How Zima Tested Tariffs in Shopify and Improved Profit Margins

Transparent tariffs + smart upsells = higher margins and happier customers!

Try the Tariff Widget on Shopify

About Zima: Revolutionizing Dental Care Globally

Zima Dental has transformed oral hygiene with the launch of the world’s first ultrasonic dental pod. Serving thousands of customers across countries through their Shopify Plus stores, Zima’s innovative solutions have become a global hit in the health industry.

Their signature products, like Dental Pod and Dental Pod Pro, are equipped with a cutting-edge 42,000 - 47,000Hz ultrasonic technology to eliminate bacteria from aligners, retainers, guards, and dentures with unmatched precision.

As a UK-based company shipping globally, Zima’s cross-border sales make up the majority of its total revenue. Therefore, managing tariffs without compromising their profit margins has become a complex challenge, making tariff transparency essential for sustainable growth in business.

The Challenge: When Hidden Costs Kill Conversions

Before implementing a smart tariff strategy, Zima faced two major pain points that were affecting both revenue and customer confidence:

1. Region-Based Tariff Complexity

Managing different duties meant manual calculations, frequent human errors, and inconsistent price changes. Especially, their Australian markets faced different rates than Asian buyers, increasing further confusion and a vast difference in tariffs. As a result, the team struggled to keep the pricing accurate without overwhelming checkout pages with disclaimers.

2. Checkout Confusion

The majority of customers often abandoned their carts when duties were added at checkout. A $199.99 AUD Dental Pod Pro could suddenly jump to $201.98+ AUD, causing most cart abandonment. Many customers didn’t want to pay any unexpected charges if they came up at the final checkout process. If they don’t want to pay the unexpected prices displayed as tariffs at the checkout, they abandon their carts.

3. Tariff Rate Uncertainty

While there was an ongoing challenge regarding the tariff charges, Zima had yet to decide whether to roll out tariff charges for all their customers across countries. So, they wanted a feature that allows them to see how their customers would react to the tariff charges while performing their A/B tests.

The Solution: Smart Tariff Widget Transforming Checkout

The breakthrough came when Zima Australia's e-commerce team discovered Upsell Master's checkout blocks functionality, specifically designed for complex international selling scenarios.

The Tariff Widget

Embedded directly into Shopify’s checkout flow, the Upsell Master’s tariff widget displayed clear import duties and items labeled with region-set calculations. Instead of hiding fees in shipping costs and surprising customers post-purchases, they fully disclosed all the costs upfront at checkout to transform a friction point into a trust signal.

While Zima was conducting the A/B tests, they used the Upsell Master’s tariff widget feature to bring transparent duties at the checkout. This way, they were able to see how many customers would react to their tariff charges and make sure all the orders were successfully fulfilled.

This is how the tariff widget helped Zima create a straightforward solution for their tariff issues.

Results: From Confusion to Conversion

After implementing the transparent tariff-setting strategy, the impact was fast and measurable:

Improved Profit Margins

Transparent tariffs display reduced returns and chargebacks while stabilizing margins. Setting different tariff presentations showed itemized breakdowns, which helped boost conversations compared to bundled shipping. As a result, Zima Dental reported a recovery of profit margins from this strategy.

Support Tickets Dropped

Tariff-related inquiries are reported to be reduced as soon as the smart widgets are implemented. The remaining questions shifted from frustrating complaints about hidden fees to product recommendations and usage tips. This reduction saved costs in support and improved team morale so that they could focus on selling.

The Regional Advantage: Building Trust Across Diverse Markets

Zima Australia's success demonstrates that complex regional selling becomes a competitive advantage with proper tariff transparency. By embracing market-specific clarity instead of generic international pricing, they:

• Built market-specific trust that drives international purchases
• Eliminated cross-border friction that was draining Melbourne operations
• Created scalable systems for expanding into new APAC markets
• Developed regional insights through systematic market-by-market testing

Ready to boost your profit margins? Stop losing your customers to tariff confusion and install the Upsell Master App from the Shopify Store today!