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The launch of several eCommerce stores helps businessmen increase their customer base and improve the quality of customer service.
Regardless of the type of business you have, you should be aware of the importance of audience segmentation. That is the audience distribution according to one common criterion.
1. Growth at the international level
If you decide to increase the number of online stores and ship the goods to other countries, you need to localize your business. Let’s imagine that you have one online store in Spain and you have decided to export items to American and Italian consumers. To sell successfully, you should configure the online store interface for your consumers in these countries i.e., change the language, currency, products, and maybe even the design.
2. Keep in mind the difference in customer groups
Let’s suppose that you sell goods to a B2C audience, but the products are also suitable for B2B customers, then it makes sense to run different stores for each market. So it will be easier for customers to navigate your stores. It will undoubtedly facilitate pre-order and order management as well as inventory control.
3. Outlet
You should also create a storefront for branded stores, where goods are sold at discounted prices.
The proper division of the marketplaces into different audiences will attract more customers since each store will be focusing on a specific country and consumer interests.
Shopify does not have a built-in functionality for creating several storefronts on one account. You can create several stores, but each of them must have a username and password.
But the same email address can be used for multiple storefronts. For example, if you want to add two more stores to an existing one, you will have to create new login credentials and add an email address.
Under which pricing plans can you have multiple stores?
You can create several online stores in the tariff plans:
Shopify Plus provides the following benefits: you can create up to 9 stores and get advice from a manager. To facilitate the process of switching between the storefronts, a drop-down list is provided for this plan. It includes all stores that are linked to a single mailing address. When there is an e-mail verification, the switching needs no data entering. Thus, you enter the login and password for only one of the stores and then switch among the others.
Shopify Advanced allows to create up to 6 online stores. This package provides unlimited storage options. You can download a wide range of products, messages, videos, and images.
When installing additional stores in the Shopify Advanced package, you must perform most of the processes manually. It takes a lot of time, so you should better contact the experts to save your time and improve the quality of service.
To set the Multiple Stores is easy, but in fact to manage them is difficult. Here are the main problems you are going to face.
1. Products uploading
The first problem with the multiple stores is the uploading of products. If there are a lot of goods and their quantity is getting higher, then the product catalog will have to be updated manually for each store separately.
2. Order and Inventory Management
One more task of managing several stores is to fulfill orders received from different stores and update inventory in real time. After all, when selling goods in the store “A”, its remains will not change in store “B”. Real-time inventory updates ensure that you never sell the same item twice.
The processes of execution, return, customer service and delivery should be consistent. The best way is to transfer order data to a centralized system that can manage orders across the sales channel. You can use the multichannel management platform as a reliable solution for centralized inventory management. It ensures that you track the amount of the remaining product, no matter what online store sold it.
3. Targeting
If your Shopify stores represent different brands or are targeted at different customers, then the product information, as well as its copy and design should reflect these differences. Therefore, the best option would be to optimize each store. It is necessary to select keywords for each target market. You can use the services of UX analytics as well as A/B testing to check which variants of the store design and structure attract more customers.
4. Currency conversion
Despite the fact that Shopify has the ability to convert currencies in real time when paying for an order, the total purchase price will be shown in the currency that is set in the default store. You need a storefront that is configured for the currency that is used in the country of your customer.
Our company used to work with a business that sells goods in more than 9 countries. For each market, we developed a certain storefront, which was translated into the desired language and adapted to a specific target audience. It was possible to display special offers that are relevant to a particular country. For example, discounts for certain holidays that people do not celebrate in every country. For each store, we changed the design, which was adapted for specific customers and set the currency of this country.
To efficiently manage multiple storefronts, there are applications that help automate and simplify as many processes as possible, so you can focus on marketing and customer service.
1. Rewind
Shopify creates a backup of all its data, but you do not have access to these files. If you have deleted something in your store, then you can not return it. You will have to re-add the necessary information.
You can manually back up your store data by exporting CSV files. But this is quite a complex and durative process that requires detailed study and additional software on your computer.
Also, some applications can delete your store data. There were cases when the customers integrated the applications and removed prices and other items in the store.
In this case, the application Rewind can help you. It makes daily backup copies of your store. You can always return to the last saved copy, if you happen to get lost in your accounts or make changes to the wrong store.
2. Stitch Labs
Stitch Labs is a stock and order management platform designed for modern, fast-growing brands and retailers. It helps effectively sell via multiple channels, quickly respond to operational requirements, and monitor inventory from a single admin panel.
Stitch technology helps optimize inventory and operations in multiple Shopify storefronts.
In the admin panel of this application, you can view the overall picture of the stocks:
The application also allows you to make a sales forecast, basing on statistics, which will help you predict how much of a certain product you need. Also, this app will help you organize the return of goods, customer service logs, order fulfillment and direct delivery through the centralization of order management.
Setting up the Shopify Multiple Stores function is not an easy task. It has its own advantages and disadvantages.
No doubt, there are lots of advantages. The launch of several stores scales your business by increasing your customer base, automating processes, improving service and entering new markets. All these factors contribute to the profits increase.
The key drawback of Shopify Multiple Stores is the technical configuration of the function. You can master it on your own, but it will take you a lot of time and effort. First of all, you will waste your time studying the processes of installation and operation of each tool.
The tools will work efficiently if they are properly installed. Hand this over to MakeBeCool eCommerce experts. We will install the function of managing several stores in your online store. We work professionally, promptly, effectively and are always ready to assist you. We know how valuable your time is, so we will do it in short terms!
In 2010, Andrey founded MakeBeCool initially as a website development agency, but a discovery of the e-commerce world led to a complete retraining. With a newfound passion, he started collecting brand stories and case studies to empower e-commerce success. Beyond work, Andrey is a Lego Technic collector, a passionate snowboarder, runner, and fitness enthusiast. His active lifestyle extends to family time, where he shares his hobbies with his daughters.
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