Multiple Shopify Stores: All You Need to Know

Oct 22, 2021

Many sellers create a second Shopify store to expand their business, increase revenue, and better serve the customers.

Unfortunately, you cannot have multiple Shopify stores under one account. In general, multiple Shopify stores refer to sellers that have many accounts.

Therefore, inventory management across different Shopify stores can quickly become confusing. That is why we have created this article to provide you with all the things you need to know to run your multi-store business with confidence.

Table of Contents

How Many Shopify Stores Can You Have?

You can have as many Shopify stores as you want, it all depends on the needs of your business.

There are many reasons why a business has multiple stores. It could be that they sell many different products, or one store is B2B (Business to Business), and the other is B2C (Business to Customer).

Why Should You Consider Building Shopify Multiple Shops?

There are some cases where it is worth the time and effort for your business to create multiple Shopify stores.

Manage Your Brand Value

If you have a large amount of inventory in your store, you may want to offer a discount to get rid of it.

However, when you launch a sale at your main store, you are devaluing your brand. Preferably, you can create a sub-brand for more affordable or lower-quality products. Therefore, you can reach new customers without affecting your brand.

This way, you can achieve your retail goals and continue to expand your brand without sacrificing its value.

Sell Internationally

Shopify vs Amazon

Maybe it is time to open Shopify multiple storefronts to sell your products globally. While you can display different currencies on a store, you only receive payments in your store's default currency.

In addition, depending on where you are going to sell, it is likely that you will face different tax rates and other regulations that you need to follow. Creating another storefront, even to sell the same goods, enables you to ensure that your business is compliant.

Not only that, the target audience in another country is not necessarily the same as the original store's. It is best to treat each region as a different market. And you need to figure out how to attract new audiences.

Sell to Different Customer Groups

Once you have a Shopify store that sells many products, you can create different stores for each customer segment.

You can use subdomains to describe each store while keeping them all under the protection of your main domain.

original store
outlet store

Clarks and Clarks Outlet appeal to two different audiences.

Common Challenges When Running Multiple Shopify Stores

While having multiple stores for different locations seems like a great idea, there are some reasons why your multi-store business can quickly become a headache.

That may be a painful process to manage and can leave your business more vulnerable to security threats.

If you have a small business, you may handle the data and structure for just one website. But as your business grows and starts to diversify the offerings, you will quickly see how messy product data can become.

Therefore, it is crucial to structure your product range data in a way that makes sense across all your different online stores from the first place.

If done correctly and using Google Analytics, you can see which sales channels are performing better in different countries and see how they are split across various product lines.

In addition, if you sell the same products on many sites, you will have to update your inventory whenever customers purchase and return items to one of them.

This annoys customers when they are trying to buy something from one store only to find out that you have sold out on the other.

When you have multiple Shopify stores in the same warehouse, accurately managing inventory and orders can be a nightmare.

But if you follow our advice below, you can avoid these common headaches and keep your eCommerce business running smoothly.

How to Set up and Manage Multiple Shopify Stores Effortlessly

Create and Configure Each Store

If you do not have any Shopify stores yet, follow this official guide to getting started creating your Shopify account. We also have a dedicated guide for those who want to do dropshipping.

Setting up subsequent stores follows the same process. We recommend using the same email address.

Do SEO for Each Store

If you sell your products to customers in different countries, you will need to optimize each store for its own audience.

Customers in different markets will search for different products. As a result, your stores should not use identical sales keywords and blog topics.

You can use local keywords to make sure your site is more likely to succeed in its area.

In addition, setting up Google Analytics separately for each store will help you understand the consumption trends of each area.

And to increase the chances of people finding a store that is right for them, you can use country-specific deals, offers, and local service pages.

Use a Real-time Inventory Management System

It is crucial to have inventory management software to allow you to sync inventory between two Shopify stores or more. So you can ensure you always have enough products to satisfy your customers' needs.

There are popular Shopify apps like Stock Sync that you can use to receive automatic updates and low-inventory alerts as often as once per hour.

You can feed this data into your online stores to give customers a look into your inventory. They will appreciate knowing that you always have enough stock to sell and the ability to see which products are available and which are not.

This can lead to even more sales when customers feel pressured to buy products that sell out quickly.

Use a Product Information Management System (PIMS)

When you create Shopify multiple shops and keep track of different SKUs, you might not know which products are for which store.

Getting your product information in order can be very difficult. First of all, you must know which products need to go where.

And if you have all the products of multiple stores in one stock, how does your fulfillment team know where to find them?

Fortunately, PIMS can manage product information in one centralized place for your eCommerce business.

It then distributes, updates, and presents that information across all of your stores. As a result, you have unified information that is updated in real-time regardless of how you present product information in each store.

Use a Central Order Management System

When you manage orders from multiple stores, it can be hard to keep track of all the information.

A central order management system makes it easy to handle purchases and returns at multiple stores. Below are some of the most notable:

  • Rating: 4.7/5 (673 reviews)
  • Price: Free to install

Main features of the app:

Save time on every order: Easily sync between your Shopify accounts. Save time in order processing. And tracking information is automatically updated to orders in real-time.

No fees and no commitments: Only pay for the services you use. Optimal pricing because Packlink can negotiate a better price than any SMB (Small and Medium-sized Business) seller.

Access to 350 provider services: Access exclusive pre-negotiated rates to select the best quality service: international, domestic, standard, express, drop-off.

Access our market-leading selection of over350 shipping services

QuickBooks Sync by Webgility

  • Rating: 4.9/5 (671 reviews)
  • Price: from $39/month (15-day free trial available)

Main features of the app:

Sell everywhere: Connect the app with Shopify, Shopify POS, Shopify Plus, and other marketplaces you sell, like Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Etsy, etc.

Avoid stockouts: Keep inventory levels and pricing in sync between Shopify and Xero or QuickBooks. So you never oversell and know when to stock up.

Inventory Management

Bookkeeping automation: Automatically post Shopify orders, payments, fees, and taxes to Xero or QuickBooks. So your account is always up to date.

Order list

ShipStation

  • Rating: 4.2/5 (533 reviews)
  • Price: from $9/month (30-day free trial available)

Main features of the app:

Sell more: Sync and ship orders from wherever you sell. Go global with simple international shipping. Get connected with more customers.

Manage orders from all your selling channels in one place

Save time: Automate nearly every step of your shipping process. Print labels in bulk with a few clicks. So you have more time to grow your business.

Save money: Get instant access to discounted rates or bring your own. Compare delivery times and real-time prices with all your carriers in one place.

Unify Your Customer Service

A unified customer support system allows you to keep all of your customer inquiries and order information in one convenient location.

It also allows you to track customer feedback data and incorporate it into your product development process.

To track customer support tickets across multiple Shopify boutiques, you can use email or a ticketing system like Zendesk.

By implementing such a system, you will be able to enhance communication with your buyers and provide an improved customer experience, which will lead to increased customer retention.

Final Words

Now you know how to have multiple Shopify stores and what you need to do to make them work with each other smoothly.

Also, you know how important it is to find the right software that can connect two Shopify stores or more. So you can have an autonomous, up-to-date, and accurate overview of your inventory.

Now is the time to apply what you have learned. Do not hesitate to expand your business by reaching out to more eCommerce ventures. We are always here to help you unleash your potential with credible sources of information.

Disclosure: When you purchase a service or a product through our links, we sometimes earn a commission.

Alice Pham

Writer and Blogger about Technology and Marketing. I also share my knowledge of Shopify, WordPress, and WooCommerce. Contact me via email: thuyphuong082@gmail.com or alicepham8295@gmail.com

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