Your international checkout is changing on August 24. Here is what to do now

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Happy Monday, 10,000+ Shopify rockstars!

Ada here, with your weekly dose of ecommerce insights designed to boost your store's sales by at least 1% this week.

Here is what is inside today's edition:

• Managed Markets is dropping DDU support on August 24. Here is who needs to act.

• Growth Hack: The $1 packaging upgrade that drove 15% higher LTV.

• Weekly Challenge: Audit your packaging in 60 minutes.

• Trend: Exosomes for Hair Growth and the Hair Regrowth wave.

Let's get into it.

Managed Markets Is Changing on August 24. Check If This Affects You.

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If you use Shopify Managed Markets (aka Shopify’s automated cross-border selling feature) for international selling, this one has a deadline attached.

On August 24, Shopify Managed Markets is ending support for Delivered Duty Unpaid across every market where it supports Delivered Duty Paid. Any market currently using DDU will automatically move to DDP, meaning your international customers will pay duties and taxes at checkout rather than when the package arrives at their door.

For most merchants this is actually a better experience for customers. Surprise fees on delivery can lead to negative reviews, refused packages, and unhappy customers. Collecting at checkout removes that friction entirely.

But if you specifically want your customers to keep paying duties on delivery, you need to turn off Shopify Managed Markets before August 24. After that date, the change happens automatically.

If you are not sure which setting your store uses, go to your Shopify admin, open Markets, and check your duty collection method now.

Growth Hack: Turn Your Discount Popup Into a Mini Quiz

Most ecommerce popups say “Get 10% off.” That’s now getting boring.

Pocket takes a smarter approach: it combines the offer with a question “Where do your best ideas go missing?” then gives visitors answers they can instantly identify with. That does two things: creates curiosity and gets the shopper thinking about the problem the product solves.

The clever bit is that the question sells the problem before selling the product. By the time someone thinks “Yep, that happens to me,” the product becomes the solution.

Challenge: Steal Pocket’s formula
1. Lead with the offer: Make the discount/value impossible to miss.
2. Then, ask one relatable question: Focus on a pain point, not “What’s your email?”
3. Give 3–4 easy answers: Make them tap rather than type.
4. Connect the answers to your product: Each response should reinforce why they need it.
5. Add urgency: “Today only” or a genuine deadline gives shoppers a reason to act now.

It might only be a tiny change, but you’ve turned a discount box into a conversation with your customer…while learning what problem brought them to your store in the first place.

Trend: Exosomes for Hair Growth

Exosomes are tiny bubbles released by cells that act as messengers, and they are starting to attract attention in the hair regrowth space. Searches are up 1,200% over the last five years, reflecting growing interest from consumers already spending heavily on hair loss treatments and scalp care.

That is what makes this trend worth watching. Hair loss is a problem people actively search for solutions to, often after trying multiple products and treatments. Exosomes may still be an emerging category, but the buyer interest around hair regrowth is already well established.

3 ways to serve this trend:

Follow the buyer, not just the product. Exosomes are attracting attention from consumers already spending on hair loss treatments and scalp care. That gives merchants an opportunity to serve the same audience through adjacent products such as scalp massagers, derma rollers, and established topical treatments, without building an entire business around a category that is still emerging.

Lead with education on the broader category. The consumer researching exosomes is deeply invested in finding a solution for hair loss. Content that covers the wider landscape of hair regrowth options, what research currently shows, and what treatments exist at different price points can position your store as a useful resource for a buyer who is already actively looking for answers.

Bundle around the routine. Red light therapy devices, scalp massagers, topical treatments, and other hair care products can sit naturally together for a customer building a hair regrowth routine. A curated collection or bundle gives that buyer an easier way to shop for complementary products while increasing the value of each order.

Till next Monday,
Ada