Owning Multiple Shopify Stores – Everything You Need to Know
As the ecommerce space continues to evolve and grow, market competition remains fierce. As an ecommerce business owner, it’s the perfect time to diversify and expand your business on platforms like Shopify. But, how?
By owning and operating multiple Shopify stores, which can allow you to diversify and expand your potential reach and revenue systems. This method of business expansion on Shopify is a popular tactic, and can yield amazing results if managed properly. A key consideration here is your order or subscription management system. Working with a platform like Upscribe is an effective yet seamless way to centralize your order fulfillment process on Shopify, especially if you’re running multiple storefronts.
Let’s dive into how your ecommerce business can expand into multiple Shopify stores, why it should be your next business move, and how platforms like Upscribe can help you nail the transition.
What is Shopify Multiple Stores?
This is when you own multiple storefronts on the Shopify platform. It’ss a great way to expand your business, provide a better customer experience, and increase your sales.
Shopify, however, doesn’t allow for multiple storefronts to be run under the one account. This means, for every storefront you choose to open, you will need to create a different Shopify merchant account. How you choose to affiliate these separate storefronts is completely up to you and your business goals.
Why Shopify Multi-Stores are Important
You can establish localized marketing and selling
How your products sell in one country can be completely different to how they sell in another. Why? It all comes down to local cultural and social trends. That’s why implementing localized marketing techniques can really help build your brand in countries other than your native one.
By managing multiple Shopify stores, you can tailor each one to cater to a different country’s or territory’s market. By doing so, your stores will better accommodate the unique differences and needs of your different target customer groups, boosting international sales.
Managing Your Brand’s Value
If your Shopify business has a wide product-value range, it can be beneficial to create different storefronts for different value brackets.
For example, if your brand stocks both luxury or ‘upmarket’ products, as well as everyday goods, you can build a dedicated luxury storefront for your higher-value products. This allows you to effectively build your ecommerce branding across multiple product lines. You can build the value of your more luxury items, while simultaneously attracting the business of a more ‘everyday’ demographic.
Targeting Different Audience Segments
If your brand sells a wide variety of products, you can create different storefronts for different product types. This way, you can market, design, and display each storefront to better attract that product segment’s target audience.
Some Shopify multi-store owners choose to host these storefronts on subdomains kept under the primary domain umbrella that hosts your brand’s flagship storefront.
Showcase Diverse Product Lines or Niches
With Shopify multi-stores, you have the power to diversify your product lines or target different niches seamlessly. Whether you offer an extensive range of products or operate in multiple industries, each store can now cater specifically to a particular audience, providing them with a more personalized and focused shopping experience that resonates with your brand.
Clear Brand Segmentation
For businesses with distinct sub-brands or product categories, having separate Shopify stores for each allows for clear brand segmentation. This ensures that your brand identity remains consistent and targeted for each storefront. Customers can effortlessly navigate to the brand or category they are interested in, experiencing a personalized journey tailored to your brand’s unique identity.
Independent Online Presences for Your Business Entities
In cases where your business operates as separate entities or has different legal structures, Shopify multi-stores offer you the ability to manage distinct storefronts for each business entity. This is particularly useful for your brand if you have multiple brands or subsidiaries, allowing them to maintain independent online presences while strategically sharing resources like payment gateways or fulfillment centers.
Challenges of Managing a Shopify Multi-store
Order Management
Each Shopify store will have its own order management system. This means you’ll need to treat the management of each storefront’s orders as separate tasks. For some, this can quickly become a complicated and overwhelming task, and may cause order delays.
A way to overcome this possible issue is to centralize your order fulfillment process. You can do this by syncing all of your stores to one central Order/Subscription Management System, allowing you to fulfill orders and returns for all of your storefronts on a single platform.
By implementing platform like Upscribe, for example, you can:
- Reduce churn by providing a seamless subscriber experience
- Customize every Shopify store’s checkout
- Personalize your customer subscription experience through data-driven metrics – no matter which store they’re shopping from
- Experience higher return customer sales through Upscribe’s ‘reorder’ functionality on all of your storefronts
SEO Challenges
Each storefront you choose to open will require special attention in regards to SEO. For each separate storefront, you’ll need to:
- Develop strong domains for each store
- Conduct ecommerce keyword research
- Develop a strong link-building strategy
- Implement store-personalized on-site SEO techniques
ERP Integration
For every store you choose to open on Shopify, you’ll need to integrate and manage your business’ ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).
