- Short answer
- Open Markets and click Graph view: each market node shows its domain — your primary domain, a path on it, a subdomain or a separate domain
- Domains page
- Settings > Domains marks a market's own domain or subdomain as "Market domain for" plus the market's name.
- Subfolder format
- Secondary markets pair language and country (/fr-ca); Shopify's domains page limits /fr alone to what it calls the primary market.
- Deactivation
- A deactivated market's own domain or subdomain redirects to your store's primary domain; its subfolder URLs stop working.
- Primary domain
- One market always uses your primary domain, so changing the primary domain changes that market's URL.
What's New Since Publication: Updated since publication · 1 change
- Managing markets: redirects go to the primary domain; the subfolder primary-market sentence is goneShopify's Managing markets page now says a deactivated market's domain or subdomain redirects to your store's primary domain, not to the primary market's domain. It no longer says a market with subfolders can't be made into a primary market; it says Shopify Markets doesn't use a primary market and your backup region sets the default experience.
Where does Shopify show the domain of each market?
For all markets at once, go to Markets in your Shopify admin and click Graph view:
A market node's localization section displays the domain and active languages for that market.
To change one market's structure, click it on the Markets page, then the + icon next to Domain / language, where you choose its domain strategy. Shopify's help also documents a second entry point: Market settings → Languages and domains → Manage domains.
To cross-check, open Settings > Domains and click a domain: if a market uses it as its own domain or subdomain, its Type reads Market domain for followed by the market's name.
- Settings
- Domains
How do you tell the three URL structures apart?
None of the Markets and Domains help pages we read on October 25, 2026 shows a per-market structure label; you read it from the domain the market shows:
- Subfolder: a path on your primary domain, such as
yourstore.com/fr/. - Subdomain: such as
fr.yourstore.com. - Separate domain (Top-level domains in Shopify's table): a different top-level domain, such as
yourstore.fr, connected in Settings > Domains.
On secondary markets, a subfolder must combine the language code with a country code, such as /fr-ca or /en-eu; Shopify's international domains page says /fr alone can exist only on your primary market, a term its Managing markets page no longer uses.
A submarket inherits domain and language settings from its parent market by default; a customization on the submarket overrides them. Our Markets guide covers which structure to choose.
Why does the structure matter before you change a market?
Deactivating a market treats structures differently: URLs on its own top-level domain or subdomain automatically redirect to your store's primary domain, but subfolder URLs stop working, so set up redirects.
One of your markets always uses your primary domain and can't move to a subfolder or another domain, so changing the primary domain changes that market's URL. Shopify's Managing markets page adds that Shopify Markets doesn't use a primary market: your backup region sets the experience for customers who match no active market.
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