Automate Your Shopify Store
Learn about the best ways to automate your e-commerce business and manage your inventory across multiple Shopify stores.
Product organization4 Simple Steps to Creating a Percentage (%) Discount on ShopifyOffering discounts to your customers is a powerful marketing tool that allows customers to feel valued and like they have greater purchasing power. This can quickly boost your brand's popularity, drive a higher number of sales, and, ultimately, increase your profits.
Percentage-based discounts apply a discount to the total of an order or a specific product according to your specified discount amount, e.g., 20% off. This discount remains constant regardless of the price or currency that's used.
Follow these simple steps to add a percentage discount on Shopify.
1. Navigate to the 'Discounts' Tab
Log in to your Shopify Admin and navigate to the Discounts tab on the left.
2. Create a Discount
From the Manage Discounts and Promotions window, click Create Discount.
From the pop-up window, select the class of discount you wish to create. For % discounts, choose from Amount Off Products or Amount Off Orders.
3. Configure the Attributes of the Discount
Next, you'll need to configure the attributes of your discount:
Discount Code
Decide if you want the discount to be automatic or if your customer will need a discount code.
For automatic discounts, input a title you wish your customers to see.
If you opt for a code, you can manually input a discount code of your choice or choose to automatically generate it.
Options
Under the Value section, you can choose from a percentage discount or a fixed amount.
Select Percentage and enter the % discount you wish to offer.
Applies to
In the same Value box from the above step, select what the discount is applied to. You'll have the options of:
Specific collectionsSpecific products
Once you've selected specific products or collections, click Browse to search for the collection or products you wish to apply the discount to.
Minimum Requirement
Next, you'll need to set the minimum purchase requirements to activate the discount.
Your options include:
No minimum requirementsMinimum purchase amountMinimum quantity of items
If you wish for no minimum requirements, select the relevant box and move on.
If you wish to set a minimum purchase amount, select Minimum Purchase Amount and enter the amount (in your store's currency) that customers need to spend to obtain the discount.
To set limits by item quantity, select Minimum Quantity of Items and enter the required value.
Customer Eligibility
Under the Customer Eligibility box, you'll be able to select which customers, or which type of customers, will qualify to use the discount.
You can choose from:
All customersSpecific customer segmentsSpecific customers
For specific customers, select Browse and choose the customers you want to make eligible for the discount.
For specific customer segments, select browse and choose one of the following segments:
Customers who haven't purchasedCustomers who have purchased more than onceAbandoned checkouts in the last 30 daysEmail subscribers
Usage Limits
Next, decide whether you want to limit customers to the number of times they can use the discount. Select either:
Limit to one use per customer, orLimit number of times this discount can be used in total
If you want to set a usage limit, select the relevant box and input the value.
Active Dates
Finally, select the dates your discount should run. Select a start date and time, but choosing an end date is optional.
4. Save & Promote Your Discount
Once you've configured your discount, you can review its details in the box on the right-hand side of your screen.
If you're happy with your configuration, select Save Discount and your percentage discount will be added to your Shopify store.
Once your discount is saved, you can promote it throughout social media and your other chosen marketing channels.
Conclusion
The process of adding discounts by percentage on Shopify is straightforward, but specific situations and conditions require more in-depth thought. Using an app such as Order to Discount by Egnition will automate your customer care process and allow you to create specific email and discount templates.
This will ensure that your customers get the best available support, feel valued regardless of their situation, and, ultimately, bring them back over and over, thus boosting your sales and ROI.
Order to Discount
Multiple storesPracticing Test Orders on Shopify Development Stores: Step-By-Step GuideBefore moving your Shopify store to a paid plan, you should consider creating a development store to test Shopify apps, custom themes, and orders to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Testing orders on a Shopify development store will help ensure that your store's checkout process and order process settings, inventory, shipping, notifications, and taxes are streamlined and work correctly, both for your customers as well as your team.
There are three ways in which you can do this, however, it should be noted that draft orders and real transactions can't be tested on a development store.
Option 1: Use Shopify’s Bogus Gateway
As the cost of a development store is only the time it takes to sign up to Shopify Partners, using a development store's Bogus Gateway provides a simple means to test transactions.