This is the system software every ecommerce business uses to manage and automate the day-to-day activities of their stores, including:
- Processing orders
- Shipping
- Billing
- Managing supply chain operations
Maintenance
Each additional store introduces an added layer of complexity in terms of maintenance. Updates to products, pricing, or policies may need to be synchronized across all stores, requiring careful coordination and potentially leading to discrepancies if not managed meticulously.
Resource Allocation
Managing multiple stores may strain resources such as time, personnel, and financial investments. Each store requires attention to detail, and spreading resources too thin might impact the overall efficiency of your operations.
Brand Consistency
Maintaining a consistent brand identity across multiple stores can be challenging. Each store might cater to different demographics or regions, potentially leading to discrepancies in messaging, design, or customer experience.
Common Shopify Multiple Stores FAQs
Here are some of the most asked questions regarding Shopify’s multiple stores:
1. How Many Shopify Stores Can I Have?
Shopify allows you to create up to 10 stores on a single email, each with its domain name, products, settings, and everything else.
2. Can I Sell Multiple Products on Shopify?
Absolutely! With Shopify, you have the flexibility to sell an unlimited number of products on your online store. There are no restrictions on the number of items you can offer, providing you with the freedom to add as many products as you need to meet the diverse needs of your customers.
This flexibility in the number of products you can sell, coupled with Shopify’s user-friendly features, allows you to scale your online business efficiently and adapt to changing market demands without any constraints.
3. Can There Be Two Store Owners on Shopify?
Yes, it is indeed possible to have two owners for a Shopify store. Shopify recognizes that collaboration is key for many businesses, and they have designed their platform to accommodate multiple users with varying levels of access and responsibilities.
Shopify allows you to add staff accounts to your store, each with its login credentials. These staff accounts can be customized with specific roles and permissions, ensuring that each owner or team member has the appropriate level of access to the store’s settings and features.
To add a staff account on Shopify, the primary account owner can navigate to the “Settings” and then “Account.” From there, they can choose “Add staff,” enter the necessary details, and assign the appropriate role.
4. Can You Merge Two Shopify Stores?
Unfortunately, Shopify doesn’t provide a built-in feature to merge two separate stores into one. Each Shopify store operates independently with its unique store ID, settings, and data.
However, there are alternative approaches you can consider if you need to consolidate or merge the content of two stores:
Manual Data Transfer
- Export data from one store, such as product listings, customer information, and orders.
- Import this data into the other store using Shopify’s CSV import/export functionality.
- Note that this method may be time-consuming and might not transfer everything seamlessly, especially if the stores have different settings or apps.
Third-Party Apps
- Explore third-party apps designed to assist with store migration or data transfer between Shopify stores.
- These apps may provide more automated solutions for merging or transferring data, though it’s important to carefully review and choose reputable apps.
Professional Assistance
- Consider hiring a Shopify expert or developer who can assist in the migration process.
- Shopify Experts are experienced professionals who can provide customized solutions based on your specific needs.
Contact Shopify Support
- Reach out to Shopify Support directly to inquire if there have been any updates or new features since my last knowledge update that might facilitate store merging.
How To Create and Manage Shopify Multiple Stores
Step 1: Create an Additional Store
As we’ve already mentioned, each new Shopify store requires you to create a separate Shopify account.
So, to create an additional store, you’ll need to manually set up your new Shopify account. The process will be the same as for your original store.
Remember to link this new account to the email address you used for your original store account.
Step 2: Optimize Each Site Specifically
How your additional store is set up will depend on the reason for its creation. If you’re selling different products in this store or targeting a different customer demographic, you need to optimize its content to match your business goals.
This means:
- Editing or re-writing product copy
- Organizing and grouping products
- Store color schemes and design
You’ll also need to optimize each store to their specific SEO requirements. This means:
- Conducting keyword research and implementing results in your copy
- Building strong linking structures throughout your store
- Conducting A/B testing to understand what copy and CTA prompts work well with the target customer
Step 3: Centralize Your Order Management System
Rather than working with multiple order management systems and struggling to keep track of your output, you should centralize all ordering activities to one system. This allows you to more easily manage orders across all of your sites, as well as:
- Returns
- Customer Care
- Drop shipping
- Subscriptions (if applicable)
Choosing a system that is built to seamlessly integrate with Shopify is key to smooth, customer-friendly ecommerce journeys. That’s why implementing a subscription management platform like Upscribe makes sense.
