Multiple Shopify Stores: How to Solve Common Issues
Published April 30, 2022.
Running multiple shops on Shopify is easy when you know exactly what you're doing. We'll walk you through the common problems that arise when managing multiple Shopify stores - including how to solve them!
Should You Have Multiple Shopify Stores?
One of the great things about Shopify is that it allows business owners to create multiple stores. This can be helpful if you are looking to expand your business and reach more customers. Here are a few reasons why Shopify sellers would want to sell across multiple Shopify stores:
To Expand Globally
When you're trying to expand globally, you should have more than one Shopify storefront. Each country has different needs, so you must cater to them. With multiple Shopify stores, you can modify your website to suit local cultures by changing language, currency, products, and even web design. You can also sell locally-specific products that you know will be popular in its market.
To Create an Outlet
You may want to offer products at discounted prices to clear up space in your warehouse or shift end-of-line products. However, this carries a risk, as discounted products may not appeal to all audiences and damage your brand's value. A second Shopify store can help you target new customers without putting your brand at risk.
To Diversify Customer Segments and Niches
When you run more than one store, you have more flexibility when it comes to creating a website that targets a range of audiences and even establishes niche customers.
As an example, if you sell women's clothing, you could have one store dedicated to casual wear and another to evening wear.
Common Issues With Having Multiple Shopify Stores
For most sellers, the main challenge is keeping data synchronized and ensuring that all stores run consistently. So, it's no surprise that these are the most common issues Shopify merchants face:
Orders
When you have multiple Shopify storefronts, there will be separate orders for each site. Fulfillment and returns can be complicated as a result.
SOLVE
Centralize Order Management
Maintaining track of all orders that come into your stores can be made easier with a centralized order management system.
You can integrate all your order data, such as fulfillment, returns, customer support, and dropshipping processes, into one centralized system to better manage and track orders throughout all of your online stores.
Inventory
Shopify does not reduce inventory for your other sites when you sell a product on one site. Each time you sell an item, you will need to update the inventory on several sites.
SOLVE
Implement A Real-Time Inventory Management System
Inventory management systems provide real-time tracking so that you always have enough stock to meet your customers' demands. By doing so, you avoid having to run out of products and ensure that your goods are never oversold.
You can get low-inventory warnings and automatic updates numerous times a day using popular Shopify tools like Multi‑Store Sync Power. This tool updates inventory in stores when there is a new order, refund, cancellation or restock, regardless of where it sells.
SEO Challenges
As a result of having two Shopify stores, you'll need to devote twice as much time and effort to developing two solid domains, implementing on-site SEO, and other associated tasks.
SOLVE
If your aim for establishing multiple Shopify storefronts is to target a foreign country's market, keeping track of the most popular keywords in that market will help your content rank higher. For example, the same keywords for a product may not have the same relevance in Paris as in Tokyo, emphasizing the significance of developing a comprehensive SEO strategy for each locale.
Poor Speed Performance
A slow store directly affects your website's ability to generate more leads and convert users. Slow loading time might even leave potential customers wondering if your Shopify store is down.
Optimizing your page speed is a major contributor to user experience and should be at the top of your list of Shopify issues to resolve. If you’re trying to boost your Shopify store’s SEO, know that performance counts as a ranking factor in Google’s algorithm.
SOLVE
Here are some helpful tips to ensure your Shopify store reacts quickly when you experience downtime:
- Use pop-ups sparingly
- Minify your codes
- Reduce redirects and remove broken links
- Prioritize testing and optimizing your mobile performance
- Use a content delivery network (CDN)
- Decrease thumbnail image quality and size
- Compress and reduce the size, and number of images
Limits to How Many Stores Can You Have On Shopify
An issue that you might encounter when you want to set up multiple Shopify stores is deciding which plan to sign up for.
We outline their limitations:
Separate Shopify Plans For Multiple Stores
Shopify merchants are most familiar with the Basic Shopify, Shopify, and Advanced Shopify plans. However, none of them support multiple Shopify stores on the same account. If you have a Shopify plan, the simplest approach to adding one or two more shops is to keep buying more plans.
Multiple Stores on Shopify Plus
If you want to avoid Shopify login issues, then buying a Shopify Plus Plan is better. This package is meant for high-volume businesses and starts at $2000/month. With Shopify Plus, you get ten stores. Each extra store costs $250.
Once you log in to your Shopify admin, you can navigate between your multiple Shopify storefronts that are associated with the same email address.
Managing multiple Shopify stores can be challenging. It is, however, highly achievable if you follow the guidelines outlined in this article.