Log in to your Shopify admin and navigate to Settings > Payments.If you have a credit card payment provider, deactivate it by clicking on Manage > Deactivate.In the Shopify payments section, navigate to See all providers > Payment providers > Choose a provider.Select (for testing) Bogus Gateway.Select Activate (for testing) Bogus Gateway.Click Save.Navigate to your store and place an order using the following card details:
Card name: Enter "Bogus Gateway" Card number: 1 - Simulates a successful transaction
2 - Simulates a failed transaction
3 - Generates an "error from the provider" messageCVV: Any 3-digit number Expiry date: Any future date
Option 2: Use Shopify Payments Test Mode
If you're using Shopify Payments, you can use the test mode to assess how your customers pay and how their orders are processed. You should note, however, that when test mode is activated, real cards can't be used to process orders.
To activate Shopify Payments test mode
Log in to your Shopify admin and navigate to Settings > Payments.Under Shopify Payments, select Manage.In the Test mode section, click Enable test mode.Select Save.
To simulate a successful transaction with various cards
Utilize the following test numbers with their corresponding card type:
Visa: 4242424242424242Mastercard: 5555555555554444American Express: 378282246310005Discover: 6011111111111117Diners Club: 30569309025904JCB: 3530111333300000
The remaining card details can be filled in by using the following:
Card Name: Enter at least two words. Expiry Date: Enter any future date. CVV: Any three digits.
To simulate failed transaction error messages
Utilize the following codes with the corresponding message type:
Card declined: 4000000000000002Incorrect card number: 4242424242424241Disputed transaction: 4000000000000259Invalid expiry month: Use a number higher than 12Invalid expiry year: Use a year from the pastInvalid security code: Use a 2-digit CVV code
You should note that you will be charged for purchased shipping labels when fulfilling test orders, so you should deactivate any third-party apps that do this automatically.
Once you've completed the test transactions, you should deactivate test mode so that your customers can continue to make purchases.
Option 3: Use a Test Mode for Third-Party Payment Providers
If you're selling products using a third-party payment provider, some offer a test mode option similar to Shopify Payments.
To enable test mode on your payment app, navigate to Admin > Settings > Payments, and select Enable test mode on your payment provider.
Testing Orders With Real Transactions
Testing orders can also be done by using real transactions and then canceling them shortly after. However, this can't be done while using a development store, therefore you will need to choose a paid plan and transfer your development store.
Conclusion
Whether you're testing out your first store or planning to manage multiple Shopify stores, it's always a good idea to use a development store to smooth out the process before finalizing changes and making your site live.
Ensuring that your order process runs smoothly is essential to establishing customer satisfaction and a smooth-running sales funnel from the day of launch.
Product organizationShopify Product Tags: How They Affect Your Online Store's SEOOrganizing and navigating your Shopify store's products can often become a tiresome process, especially if you have many. Store owners have traditionally used product handles to sort their items, but handles have many limitations. Thankfully, Shopify inventory management is made much easier by product tags.
Product tags are small snippets of text linked to a product to describe certain qualities or add important details. For example, you might tag the latest red t-shirt in your men's summer range with the tags "new", "t-shirt", "red", "men", and "summer".
Once products have been tagged, it's simple to sort products by their tags and complete bulk actions with a few clicks instead of having to navigate to each product individually. With some Shopify apps, like Bestsellers Resort, you can sort tags and organize product collections much better.
How Do Shopify Product Tags Affect SEO?
Adding tags to products, blogs, and even website pages used to be a very effective way to add keywords to boost SEO. Tags serve as descriptive keywords that help customers seeking specific attributes find your product.
If tags form part of product handles in the store's URL structure, they can help search engine crawlers navigate your website. This gives your store another small SEO boost and makes it easy for humans to find their way around. A good URL structure is considered best practice when it comes to organizing products on your Shopify store, so it's best to do this even if you don't want to use tags for other reasons.
SEO Issues Caused by Product Tags and How to Fix Them
Product tags aren't all that fine and dandy though. They may provide a small SEO benefit, but you should also be aware of some issues they may cause.
Keyword stuffing
Store owners may be tempted to add as many tags as possible. This appears to make sense, as more product tags with keywords should mean better SEO, right? Unfortunately, search engines are very sensitive to keyword stuffing and will penalize websites they think are overusing keywords to gain an SEO advantage. To avoid any penalties, it's best to use just the most prominent and necessary tags.Duplicate pages
When tags form part of the website's URL structure, pages may be created under each category tagged. This creates multiple new pages for one product, overcrowding the website and hurting SEO scores as the pages compete. To solve this issue, you can designate one canonical page that should be indexed by adding rel="canonical" to your theme's code. Most themes should already support this function, but it's good to check.
It's possible to hide tags completely from any product page, allowing you to add as many tags as you like without any negative SEO repercussions, although without the slight benefit that well-optimized tags may provide SEO. Be sure to read up on how to delete tags on Shopify before you remove any.
