Change your store time zone in Shopify
The store time zone decides when a day starts in your reports and when a timed discount starts. This tutorial moves the example store from Toronto time to Vancouver time, three hours behind, and checks what the move does to the order times.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 6 minutes read
The worked example
| Old time zone | (GMT-05:00) Eastern Time, Toronto |
| New time zone | (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time, Vancouver |
| Difference | 3 hours |
| Discount start | 12:00 am in the store time zone |
Download the record: time-zone-check.csv (179 bytes).
A time zone check for the worked example move. Each Toronto time is 3 hours ahead of the matching Vancouver time, and the two midnight rows change date across the zones.
1Open General settings
From your Shopify admin, go to Settings then General. The store defaults for the whole store sit on this page.
2Find Store defaults
Scroll to the Store defaults section. The Time zone list sits there, beside the default currency and the weight unit.
3Select the new time zone
From the Time zone list, select (GMT-08:00) Pacific Time. The list is long, so search for Pacific rather than scrolling through every zone.
4Save
Click Save. The new zone applies to the store from the moment you save, so make the change before the next timed discount starts, not during it.
5Check the discount times
Check every timed discount after the change. Start and end times follow the time zone set in your admin: a start date of 11 November means the code starts at 12:00 am on 11 November in your store time zone. A discount that started at midnight Toronto time starts at 9:00 pm the night before in Vancouver time.
6Check the orders near midnight
Check the orders placed near midnight. An order placed at 00:15 in Toronto reads as 21:15 the previous day in Vancouver, so the same order lands on a different date in the two zones.
7Tell the team
Tell everyone who reads the reports. The reports group by the store time zone, so a week that straddles the change will not line up with the week before it.
The arithmetic
| Moment | Toronto (GMT-05:00) | Vancouver (GMT-08:00) |
|---|---|---|
| Order placed | 2:00 pm | 11:00 am |
| Order placed | 11:30 pm | 8:30 pm |
| Order placed | 12:15 am, next day | 9:15 pm, previous day |
| Discount starts | 12:00 am | 9:00 pm, previous day |
Every Vancouver time is 3 hours behind the Toronto time. The two midnight rows change date: 12:15 am on 12 November in Toronto is 9:15 pm on 11 November in Vancouver.
Held at the counter
A start date means 12:00 am in the store time zone. A discount set to start on 11 November starts at 12:00 am on 11 November in your store time zone. Change the zone and the same discount starts three hours earlier or later in real time.
Midnight orders change date when the zone changes. An order at 12:15 am Toronto time is 9:15 pm the previous day in Vancouver. If you compare weeks across a zone change, the midnight orders will sit on different days.
The time zone is one list in Store defaults. Changing the time zone does not change the currency or the store address. Each of the three lives in the same section, but each is its own setting with its own save.
Sources
- Adding business settings for your store — Shopify's help pages: the Store defaults section and the time zone steps.
- Amount off discounts — Shopify's help pages: the rule that start and end times follow the admin time zone.