👗 Fashion Nova’s headline gets right to to the point

👗 Macy’s headline is fuzzier — is this just “news” or am I shopping the Canadian site?

🪒 Manscaped streamlines its modal to a simple headline, big bold call to action and clear “stay” link

👓 Pair Eyewear’s widget forces you to read the fine print (get your glasses!) to understand how to proceed past the widget

🇨🇦 Contrast this with Grainger’s gate that makes it super-obvi what it’s about - no reading required

Grainger’s B2B site is smart to put both equal weight, it’s very possible US or Canadian IP address is ordering for shipping elsewhere in the organization

🐶 Chewy’s flag is more subtle but does the job

🎣 Cabela’s widget is busy, busy, busy with copy and images, but it’s clear how to proceed thanks to the flags

👢If you enable shoppers to change their settings, put the dropdown right in the widget vs. using a text link

👕 Ted Baker bakes both country and language selection into its gate (but it is a bit of a maze to orient yourself through the low-contrast design)

😎 Goodr is one of the rare sites that gives its country gate some design love (and a little humor in the copy)

It also takes prominence over the cookie banner which you would serve again on the localized site anyway, so it’s great to have the user set their localized preference before cookies

👖 Urban Outfitters’ top shelf can be dismissed by clicking “Start Shopping” (although this is not necessary to use the site) or escape to the US site

😬 M&S’ banner is a bit too subtle. It’s placed where promotions typically appear (banner blindness). Canadian visitors may fill their carts only to be disappointed to learn they’ve browsed the wrong shop

🦅 American Eagle shows a nudge as an alternative to popups and sliding elements

🌸 Belle & Bloom’s CAD detail suggests you’re shopping the Canada site in addition to its top-line message banner

👖 Mavi includes a little flag icon in the top-line message bar. Smart!

👖 Betabrand ships internationally but doesn’t serve localized sites. No worries, the US detail in the promo strip clarifies its shipping hints you’re on the US site

⛰️ Finisterre’s promo strip includes CA$ to hint you’re on a localized site

🔨 Build shows a default “Shipping to” location, suggesting you’re on a US-specific site

📱 Even your SMS modal can serve as a subtle hint ;)

🫎 Abercrombie’s header flag draws attention, and it’s widget lets you update shipping location, currency and language

👗 ASOS’ widget includes payment methods by location in addition to currency in its Preferences widget

🥾 LL Bean’s country indicator disappears on mobile

🩱SKIMS’ country icon remains visible in the hamburger menu list

🧘🏾‍♀️ Alo annotates pricing and shipping threshold value with CA$ for clarity

💄 Rare Beauty annotates its cart button price with CAD

👓 Pair Eyewear ensures Canadians see the relevant version of its free shipping messaging

💄 Kylie Cosmetics serves relevant shipping details in the promo strip based on geoIP

👑 Princess Polly includes “CA shipping” in its counter bar for clarity

😬 Contrast this with the friction when currency is not converted (forcing you to “math in your head”)

🪒 Manscaped adds an additional POAA (point of action assurance) that you get free shipping from Canada (suggesting faster delivery as well, vs cross-border shipping)

🧘🏽‍♀️ It’s best practice to pre-select the shipping country based on geoIP or user settings as it impacts form field formatting, form organization, etc. (Not to mention how unwieldy country dropdown menus are)

🧶 Etsy’s checkout reflows based on country selection

🍕 Ooni alerts international shoppers that they may incur additional taxes and duties. One one hand, this introduces FUD and can reduce conversions, but it’s also a way to “cover your $$$” for customer service complaints after the fact

😑 A more subtle styling (fine print) reduces visibility and FUD, but is less obvious than a large CTA. Not saying one’s right or wrong, it’s a business decision…

LL Bean’s email offer provides a French fallback for Canadian users - this is fine (actually, good) because this isn’t intended as a country gate, but it’s a reminder not to mix messages in your modals

Build-a-Bear’s gate has a few issues: 👉 ”We already ship to Canada” is vague and awkward wording (sounds hostile?) 👉 Bullet points are missing bullets - hard to scan 👉 Secondary CTA (Change country) is styled wider than the primary Shop button

👢Steve Madden’s primary CTA is styled as a text link within the paragraph, with a pair of confusing buttons (does Yes go to the Canada site?) You can’t figure it out without reading word-for-word (and even then, it’s confusing)

😬 West Elm’s “Shop Canada” is virtually invisible - what do you click?

😬 One of the largest retailers in the world has one of the least usable country gates. You can only close the modal by clicking the X (among other usability issues…)