Use These Strategies to Improve Your Store’s SEO Instead
Instead of using product tags, here are some other strategies to boost your store's SEO:
Automated inventory management
Automating tedious work like inventory management will free you up to perform other SEO tasks. Not only does automated inventory management keep stock levels up to date, but it also measures trends in stock levels, forecasts demand, and prioritizes the best-performing products in SEO.SEO apps
SEO is often difficult for non-technical store owners. This is where SEO apps can help. They optimize the technical side of your store for you and help you through content, metrics, and analysis tools.Start a blog
Search engines love content, but it's often difficult for stores to add more than a short product description to their website pages. Blogs are one of the best ways to boost SEO with their keyword-rich and organic content while also providing customers with useful information.
Conclusion
Product tags can be both a blessing and a curse, depending on how you use them. While it's considered best practice to implement them, especially when you want to perform bulk actions, tags should be managed well to avoid any penalties or SEO issues. Otherwise, they may do more harm than good.
Out-of-stockFastest Way to Set up Pre-orders on Shopify in 2022A pre-order allows you to take a deposit for an out-of-stock or not yet available product and charge the remainder of the funds once the product is available. Therefore, communication with the customer is essential, because they have paid for a product in advance. Utilizing a back in stock notification form or setting up your email to automatically contact customers about out of stock items are effective ways to keep communication open.
By marking items as out of stock and allowing customers to pre-order, you ensure your customers receive their products as soon as possible and provide yourself with a forecast of your products' potential demand.
How to Enable Pre-Orders on Shopify
Pre-orders can become complicated, because different pre-order setups work for different users and their products. The simplest way to set up pre-orders on Shopify is by installing a pre-order app from the Shopify app store.
Shopify suggests the following:
PreProductPre-Order ManagerPurple Dot
Types of Pre-Orders
There are three main types of pre-orders you can choose from. These include:
Pay Now
Pay now is the most common type of pre-order. This will take your customer through the normal checkout process where you'll receive the pre-order funds immediately. This can be used to cover wholesale costs, but customer expectations and timely delivery are things to keep in mind.Pay Later
Pay later, as the name suggests, doesn't include any transfer of funds until the product is available. Pay later pre-orders can be used to indicate a product's potential demand, as well as for marketing purposes such as contact gathering. Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is usually done through third-party apps such as Crowdfunder. This pre-order is similar to that of "pay now" in the way that funds are received immediately. This type of pre-order is ideal for startups who need to raise capital, but will require more traffic as customers will be reluctant to pay for something with no promised arrival date.
How to Authorize Pre-Order Payments
There are certain tips for selling out of stock items you can keep in mind. Signing off on pre-order payments before your customer has been notified that the product is unavailable can lead to inaccurate sales metrics.
Similarly, recording a sale once the product has been dispatched but not yet fully paid for could cause issues if the customer no longer has the remaining funds available.
To avoid this you can turn on manual payment authorization with the following steps:
From your Shopify Admin Dashboard, navigate to Settings > Payments.In the Payment Authorization section, select the Manually capture payment for orders box.
Shopify's authorization period is 7 days. If you wish to prolong this period, a third-party payment method will need to be used.
How to Add a Pre-Order Page Template on Shopify
Follow the below steps to add a pre-order page temple:
Log in to Shopify Admin Dashboard.Navigate to Themes > Action> Edit Code.Select Add a new template in the template section.Select product from the 'Create a new template for' box, name it pre-order, and select 'Create template'.Locate the code {% section 'product-template' %} and replace it with {% section 'product-pre-order-template' %}.To change the button text, replace addToCart: {{ 'products.product.add_to_cart' | t | json }}, with addToCart: {{ 'Pre-order' | json }}, Select Save.
Next, you'll need to add a corresponding section directory with the following steps:
Navigate to Sections > Add new section.Under the Create a new section called box, add 'product-pre-order-template' and select Create section.Delete all the code and replace it with all the code produced after completing step 7 above.In the new product-pre-order-template.liquid file you'll need to replace
<span data-add-to-cart-text>
{% unless current_variant.available %}
{{ 'products.product.sold_out' | t }}
{% else %}
{{ 'products.product.add_to_cart' | t }}
{% endunless %}
</span>
And replace it with
<span data-add-to-cart-text>
{{ 'Pre-order' | json | remove: '"' }}
</span>Select Save.
Lastly, you'll need to assign the new pre-order template to a product.
