tiltAngleIncremental=.07*Math.random()+.05,this.tiltAngle=0,this.draw=function(){return ctx.beginPath(),ctx.lineWidth=this.r/2,ctx.strokeStyle=this.color,ctx.moveTo(this.x+this.tilt+this.r/4,this.y),ctx.lineTo(this.x+this.tilt,this.y+this.tilt+this.r/4),ctx.stroke()}}function InitializeButton(){$("#stopButton").click(DeactivateConfetti),$("#startButton").click(RestartConfetti)}function SetGlobals(){canvas1=document.getElementById("canvas"),ctx=canvas1.getContext("2d"),W=window.innerWidth,H=window.innerHeight,canvas1.width=W,canvas1.height=H}function InitializeConfetti(){particles=[],animationComplete=!1;for(var t=0;t<mp;t++){var i=particleColors.getColor();particles.push(new confettiParticle(i))}StartConfetti()}function Draw(){ctx.clearRect(0,0,W,H);for(var t,i=[],n=0;n<mp;n++)t=n,i.push(particles[t].draw());return Update(),i}function RandomFromTo(t,i){return Math.floor(Math.random()*(i-t+1)+t)}function Update(){var t,i=0;angle+=.01,tiltAngle+=.1;for(var n=0;n<mp;n++){if(t=particles[n],animationComplete)return;!confettiActive&&t.y<-15?t.y=H+100:(stepParticle(t,n),t.y<=H&&i++,CheckForReposition(t,n))}0===i&&StopConfetti()}function CheckForReposition(t,i){(t.x>W+20||t.x<-20||t.y>H)&&confettiActive&&(i%5>0||i%2==0?repositionParticle(t,Math.random()*W,-10,Math.floor(10*Math.random())-10):Math.sin(angle)>0?repositionParticle(t,-5,Math.random()*H,Math.floor(10*Math.random())-10):repositionParticle(t,W+5,Math.random()*H,Math.floor(10*Math.random())-10))}function stepParticle(t,i){t.tiltAngle+=t.tiltAngleIncremental,t.y+=(Math.cos(angle+t.d)+3+t.r/2)/2,t.x+=Math.sin(angle),t.tilt=15*Math.sin(t.tiltAngle-i/3)}function repositionParticle(t,i,n,e){t.x=i,t.y=n,t.tilt=e}function StartConfetti(){W=window.innerWidth,H=window.innerHeight,canvas1.width=W,canvas1.height=H,function t(){return animationComplete?null:(animationHandler=requestAnimFrame(t),Draw())}()}function ClearTimers(){clearTimeout(reactivationTimerHandler),clearTimeout(animationHandler)}function DeactivateConfetti(){confettiActive=!1,ClearTimers()}function StopConfetti(){animationComplete=!0,null!=ctx&&ctx.clearRect(0,0,W,H)}function RestartConfetti(){ClearTimers(),StopConfetti(),reactivationTimerHandler=setTimeout(function(){confettiActive=!0,animationComplete=!1,InitializeConfetti()},100)}$(document).ready(function(){SetGlobals(),InitializeButton(),InitializeConfetti(),$(window).resize(function(){W=window.innerWidth,H=window.innerHeight,canvas1.width=W,canvas1.height=H})}),window.requestAnimFrame=window.requestAnimationFrame||window.webkitRequestAnimationFrame||window.mozRequestAnimationFrame||window.oRequestAnimationFrame||window.msRequestAnimationFrame||function(t){return window.setTimeout(t,1e3/60)};
</script>...

As usual, create a new page; then, you’ll see the templates box on the right side. Select the newly generated template from the drop-down menu and click Save.

Redirect customer base on location

As an example, we have three websites:

• www.domain.us – Customers in the United States
• www.domain.ca – Customers in Canada
• www.domain.com – Customers in the rest of the world

We utilize the GeoPlugin.Net (GeoPlugin) service to determine the visitor’s location. GeoPlugin offers software developers a public HTTP API for searching the geolocation of IP addresses. Here is the code.

<script language="JavaScript" src="http://www.geoplugin.net/javascript.gp" type="text/javascript"></script>

This code should be placed within the head> tag. The following information is returned: IP, country code, country name, region code, region name, city, latitude, Longitude, currency code… Now we’ll write the redirection code. On the website of the United States:

<script>

if(geoplugin_countryCode() != 'US'){

        if(geoplugin_countryCode() == 'CA'){

location.href = "//www.domain.ca";

}else{

location.href = "//www.domain.com";

}        

}

</script>...

On the website for Canadian:

<script>

if(geoplugin_countryCode() != 'CA'){

        if (geoplugin_countryCode() == 'US'){

location.href = "//www.domain.us";

}else{

location.href = "//www.domain.com";

}          

    }

</script>

In the website for the rest of the world:

<script>

if(geoplugin_countryCode() == 'US'){

location.href = "//www.domain.us";

} else if(geoplugin_countryCode() == 'CA'){

location.href = "//www.domain.ca";

}

</script>

Method 2: Using the third-party plugin

With the efficient and straightforward Location Redirect, you can route your clients to their nearest store. Get your customers to the appropriate website, reduce fraudulent purchases, minimize costly chargebacks, and save money on shipping and tax. 

