How Passenger Scaled Cross-Border Sales from 1% to 40% with Shopify

Introduction to Passenger’s Global Journey

Passenger began as a small UK outdoor apparel label in 2012, crafting durable, comfortable gear from 74% responsible fabrics. Their mission—to plant a tree with every order—resonated with eco-conscious shoppers. Early domestic success led to a bold goal: tap into international markets without juggling multiple stores or skyrocketing costs.

The Core Challenges

Expanding overseas often means creating separate storefronts for each region, plus complex backend processes for inventory syncing and payment accounts. Passenger wanted to avoid that fragmentation. At the same time, paying vendors in local currencies was adding foreign exchange fees at every transaction, eating into margins. Holding a load of dollars or euros was a natural hedge, but converting GBP to those currencies twice over was inefficient.

Implementing Shopify Markets

When Shopify launched Markets in the UK, Passenger saw an opportunity. Instead of building ten separate stores, they activated ten different regions from a single Shopify instance, rolling many out in under a day. This unified setup handled inventory, reporting, marketing assets, and checkout flows seamlessly, so the brand could focus on testing content, translations, and ad spend per region.

Multi-Currency Payouts Streamline Finance

As international sales climbed to 40% of total revenue, the team adopted Shopify Payments’ Multi-Currency Payouts. By settling funds in local currencies, they eliminated weekly FX overhead and avoided extra conversion fees when paying suppliers. Routing settlements through local entities also boosted bank authorization rates, meaning orders processed faster and revenue stayed strong.

Results and Scale

In just two years, Passenger’s share of cross-border revenue rose from less than 1% to 40%. Overall GMV soared from roughly $500K to over $100M in four years. Simplified operations let the team reallocate resources toward marketing, localization, and product innovation—factors that keep international growth on an upward curve.

Key Takeaways

• Using a unified Shopify Markets setup avoids multiple stores and complex backend logic.
• Multi-Currency Payouts lets you hold and manage foreign funds, cutting FX fees on supplier payments.
• Rapid rollouts in 10 markets provided real data on regional performance within weeks.
• Localizing checkout copy and shipping options for specific regions boosts trust and conversions.
• Consolidated reporting and inventory syncing frees up teams to focus on growth rather than operations.
• Strategic use of Shopify’s international tools drove Passenger’s global revenue share from 1% to 40%.