Automate Your Shopify Store
Learn about the best ways to automate your e-commerce business and manage your inventory across multiple Shopify stores.
MultichannelBest Practices for Managing Multiple Shopify StoresThe digital landscape has seen a seismic shift in the past two years, with over two billion online consumers worldwide by the end of 2021. As e-commerce continues to flourish, expanding your business into new markets and niches through multiple Shopify storefronts is a smart move.
Yet, managing multiple Shopify stores can be a daunting task if not approached strategically. This article delves into these key aspects:
Best practices for better managementReasons for opting for multiple storesCommon challenges
Best Practices for Streamlined Management
1. Tailor Each Store for Its Audience
To ensure your Shopify stores resonate with their respective target consumers, optimize them individually. This may involve using local keywords, promoting region-specific deals, adapting site design or URL structure, and offering content that suits different demographics.
2. Implement Real-Time Inventory Updates
Selling the same products across multiple sites demands real-time inventory updates. Centralizing inventory management is the most effective way to ensure accurate counts, even when selling on multiple fronts. Apps like Multi-Store Sync Power can synchronize your Shopify stores in real time and automatically update inventory with each order, refund, or cancellation.
Effortless sync: Seamlessly synchronize inventory, products, and collections across multiple Shopify stores, reducing manual effort.Flexible settings: Two-way sync with flexible settings allows for easy management from any location.Error detection: Identify and rectify issues with SKUs and barcodes to ensure a smooth synchronization process.
» Read this comprehensive Multi-Store Sync Power review to learn more
3. Centralize Order Management
Simplify order tracking by integrating all order data, including fulfillment, returns, customer support, and dropshipping, into a centralized system. This streamlines order management across your various online stores.
4. Use a Product Information Management (PIM) System
When you have multiple Shopify stores, product information can become fragmented. A Product Information Management (PIM) system centralizes and standardizes your product data, ensuring consistency across all your stores.
Why You Should Consider Creating Multiple Shopify Stores
1. You're Selling Internationally
Expanding globally requires tailoring your stores to cater to diverse regions. With multiple Shopify stores, you can effortlessly customize language, currency, products, website layout, and even offer region-exclusive products that resonate with local markets.
2. You're Targeting Different Customer Segments
Regardless of your business model, creating separate Shopify sites for distinct customer segments is a wise strategy. This allows you to cater to the unique needs of each customer group while keeping all stores under one domain umbrella.
3. You Want to Create an Outlet
If you want to clear warehouse space or offer discounted products without diluting your brand's value, consider setting up a separate Shopify store as an outlet. This allows you to reach new customers without compromising your brand image.
Common Challenges With Managing Multiple Shopify Stores
While having multiple Shopify stores has its advantages, managing them can be time-consuming, and there are different challenges that go with it:
Order Processing
You'll have to manage orders on each unique site, which can make fulfillment and return processing more difficult and increase the risk of errors.Keeping Track of Inventory
In cases where some products are sold on both sites, you will have to update and manage the inventory of multiple Shopify stores.Managing Product Data
Your shops' structures may differ, making it difficult to organize product data across multiple shops. This includes product names, images, descriptions, pricing, and so on, which might affect your bottom line.System Integrating
Integrating other ERPs and point-of-sale (POS) systems becomes more complex.
» Shopify sellers must be prepared to tackle problems
It Is All up to You
If managing multiple Shopify stores feels overwhelming, fret not. By employing the right tools and strategies, you can simplify the process and reap the benefits. Consider utilizing apps like Multi-Store Sync Power, which can work like magic to manage all your stores in one place, saving you time and reducing stress.
With these strategies, you can efficiently oversee multiple Shopify stores like a pro, keeping everything in order while prioritizing customer satisfaction.
MultichannelWriting Follow-Up Emails for Purchase Orders—With TemplatesSending follow-up emails for purchase orders can really irritate clients if you are not doing it in the right way. A gentle, professional nudge is all that's needed. As a business owner, it is your duty to grab each and every opportunity to impress your clients so that you can keep them for life, and this is one of them.
Keep reading to learn how to write a great follow-up email.
Things to Consider Before Writing a Follow-Up Email for Purchase Orders
It is essential to ask yourself these important questions before you send a follow-up email to your clients:
What information do I need to include to add value to my client?
Perhaps links to important information that will tip the sale in your favor or even show your client that you want them to understand the true value of the product.Is it easy to read and understand?
Are you getting to the point and using plain English? The less wordy, the better.Is it professionally designed?
Any communication that you send to your clients must look professional. Even one silly spelling error to a pedantic client will tarnish your brand image.
Tips for Writing a Follow-Up Email for Purchase Orders
Let's look at some important tips for writing your follow-up emails:
Take time to write your subject line
It must catch your client's attention and encourage them to open the email and read it.Get to the point and get personal
Personalize the email as much as you can. Research has shown that people engage more with personalized communication.Be strategic about your timing
You shouldn't overwhelm your client with too many emails sent soon after each other. This can be very frustrating for people who are very busy and don't want their inboxes spammed unnecessarily.Keep the hook in
Keep highlighting the value they will get from your product or service.Keep following up
Just not too often, and each time with a new angle. Don't send the same email over and over.
