Country selector does not update country context when using Theme Preview link

Markets
1

Hi Shopify team,

We’ve detected what appears to be a bug in the Online Store theme preview environment related to country storefront switching.

This issue has been reproduced today across multiple merchants and seems to happen only when accessing the storefront via the theme “Preview” link from the Shopify admin. It does not happen on a normal LIVE preview of real customers.

Setup / conditions

  • Store using Shopify Markets with multiple countries

  • Theme accessed via Online Store > Themes > Preview (current or draft theme)

  • Shopify’s native country selector is used to switch country

  • No third-party apps involved

Observed behavior

  • When accessing the storefront through the theme preview URL, switching country using the native selector does not update the country context in the storefront.

  • The page may reload, but the selected country is not applied.

  • This can be verified in two ways:

    • Liquid variables such as {{ localization.country }} remain unchanged

    • The JavaScript object Shopify.country also remains unchanged

  • As a result, the storefront continues rendering the original country experience, regardless of the selection.

Important note

  • This issue only occurs in the theme preview environment.

  • The same configuration works as expected outside of preview mode.

  • This makes it very confusing for merchants and developers when testing Markets behavior before publishing a theme.

Reproduction

  1. Go to Online Store > Themes

  2. Click “Preview” on the current or a draft theme

  3. Use Shopify’s native country selector to change country

  4. Observe that the country does not change in Liquid or JS context

Video evidence: I’ve recorded a short Loom video demonstrating the issue clearly: https://www.loom.com/share/e7600295d83c4989b2910aa751c467d6

This behavior makes it difficult to reliably test country-specific experiences (pricing, content, availability, redirects, etc.) during theme development.

Would someone be able to take a look at this, please? This behavior is currently causing a lot of confusion and frustration for merchants when testing Markets and country-specific experiences in theme preview mode.

Thanks!

1 Like
The theme preview fails to display content for the corresponding country
2

Hi @senabre

Thanks for flagging - our team are already working on a fix which should be deployed very soon!

1 Like
3

Thanks @Liam-Shopify!

4

Hi again @senabre

We shipped an update for this yesterday - can you confirm that it’s working as expected now?

2 Likes
5

Hi @Liam-Shopify Just tested and it’s working perfectly now! Thanks