How to scale a DTC brand from France to the US

For a French direct-to-consumer brand, the United States is the obvious next market: one language, one huge audience, and customers who often like French products. It is also a market where brands lose money quickly when they treat it as "France, but bigger". Duties, sales tax, delivery expectations, returns and advertising all work differently.

This guide walks through the decisions to make, in roughly the order to make them. It is general guidance, not legal or tax advice. Customs and tax rules have changed several times recently, so confirm the current rules for your products with a customs broker and a US tax adviser before you commit budget.

1. Validate demand before you build anything

Many French brands already receive some US orders without trying. Start there:

• Look at your Shopify analytics for US sessions, add-to-carts and orders, and at the products US visitors look at.
• Check how many US customers are already on your email list.
• Run a small, time-boxed ad test in the US with your best-selling product and a native English landing page. The goal is to learn your cost per order and conversion rate in the US, not to make a profit yet.

If the test cannot get anywhere near your break-even numbers, fix the offer or the product-market fit before you spend on logistics.

2. Understand what changed at US customs

For years, many cross-border brands shipped orders directly from Europe under the US "de minimis" rule, which let individual shipments valued up to $800 enter free of duty. That is no longer the case. Following an executive order, U.S. Customs and Border Protection suspended duty-free de minimis treatment for goods from all countries, effective August 29, 2025 (see the CBP fact sheet and the executive order).

In practice, this means:

• Every order shipped from France to a US customer is now subject to applicable duties, taxes and fees, whatever its value.
• Someone has to pay them. Either you collect duties at checkout and ship "delivered duty paid" (DDP), or the customer pays on delivery (DDU/DAP). Surprise charges at the door lead to refused parcels and angry reviews, so most brands that ship cross-border choose DDP.
• Your product classification matters. The duty rate depends on the product's tariff code and origin. You can look up codes in the official Harmonized Tariff Schedule, but have a broker confirm them.

Rates on EU goods have moved more than once since 2025. Build your pricing model so that you can update the duty assumption in one place.

3. Choose a fulfillment model

There are three common options, each with trade-offs:

Ship from France

Lowest setup cost, and you keep one stock. But delivery takes longer, each parcel crosses customs on its own, and returns are expensive. It works for testing demand or for high-value, low-volume products.

Ship in bulk to a US third-party logistics provider (3PL)

You import stock in larger shipments, clear customs once per shipment, and ship domestically to customers. Delivery is faster and returns stay inside the US. You need an importer of record, more working capital tied up in stock, and good demand forecasts.

Hybrid

Many brands start by shipping from France, then move their best sellers to a US 3PL once demand is proven, keeping the long tail in France.

Whichever you choose, show a realistic delivery date on the product page. Delivery speed is one of the reasons shoppers abandon carts, which we cover in our Shopify product page CRO checklist.

4. Plan for US sales tax

The US has no single national VAT. Sales tax is set by states and local jurisdictions. Since the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, states can require remote sellers to collect sales tax once their sales into that state cross an "economic nexus" threshold, even without a physical presence there. Thresholds and rules differ by state.

What to do:

• Track your sales by state from the first US order. Shopify's US tax documentation explains how it monitors your liability.
• Register and collect in a state before you pass its threshold, not after.
• If you store stock in a US warehouse, that can create a physical presence in that state, with its own obligations.
• Remember that US prices are usually shown before tax, unlike French prices that include TVA. Your US price list needs its own logic, not a currency conversion.

On the European side, if you also sell to other EU countries from France, the EU VAT One Stop Shop lets you declare that VAT in one place once you pass the EU-wide €10,000 threshold for distance sales.

5. Check product compliance

Some categories have their own US rules. Cosmetics are regulated by the FDA, which publishes its requirements on its cosmetics pages. Children's products, food, supplements and electronics each have their own regimes. Labels may need changes too, such as US units or English ingredient lists. Check this before you print packaging for the US.

6. Rebuild your store for US shoppers

You don't necessarily need a second store. Shopify's international selling tools let you set local currencies, prices, domains or subfolders and languages per market from one admin. What matters is that a US visitor sees:

• Prices in dollars, rounded to US-style price points rather than converted to odd amounts
• Product copy written in American English by a native writer, with US sizes and units
• Payment methods US shoppers expect, including the main wallets
• Clear shipping times, duties included (if you ship DDP), and a simple US returns process
• Reviews from US customers as soon as you have them

"Made in France" can be a strong selling point. Show it, but explain why it matters for this product (materials, craft, design) instead of relying on the flag alone.

7. Adapt your advertising

US advertising is not simply French advertising with a bigger budget:

• Separate campaigns. Run US campaigns in their own campaigns so budgets, currencies and results don't mix. Our Meta ads playbook for Shopify brands explains the structure we use.
• Native creative. Tone, humor and claims that work in France can fall flat in the US. Brief US creators and write US scripts rather than subtitling French videos.
• Endorsement rules. In the US, the FTC expects paid relationships with creators to be disclosed clearly. Its Endorsement Guides FAQ is the reference.
• Retail calendar. US peak season revolves around Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the holidays. Plan stock and creative months ahead.
• More channels. TikTok Shop is open to sellers in both markets; see our TikTok Shop ads strategy.

8. Set up retention from day one

Acquiring a US customer costs more once duties and international shipping are included, so getting a second order matters even more. Create US-specific email and SMS flows in American English, sent in US time zones. Note that SMS marketing in the US has strict consent rules; we cover them in our guide to email and SMS flows for ecommerce.

9. Build a US profit model

Before scaling, put these lines in one spreadsheet per product:

• US selling price, before sales tax
• Product cost and international freight per unit
• Duties and customs fees per unit or per parcel
• 3PL storage, pick-and-pack and domestic shipping
• Payment fees and an allowance for returns
• Target advertising cost per order

If the result is negative before advertising, no amount of media buying will fix it. If it is positive, you know exactly how much you can afford to pay for a customer.

Checklist: France to US

• Demand tested with a small, native US campaign
• Tariff codes confirmed and DDP or DDU decided
• Fulfillment model chosen: from France, US 3PL, or hybrid
• Sales tax tracked by state from the first order
• Product and labelling rules checked for your category
• US prices, copy, payments and returns localized
• Separate US campaigns with native creative and FTC-compliant disclosures
• US email and SMS flows live before scaling

Expanding into a new country is easier with people who know both. Ardent works with brands selling in the US and France; read about the trade-offs of hiring an agency or building in-house, or request a free audit below.