Follow-Up Email Templates
Now that you are ready to get started let's look at a sample of a follow-up email for a purchase order:
Example 1:Subject line: We're still waiting for your purchase order—[product] is selling out fast! Dear [Name], We are grateful for your interest in purchasing our [product or service]. We will need the purchase order to keep your order aside—we are selling out very fast. Just a gentle reminder that you will be able to enjoy these key benefits: [add product benefits] If you finalize the sale in the next three days, we'll throw in a discounted shipping fee. We hope to hear from you soon. The team at [company name] [contact details]
Example 2:Subject line: Reminder: We need your purchase order to seal this incredible deal! Dear [Name], Thank you for taking a keen interest in buying [product or service]. Here are some of the reasons why you won't be sorry for buying the [product or service]: [add reasons] If you send us your purchase order as soon as possible, you'll get all of this and more! For more information about [product or service], follow these links: [add links for more information] You may also be interested in hearing what other customers are saying about [product or service]: [add some testimonials] We can't wait to hear from you! The team at [company name] [contact details]
» Engage your customers with the best Shopify apps with email templates
Is It Appropriate to Ask for a Purchase Order in an Email?
That's a difficult question to answer because it depends on each individual client. Some will love your ingenuity and the way you prompt them to finalize a sale, while others may get frustrated. What's important to remember is that you are never going to please all your clients. Just make sure they are given the option to unsubscribe, and it should be easy to do. If they have unsubscribed from your emails, it may be worth your while to call or message them.
The bottom line is that a follow-up email's core purpose is to make a sale. The secondary purpose is to build your brand, thus developing customer loyalty and retention. It is critical for all three to work together to boost your bottom line over the short and long term. It's worth putting in the effort to do it right.
MultichannelAchieve Effective Multi-Channel Inventory Management for ShopifyInventory management by itself is undoubtedly hard to monitor, but what about multi-channel inventory sync and management?
Keeping track of your inventory across multiple channels is so challenging most of the time that a multitude of organizations have stepped up. They're focusing on the implementation of best practices and automation software to help you keep everything under control.
This article will explore what multi-channel inventory management is as well as some of the best software to enable you and your customers to get the most out of your Shopify experience.
What Is Multi-Channel Inventory Management?
Multi-channel inventory management (also known as multi-source inventory) is very similar to standard Shopify inventory management with one notable exception: your inventory could be located anywhere around the world and sold through many different channels. This includes retail stores, wholesalers, marketplaces, e-commerce, and warehouses.
Multi-Channel Inventory Management in Practice
Let's say you have an e-commerce storefront in Shopify and decide to sell computer equipment at an affordable price. Inventory management and order fulfillment are fairly easy to keep track of because there are only mouse and keyboard combo sets listed for sale, and all customer orders come through Shopify.
Soon you decide to expand your inventory to include monitor screens. You also start to dream about selling your products everywhere and decide to set up additional storefronts on other platforms: Etsy, eBay, and Amazon. Before long, a large number of orders come through all the platforms, making it suddenly exponentially more difficult to track stock levels.
For example, if you have 25 mouse and keyboard combo sets ready to sell, you could set your inventory to 25 on all your storefronts. However, you're now at risk of overselling. You can try to keep track of everything manually with a spreadsheet, but if you want to keep up with demand, you're either going to have to write a whole lot quicker or adopt a new solution.
That new solution is multi-channel inventory management.
Best Practices for Multi-Channel Inventory Management in Shopify
You want to get the best out of your Shopify storefront—for both you and your customers so that they'll keep coming back for more. Below are some of the best practices to implement for multi-channel management in Shopify:
1. Perform Regular Audits
Regularly check and double-check your inventory to prevent either overselling or ordering in too much supply for the demand you have. Correct inventory metrics will ensure other calculations, such as your inventory to sales ratio, provides you with the correct analysis.
2. Eliminate Manual Processes
If your store is doing well and your inventory is flying off the shelves, it's not possible to write down all the information needed fast enough. To keep up with high demand and bulk edit your inventory, you have to upgrade to something more automated.
3. Use the Right Inventory Management Integration for You
Find the right inventory management integration solution for you and your setup. A wide variety of inventory management apps are available, and not all of them will provide the same functions and benefits.
4. Multi-Channel Inventory Management Software for Shopify
As previously mentioned, if you want to keep up with high demand, you're going to have to adopt some form of automation. To that end, here are a few of the top-rated apps that you can integrate into your Shopify store with ease:
Multi-Store Sync Power by Egnition is ideal for B2B and B2C businesses. The app automates your inventory and product data synchronization allowing you to save time, manage multiple sales channels, and keep inventory in check.Multichannel Importer by CedCommerce imports from eBay, Amazon, and Etsy and has a free plan available.LitCommerce Multichannel Sync by LitCommerce boasts an easy integration and allows you to import and sell on a variety of platforms, including Etsy, Amazon, and eBay.
» For an in-depth understanding, check out this Multi-Store Sync Power review
Why Should You Use Multi-Channel Inventory Management?
Multi-channel inventory management is an extremely useful practice because it introduces more automation to your inventory management, thereby ensuring you don't over- or under-order inventory and removing the risk of overselling across multiple platforms.