Upscribe’s features are inspired by the subscriber journey, with a focus on achieving Shopify checkout optimization. With Upscribe, your customers can re-order products, edit or gift their subscription or skip a shipment with a click of a button.
By simplifying and personalizing the subscription journey, Upscribe will help your business:
- Reduce churn
- Increase subscription revenue
- Automate key business activities
for all of your storefronts.
Step 4: Get inventory updates in real-time
Accurate stock information is critical to the smooth running of any ecommerce business. It’s even more important when you’re trying to keep track of multiple stores. That’s why implementing real-time inventory updates is so important.
By implementing a real-time inventory update tool, you’ll be able to:
- See inventory levels change in real time
- Update your stores with accurate stock numbers and protect your buyer experience
- Avoid overselling
- Better gauge production requirements
Step 5: Choose the right PIM system
A PIM system (product information management system) will help you track your product information across all of your stores. This will save you time, money and will help minimize product information errors.
This helps you create a unified information template that you can adopt across multiple stores. It keeps your interface looking clean and organized, and your data up to date and accurate.
Step 6: Consolidate Your Customer Service
Providing good and fast customer support is essential for any ecommerce business. With multiple Shopify stores under your belt, you’ll naturally see an increase in customer queries.
Adopting a unified customer support system across your stores will help you keep track and manage customer communications in one convenient place.
By centralizing this critical business management process, you can track customer feedback, collect customer data and incorporate your findings into effective customer experience and product developments.
Owning Shopify Multiple Stores Best Practices
Here are some of the best practices that you should consider when you own or manage multiple Shopify stores:
Define Clear Business Objectives
Clearly outline the specific goals and purposes for each Shopify store. Whether it’s reaching different audiences, expanding geographically, or diversifying product lines, having well-defined business objectives is crucial for strategic planning.
Utilize Centralized Management Tools
Leverage Shopify’s centralized management tools to streamline operations. Take advantage of features like the Shopify Plus organization and admin to manage multiple stores seamlessly from a unified dashboard.
Maintain Consistent Branding
Ensure consistent branding across all Shopify stores. Establish and adhere to clear brand guidelines, ensuring design elements, messaging, and overall customer experience align cohesively with your brand identity, even across diverse niches.
Strategically Allocate Resources
Allocate resources strategically based on the performance and strategic importance of each store. Prioritize investments, time, and personnel according to the unique needs and potential impact of each storefront.
Automate for Efficiency
Enhance efficiency by automating routine tasks such as inventory updates, order processing, and customer communication. Utilize automation tools to save time, reduce errors, and streamline operations across multiple stores.
Conduct Thorough Testing and Auditing
Regularly test and audit each Shopify store to identify and rectify discrepancies. This includes checking product listings, pricing accuracy, and ensuring that all features are functioning correctly. Routine audits help maintain consistency and catch potential issues early.
Provide Localized Customer Support
Tailor customer support for each store to meet the specific needs and preferences of customers in different regions, languages, or demographics. Delivering localized support contributes to a more personalized and responsive customer experience.
Implement Robust Analytics and Reporting
Utilize robust analytics and reporting tools to track the performance of each store individually. Make data-driven decisions by identifying successful strategies, addressing challenges, and optimizing the performance of each Shopify store.
Enhance Security Measures
Implement stringent security measures, especially when dealing with sensitive customer information across multiple stores. Regularly update access credentials and follow security best practices to protect against potential risks and ensure data integrity.
Conclusion
If prioritizing growth is part of your 2023 ecommerce business plan, it’s time to expand to a Shopify multi-store. This business model can help you:
- Effectively market and sell your products internationally
- Target specific customer niches through selected product lines
- Segment your products to manage and drive your brand value
As each store will require a separate account, it’s imperative you streamline and centralize your business activities across your stores as much as possible. As a Shopify business owner, you should particularly prioritize implementing an effective order/subscription management system, like Upscribe.
A platform like this will support your order fulfillment process and elevate your customer experience across all of your stores. With extreme customer personalize-ability, your business will maximize subscription-based revenue and minimize customer queries, giving you more time to focus on business development.
Become one of the businesses that benefits from the $500 million in subscription revenue that Upscribe has helped generate, and join Upscribe now.