We know that customers are more likely to buy from sites relevant to their nation; giving a localized experience boosts trust and gives your visitors the confidence they need to make their transaction with you. This software is for you if you have many locations in different countries and send your clients through the right door as quickly as possible.

Location Redirect does not rely on third-party code and will not cause your shop to slow down or require your visitors to confirm or wait for their redirection to occur. This program adds less than 250 bytes to your store, making it smaller and quicker than our rivals, allowing immediate redirections. Simply enter the nations to be redirected into the app’s user-friendly interface, configure the redirection URL, and you’re done. Regional rerouting has never been simpler. The unique location identification system adds extra security and ensures that visitors cannot impersonate their location by utilizing traditional evasion strategies such as HTTP Header spoofing or proxies.

Five Best Locations and Redirect Plugins for Shopify

Geo: Pro Geolocation Redirects

NexusMedia’s Geo: Pro Geolocation Redirects helps merchants redirect visitors to localized store versions based on their geolocation, ensuring a personalized and seamless shopping experience. It also includes features to block undesirable traffic from specific countries or IP addresses, making it a great tool for managing international customer bases.

• Rating: 4.6
• Total Reviews: 67

Key Features

• Customizable geolocation redirect rules based on country, region, or IP address.
• Block unwanted traffic from specific countries or IP addresses.
• Various redirection styles: lightbox popup, top banner, or instant redirect.
• Easy-to-use geo API for custom redirects and functionality.
• Visual layout editor for customizing geolocation banners to match your store’s color scheme.

Best For

• Shopify stores targeting international customers
• Merchants needing advanced geo-targeting for localized redirection
• Businesses that need to block visitors from specific locations or IP addresses

Geolocation Redirect

Geolocation Redirect by Secomapp automatically detects your customers’ location and redirects them to the appropriate store version. This plugin works well for merchants who operate multiple stores targeting different countries, ensuring the customer is directed to the right store with accurate currency and shipping details.

• Rating: 4.4
• Total Reviews: 73

Key Features

• Automatically redirects customers to the correct store based on location
• Redirects can be set for specific pages or the homepage
• Ability to display a notification bar for customers to choose their preferred store
• No limit on the number of countries that can be redirected
• Customizable redirect actions for localized shopping experiences

Best For

• Shopify stores with multiple localized versions for different regions
• Merchants wanting a simple, automated redirection based on geolocation
• Stores that offer different products, pricing, or currencies depending on the customer’s location

GeoIP Country Redirect

GeoIP Country Redirect helps Shopify store owners manage multiple Shopify stores by automatically redirecting customers to the most relevant store based on their geographical location. Whether you want to redirect visitors to the right currency, language, or local store, this app makes it easy to customize the redirection process to improve the user experience.

• Rating: 4.9
• Total Reviews: 348

Key Features

• Immediate or popup redirection based on the customer’s country.
• Customizable popup or redirect bar using CSS, with full control over design.
• Preview changes before going live.
• Compatible with Google Analytics for tracking redirections.
• Ability to block visitors from certain countries for SEO optimization.

Best For

• Stores with multiple regional or international sites.
• Merchants needing complete customization for redirection banners or popups.
• Stores looking to block specific locations and improve SEO.

Geolocation Express Redirect

Geolocation Express Redirect offers advanced functionality for Shopify store owners running operations in multiple countries. This app automatically detects the visitor’s location and redirects them to the appropriate local site, adjusting the currency and language as necessary. 

You can also block traffic from unwanted locations, streamlining your sales process and improving customer experience.

• Rating: 5.0
• Reviews: 1

Key Features

• Automatic redirection to the most relevant store based on customer location.
• Redirect customers to specific pages or domain names depending on their region.
• Automatically adjust currency and language based on location.
• Block traffic from specific countries or regions.
• Simple and easy-to-use interface for setting up redirection rules.

Best For

• Multi-country operations with local currency and language preferences.
• Merchants who want to block certain regions or countries from accessing their stores.
• Shopify stores aiming for a more seamless and localized shopping experience.

In Conclusion

There are several methods to get customer locations and redirect them effectively on Shopify: using built-in Shopify features, adding custom code or utilizing third-party apps. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can enhance customer experience, increase conversions, and streamline your store’s location-based functionality.

FAQs

How do I direct customers to the correct Country or region Shopify?

You can use Shopify’s Geolocation app to automatically detect a customer’s country or region based on their IP address. This helps show the right store or shipping options for that region. Alternatively, you can set up manual redirects using URL redirects in Shopify’s admin.

How to get customer location in Shopify?

You can get a customer’s location through Shopify’s Geolocation app or by using custom code to detect the user’s IP address. Shopify also tracks location data at checkout based on the shipping address provided by the customer.

How do I create a URL redirect in Shopify?

To create a URL redirect, go to Shopify Admin > Online Store > Navigation. Under URL Redirects, click “Create URL Redirect,” then enter the old URL and the new destination URL. Shopify will automatically redirect customers to the new page when they visit the old URL.

How do I get traffic to my Shopify store?

To drive traffic to your Shopify store, focus on SEO, content marketing, social media promotion, and paid advertising. Use Shopify’s built-in SEO features, create engaging blog posts, promote your store on Instagram and Facebook, and run targeted Google Ads or Facebook Ads campaigns.