To do this:
Navigate from Shopify Admin > Products > All Products.Select the product that you wish to make available for pre-order.Locate the Themes templates section in the sidebar.From the drop-down menu, change product to product.pre-order.Click Save.
Conclusion
Setting up pre-orders on Shopify can be easily done with a third-party app and some simple code changes.
Giving your customers the option of pre-ordering can help boost sales, provide a financial forecast, help with future marketing, and aid in determining the demand for a product.
Multiple storesHone Your Shopify Apps With a Development StoreTesting your app before submitting it to Shopify is a best practice that can help you avoid potential headaches down the road. By testing your app on Shopify's development platform, you can ensure that it is functioning properly and meets all the requirements outlined in the Shopify Developer Guidelines.
Additionally, testing your app on Shopify's development platform allows you to collect valuable feedback from other developers who are using the same platform. This feedback can help you improve the functionality and usability of your app.
How to Create a Development Store to Test Your App
Before launching a development store, you’ll need to create yourself a Shopify Partner account. After your account is set up, simply:
Log into your Shopify Partner dashboardNavigate to “Stores” > “Add store”Within the “Store type” panel, select “Development store”From the “Login information” panel, enter your new store’s name and a passwordIf you’d like, check the “Create a non-transferrable store that uses developer preview” if you’d like to enable a developer previewFrom the “Store address” panel, enter your business addressIf you’d prefer, from the “Store purpose” panel, nominate a reason you are creating a development storeFinish up by clicking “Save”
How to Test Shopify Apps on Developmental Store
Now your development store is all set up and configured to your liking, let’s go ahead and test your budding Shopify app. To do this, simply:
Log back into your Shopify Partner DashboardFrom the dashboard, navigate to “Apps”Select the name of your app to head to the App overview pageFrom this page, in the “Test your app” panel, navigate to “Select store”Select your newly created development store that you wish to test your app inTo finish up, click “Install app”
Once “Install app” is clicked, the platform should take you to the OAuth screen. If it does not, you’ll need to check if your app has integrated correctly. To do this, check your app’s coding, URLs, and redirects. If you are seeing this problem, head to Shopify’s “Getting started with OAuth” page for more information.
To learn more about Shopify, head over to our multi-store inventory apps guide or check out our how to manage Shopify inventory article.
Tips for Testing Your Shopify App
When you’re testing your app, there are a few key things to keep in mind, such as the following:
First, be sure to test on different devices and browsers. This will give you a good idea of how your app looks and performs on different platforms. Next, pay attention to the user experience. Make sure that everything works smoothly and that the user interface is easy to navigate. To finish, note any errors or glitches. These can be anything from small typos to major glitches that cause the app to crash. Be sure to rectify any issues before launching your app.
Does Shopify Have a Test Environment?
Shopify.dev is the official test environment for Shopify merchants that allows developers to test their themes and apps before they are submitted to the Shopify App Store. The environment is also helpful for troubleshooting issues with live stores.
Shopify.dev is a replica of the Shopify platform that includes all the features and functionality of the live store. This way, developers can create test stores, add products, and configure settings just as they would in a live setting.
The environment also includes a built-in theme editor and app editor, allowing developers to preview their changes in real-time before submitting them for approval.
The Shopify team regularly updates Shopify.dev with the latest features and changes to the platform. This ensures that developers have access to the most up-to-date information when building their themes and apps.
Multiple storesHow to Create a Development Store in Shopify—and Why You ShouldLearning how to create a development store in Shopify is one of the most valuable things you can do as a Shopify developer. Development stores are simple free accounts on Shopify where you can experiment with different Shopify apps and themes, explore website functionality, and even set up accounts for clients.
Shopify partners have access to unlimited Shopify development stores, so they can test virtually any theme or app they create with ease.
Here’s how you can create a development store in Shopify.
How to Create a Development Store in Shopify
The first thing you’ll need to create development stores in Shopify is a Partner account, which impacts the cost of setting up a development store. Partners have complete access to the Shopify development store landscape, as well as other benefits like partner-preferred apps, documentation, and affiliate rewards.
You can create a Shopify Partner account by visiting the Partner Program page and filling out the form provided. You’ll need to enter your email address and a few other details.
Once you have your Shopify Partner account, you can create as many development stores as you like. Start by logging into your Shopify Partner dashboard, then follow these steps:
Click “Stores”Choose “Add Store”Select “Development store” as your store typeGive your store a name, URL, and password. You can also enter a purpose for the storeClick “Save”
Once your store is created, you can log into it through the Stores tab in your Shopify Partner account dashboard. Here, you’ll be able to start experimenting with your store, or practice managing multiple stores. You can edit the password page (though it cannot be removed), and install various themes and apps from the Shopify Store.
