Dynamics 365 Commerce Store Commerce Now Displays Store Distances in Kilometers by Locale

Now marked as Launched for Worldwide (Standard Multi-Tenant) cloud instances, the update ensures that Store Commerce automatically formats distance measurements in either kilometers or miles based on the registered country address of the retailer's legal entity. Why should a global retail IT team or store manager care about a unit conversion toggle? Because on the retail floor, friction at the point of sale—even something as mundane as mental math between imperial and metric units—leads to confused customers and preventable mistakes during cross-store inventory transfers.

How Automatic Distance Unit Display Works in Store Commerce​

At the core of this Dynamics 365 Commerce update is a shift from static, imperial-only UI labels to dynamic, entity-driven formatting. According to Microsoft's 2026 Release Wave 1 documentation on Microsoft Learn and archived Microsoft 365 Message Center notice MC1301490, the feature specifically targets the Store Commerce store locator and inventory lookup workflows.

Here is what changes under the hood and at the register:

• Legal Entity Country Detection: Store Commerce determines which unit of measurement to display by checking the registered country address of the legal entity associated with the store. Legal entities registered in metric-based countries automatically display kilometers, while those in non-metric countries continue to display miles.
• Centralized Runtime Conversion: The unit conversion is handled centrally within the Dynamics 365 Commerce runtime (CRT). Rather than relying on client-side hacks or custom UI extensions at individual registers, the runtime delivers consistent values across the environment.
• Zero-Touch Enablement: The setting is enabled by default for end users automatically and requires no per-entity configuration or administrative intervention.

Section Summary: Store Commerce now reads the registered country of each legal entity and automatically converts store locator and inventory lookup distances to kilometers for metric regions via the centralized Dynamics 365 Commerce runtime, requiring no manual admin setup.

Rollout Timeline and Release Record Nuances​

While the feature is live today, enterprise administrators auditing their release notes may notice slight date variations across Microsoft's tracking channels:

In Microsoft 365 Message Center post MC1301490 (originally published May 5, 2026, and updated May 19, 2026), Microsoft initially targeted June 5, 2026, for general availability before revising the target to June 16, 2026. Meanwhile, the archived Microsoft Learn release-plan page lists May 22, 2026, for public preview and June 29, 2026, for general availability. Regardless of whether a specific tenant saw the flip on June 16 or June 29, the June 2026 general availability window is complete and the feature is fully launched.

Section Summary: Following a May 2026 preview and a June 2026 general availability rollout window, the automatic distance unit display is fully launched in production.

Where This Matters on the Retail Floor: POS Inventory Lookup and Store Locator​

To appreciate the practical impact of this update, it helps to look at how store associates actually interact with distance values in Dynamics 365 Commerce. Based on Microsoft Learn's documentation for the POS inventory lookup operation, cashiers and sales associates use inventory lookup to check real-time or near-real-time "available physical," "reserved," and "ordered" quantities across neighboring stores and warehouses within a fulfillment group.

Since Commerce version 10.0.17, the default sorting method in the POS inventory lookup list view has been Geo location, which orders locations from closest to farthest relative to the current store. When an item is out of stock locally, an associate uses this screen to perform actions such as:

1. Show store location: Opening a map view, address, and store hours for a nearby branch.
2. Pick up in store: Creating a customer order for pickup at that neighboring location.
3. Ship product: Arranging for the item to be shipped from the selected store or warehouse.

What Changes—and What Does Not​

It is important for Dynamics 365 administrators to separate display formatting from underlying geographic configuration:

• Display Formatting Only: Roadmap ID 576774 changes the unit shown to the user (kilometers vs. miles) based on the legal entity's registered country.
• Coordinate Math Remains in Headquarters: As documented in Microsoft Learn's POS inventory lookup and store selector guides, the actual distance between locations is still calculated using the Latitude and Longitude coordinates configured in Commerce headquarters. For retail stores, these coordinates live on the primary address of the associated operating unit (Organization administration > Organizations > Operating unit), while nonstore warehouses pull from the warehouse address, synchronized via the 1070 Channel configuration distribution schedule job.
• E-Commerce Store Selector Module Nuances: Retailers should also note that Microsoft's separate documentation for the web storefront Store selector module (used on e-commerce product details and cart pages) still describes its module property Search radius as a number defined in miles (with a 50-mile default). Microsoft's announcement for roadmap ID 576774 specifically scopes the automatic kilometer conversion to the Store Commerce store locator and inventory lookup.

Section Summary: The update streamlines cross-store lookup and pickup workflows for associates by showing local units, while the underlying latitude and longitude coordinate setup in Commerce headquarters remains unchanged.

Architectural Context: Store Commerce on Windows and the Web​

Why is Microsoft handling this conversion inside the Dynamics 365 Commerce runtime rather than pushing a client-side patch? Looking at the architecture of Store Commerce explains why centralized runtime management is the cleanest approach.

As detailed in Microsoft Learn's Store Commerce architecture documentation, the Store Commerce app is Microsoft's modern unification of the deprecated Modern Point of Sale (MPOS) and Cloud Point of Sale (CPOS, now known as Store Commerce for web). On Windows 10 and Windows 11 registers, the Store Commerce app runs as a Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) shell that uses the Microsoft Edge WebView2 (Chromium) control to render the interface, supporting both local in-app deployment (with offline SQL Server support) and hybrid deployment connected to a cloud Commerce Scale Unit (CSU). Store Commerce is also offered on Android, iOS, and directly in web browsers.

By executing the mile-to-kilometer conversion centrally in the Dynamics 365 Commerce runtime (CRT) based on legal entity metadata, Microsoft avoids inconsistency across deployment topologies. However, admins should keep a few practical boundaries in mind based on what Microsoft has—and has not—published:

• No Manual Override Documented: Microsoft states that the setting is on by default and requires no per-entity configuration. The official documentation does not specify a manual toggle or tenant-level override for edge cases (for instance, if a retailer operates a store in a country where road signs use miles, such as the United Kingdom, or wants to force one unit across all subsidiaries).
• No Published Country Matrix: Microsoft has not published the exact internal lookup table of country codes that trigger kilometer versus mile displays,nor has it listed a specific minimum Store Commerce client build requirement beyond the standard runtime rollout.
• Verify Legal Entity Addresses: Because the unit selection relies entirely on the registered country address of the legal entity, IT administrators who notice a store displaying miles in a metric country should verify that the legal entity's primary registered address in Dynamics 365 headquarters has the correct country/region code assigned.

For forum members managing Windows-based POS terminals, WebView2 runtime policies, or Dynamics 365 Commerce channel databases, you can explore our ongoing discussions in the Windows Enterprise & IT Administration and Microsoft Cloud sections on WindowsForum.com.

Section Summary: Because Store Commerce spans Windows WebView2 shells, mobile apps, and web browsers, performing the unit conversion centrally in the Commerce runtime ensures consistent display behavior without requiring register-by-register reconfiguration, provided the legal entity's registered country address is accurate in headquarters.