Do you want to expand your ecommerce business to a new region or launch a new brand to appeal to a new segment of your customer base? Either way, you’d need a new online store or multiple stores. Running multiple stores can be tricky, especially if they all have different administrative interfaces.
If that's your case, a multi-store ecommerce site may be the way to go. These platforms allow you to manage multiple storefronts from a single dashboard and streamline your operations by centralizing inventory, pricing, and marketing control.
In this article, we'll discuss the benefits of multi-store ecommerce sites, share a few examples of companies that are taking this approach, and review the best multi-store ecommerce software to help you get started.
As the new stores appear, you have more things to control and manage. Building them on separate eCommerce platforms means, basically, running three separate eCommerce projects. You need to find a way of linking them all to the same management systems (warehouse, accounting, etc.) and catalogs and track every little change to keep them consistent. Missing any detail may lead to mistakes, revenue loss, and loyalty issues. Could be great to run all your web stores as one.
A multi-store eCommerce offers to create all your storefronts on the same eCommerce platform. This means your buyers get separate web stores, while you can control everything via one admin server. It is cheaper, easier, and gives you more flexibility in further scaling.
Multi-store eCommerce platforms offer more than just the creation of Multiple Storefronts for different brands. With such eCommerce solutions like Virto, you can build localized stores for various regions and even create multi-vendor marketplaces. Moreover, Virto Commerce uses atomic design when building multiple store websites, which allows you to upgrade any part of your store seamlessly.
The key point of a multi-store ecommerce project is to attract more buyers (either from new territories or for the new brands). This means just creating separate websites is not enough. To make your sales work, each web store should look like a separate unique storefront. Multiple storefronts allow you to reach essential eCommerce goals:
Making personal storefronts for each customer segment makes the client experience deeper, enhances your sales, and lets you grow faster. Multiple retail companies use personalization to reach their sales goals. Here are two examples of how the biggest eCommerce players use this instrument for their sales.
How Nestlé uses multi-store eCommerce for various regions
L’Oréal, in turn, uses the same eCommerce platform to build separate brands and offer their resellers an opportunity to create a new website on the same platform for more consistency, easier warehouse management, and fast analytics.
How L’Oréal uses multi-store eCommerce for different brands
When used, the multi-store e-commerce platform can provide different sets of benefits to different parts of the “selling” process. We can name some of these segments:
Let’s look at all of these segments closer.
Here’s what your clients will get once you start your multi-store eCommerce campaign:
Store owners have some reasons to launch their multiple storefronts:
The key benefit of a multi-storefront shopping cart for store owners is that they can manage all stores at once from the central working place.
For clients, it’s an opportunity to log in to all your Stores with the same credentials and keep what they have in one shopping cart for multiple sites. All this is possible due to a single database linked to every storefront.
For clients, it’s an opportunity to log in to all your Stores with the same credentials and keep what they have in one shopping cart for multiple sites. All this is possible due to a single database linked to every storefront.
Other staff also benefit from multi-storefront integrations:
Of course, there are more parts of the process, and these are just a fraction of the benefits that you get after choosing to use a multi-store e-commerce platform. Using the right ecommerce solution out of many B2B commerce platforms allows your clients, suppliers, and other business associates to get numerous benefits like branding, information tracking, and improving your customer experience in general – and all of that within a single database, filled with orders and customer information. On the other hand, both distributors and franchises get extended control capabilities, like approving both prices and products on different levels.
Running multiple storefronts on the same platform is great, but you still can have some challenges to resolve. Here they are, and some ideas on how to win through them easier:
Most multi-store eCommerce developers pay much attention to safety as such stores deal with a huge amount of data, handle many orders simultaneously, and run the payments. Multi-store e-commerce platforms themselves have numerous features and services targeting security enhancement, amongst all things. They offer PCI Compliance, privacy features, data encryption, and more.
Typically, multi-store e-commerce means inevitable data sharing between stores. The fact that there are data constantly moving between stores means those have to be well protected. This also includes the ability of the system as a whole to acquire payments through several different payment gateways supported on the system level. The system’s specific design, in general, allows easier access to the content from any device.
These are the risks to address working on your eCommerce project safety:
Here’s what you can do:
Almost always, multi-store eCommerce solutions integrate with third-party solutions the owner already has, like CRMs, ERPs, and more. That is why both seamless integration and advanced marketplace software are the key points of multi-store e-commerce in general.
