While American readers will be used to ordering whatever they want from Amazon and getting it delivered quickly, things are slightly different outside of the United States. Some countries have their own local Amazon site, and others don't even have that.

This can make it impossible to order items from Amazon. It's either literally not possible, or the shipping costs and hoops you need to jump through mean it's not worth your while. Which is why Amazon has launched the International Shopping Experience...

Amazon's International Shopping Experience

The International Shopping Experience is a feature exclusive to the Amazon Shopping App on Android and iOS. It essentially lets customers from countries outside of the U.S. shop on the U.S. version of Amazon without worrying about the costs involved.

There are millions of items on Amazon that can be shipped to countries such as Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Peru, Thailand, and Uruguay. The problem is working out the costs involved.

Amazon's International Shopping Experience lets you see what items are eligible to be shipped to your location, and displays clear pricing, shipping costs, and an estimate of import duties. And you can choose from five languages and 25 different currencies.

In a press release, Samir Kumar, VP of Amazon Exports and Expansion, said:

"We are always innovating on behalf of our customers, and with today’s launch, we are making the shopping experience on mobile devices even better and more convenient for our customers who live outside the US. Customers have been asking for a way to easily find and shop only for products available to be shipped to them. The International Shopping experience solves this customer need and makes it simple to browse, shop and ship more than 45 million products to over a hundred countries around the world."

Anyone downloading the Amazon Shopping App from one of the aforementioned countries will automatically see the International Shopping Experience. Everyone else will need to go to the settings, find Country & Language, and choose International Shopping.

Making Life Easier for Shoppers

This makes absolute sense for everyone involved. Amazon is likely to add new customers from different countries, and those customers get to shop on Amazon without having to worry about unexpected costs being added on afterwards.

If you've got all the way through this article before realizing it doesn't apply to you, don't worry, as MakeUseOf has you covered. Perhaps our ultimate guide to shopping on Amazon will be of use. Alternatively, there are better ways to shop on Amazon.