Usually, the vendor connects existing databases and resources to the new system via API. When any other third-party solution is needed, API allows upgrading the system with no interruption.
Ecommerce software general integration options
Choosing the right developer or vendor would allow you to fully embrace all of the benefits of multi-store e-commerce as a trend. By creating and managing multiple stores within one trustworthy platform, like Virto eCommerce, you can deliver your customers the best experience possible at each of your stores — all of that goes a long way in making your multi-store e-commerce as successful as possible.
Here are some ideas on how to ensure the solution and vendor fit you:
Let’s discuss the most popular companies ready to offer you an OOTB multi-store eCommerce solution. Some are tailored to B2B companies; others make a good fit for B2C. Let’s start with B2B-ready ones:
An open-code API-native platform that supports eCommerce systems of any level, from startups to enterprises. The platform is multichannel, supports web and mobile apps, and offers marketplace capabilities. Tailored initially to work with B2B enterprises, the solution provides unique catalog management capabilities: it is scalable, easily manages an unlimited number of SKUs, and supports different categories and attributes. The platform is tailored to spread ecommerce across the world, so it supports multiple currencies and languages. Virto also offers vast marketing capabilities, from SEO optimization to personalized advertising. Not long ago, the company got SOC II certification, which means the highest level of security is provided. It easily integrates with any third-party solution due to the API-first approach.
This is a cloud-based eCommerce solution for retailers. Offers tons of OOTB options and customizable templates. Nevertheless, the solution is not intensely scalable due to its rigid architecture. However, it stays popular due to security and compliance, marketing tools, and analytics.
A PHP-based development platform for eCommerce businesses. The very popular solution among B2B ecommerce leaders. It is a great option for those who need to start their B2B ecommerce journey; however, it might disappoint with challenging scaling in the future.
An affordable solution for beginners. Fits B2B and B2C, designed for small to medium businesses. While offering vast analytics and marketing tools, the solution provides limited options for B2B and doesn’t support the scaling and growth ambitions of those who need such growth.
A SaaS-based solution for eCommerce that offers advanced catalog management and many B2B features. While delivering international development capabilities like multiple currencies and language support, the solution is still tailored to medium-sized businesses and cannot handle the volumes enterprise-level B2B businesses have.
This is the solution with a freemium version and basic features B2B ecommerce might need. Good for beginners, especially when it comes to technical users. Offers basic international features, mostly tailored to small and medium businesses.
Here are also two good examples of the platforms that are tailored to B2C needs but are not strong enough for B2B in most cases:
Both of these solutions were initially created for managing B2C ecommerce sales. These tools offer great capabilities for beginners but might be too inefficient for big B2B businesses as they work based on the extension set idea. And each extension will cost a fortune and create chaos when bigger businesses use the solution. While offering low scalability and extensibility, these solutions still create great marketing opportunities for their users. The tip is to try them when your ecommerce journey is at the very start.
Multichannel
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Catalog Mgmt
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Multiple currencies and languages support
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Marketing tools
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Intergrations
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Scalability
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Security level
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Virto Commerce multi-store eCommerce platform is the perfect candidate to consider as a vendor for building multiple eCommerce storefronts or marketplaces. Here is what Virto offers to eCommerce businesses that aim to scale:
Here is what our clients say about us.
Here at Bosch Thermotechnik, we were looking for a 100% customizable .NET platform with superior support options. We had an objective of launching a marketplace that will function smoothly in 25 countries. Eventually, by choosing Virto Commerce we successfully launched the website, our clientele has become more engaged, and we have increased the turnover.
See our other success stories or reach out to our team for a personal demo or a deeper consultation.
In the modern world, multistore capabilities are essential: look at the examples we have provided; all of these companies grew big thanks to multistore capabilities, besides other factors. The capability of the B2B ecommerce platform to grow further to different stores and other countries is the key reason to choose it. While all the solutions mentioned support multiple stores, each of them is tailored to separate needs.
To choose the solution that will provide all the needed capabilities in the long run, look at the solutions tailored to B2B enterprises like Virto Commerce. Even if you are not an enterprise yet, the capabilities the platform provides can lead you to grow into one. If you want to learn more, reach out to our teams, and we will provide all the details.