To install an app to a Shopify development store, visit the Shopify App store and click the app you want to add. Enter your store’s address and add the password when prompted.
When you create a development store, you can also enable “developer preview” to gain access to new features for Shopify, so you can experiment with them before they’re released to merchants. You can also archive your development stores by clicking the name of the store you want to archive in the “Stores” tab and then clicking “Archive”.
How to Transfer Ownership of a Development Store
One of the most common reasons to create a development store is to create something for a client. Once you’ve tested that your store works, you can transfer the ownership of the domain to the customer in a few simple steps. Start by logging into your Partner dashboard, then:
Click “Stores”Choose “Actions” next to the store you want to transferSelect “Transfer ownership”In the “Transfer” dialog box, choose your client from the list of eligible accounts created for your storeIf your client isn’t a staff member yet, you can click “Add staff account” to do soClick “Transfer store”
Benefits of Shopify Development Stores
Shopify development stores allow developers to experiment with store creations in a safe and secure environment. You can use your development store to test the themes and apps you’ve created yourself or to set up a Shopify store with other apps in the Shopify App Store to see how everything functions. This is a great way to test store functionality for clients.
The biggest benefits of Shopify development stores include the following:
Experimentation
You’re free to experiment with all the apps and themes you like in a controlled environment where you can access most of Shopify’s Advanced functions.Client site-building
You can create an entire store for a client, ensure it works as intended, and share the site with your client without paying for a Shopify external license.Exploring new features
Enabling the “Developer Preview” option on Shopify development stores allows you to explore new features in Shopify before they’re released.
Features and Limitations of Development Stores
One point to keep in mind is that, while Shopify development stores are free to use, they do have some limitations. You will get most of the features included in the Shopify Advanced plan in your development environment. This means you can:
Process unlimited test ordersAssign custom domains to storesExperiment with apps and themesCreate up to 10 custom appsCreate unlimited unique products for your storeExplore new features from Shopify
However, development stores will only allow you to install free apps and partner-approved apps, which may be a significant limitation. You can also only test orders using the “Bogus Test Gateway”, or with the test mode offered by your payment provider. It’s not possible to test orders with real transactions. You also won’t be able to remove the Shopify store password page.
As such, it's up to you to determine whether investing time in Shopify development stores is worth it or not.
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 communication that has been personalized.Be strategic about your timing
You shouldn't overwhelm your client with too many emails 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 going, 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]
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 to 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 customer 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 the effort into doing it right.
Multiple storesMultiple Shopify Stores: How to Solve Common IssuesRunning 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 sparinglyMinify your codesReduce redirects and remove broken linksPrioritize testing and optimizing your mobile performanceUse a content delivery network (CDN)Decrease thumbnail image quality and sizeCompress 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.
Multiple storesMulti-Store Inventory Apps: Why You Need One for Your E-Commerce StoreRunning an online store involves a lot of inventory management. Unless you want to spend hours each day tracking stock levels, order statuses, and shipping data, you need a good multi-store inventory app.
It helps to define multi-store inventory. Essentially, it is a system that businesses use to keep track of and account for all orders from multiple sales sources on inventory that is maintained at several locations, such as marketplaces, e-commerce, retail, and wholesale. Multi-store inventory apps sync with shopping carts and backend systems. They can also help you find hot items in other stores and keep track of your inventory so you never run out.
Why Do You Need a Multi-store Inventory App?
Retail inventory management improves efficiency from a strategic standpoint. Inventory management is critical for businesses because it allows you to better understand your customers and enhance revenues. Knowing and investing in a multi-store inventory app is a big advantage for a merchant looking to reach as many customers as possible. It allows the user to have access to a large number of individuals at the same time, regardless of geography.
Benefits of Multi-Store Inventory Apps
Selling on the International Market
If you wish to expand your business globally, you'll need to tailor your stores to local tastes. This means you should modify your website's layout, design, and even languages depending on where you sell. Having multiple Shopify stores allows you to easily tailor your website to each target demographic.
Targeted Perks
With access to various audiences, you can curate specific offers and incentives based on the audience and what they are interested in. You can choose to spotlight regionally exclusive items that you know will appeal to a specific market.
Customer Segments Can Be Targeted
Regardless of whether you offer different types of products, it's a smart idea to develop individual Shopify sites for each consumer category, regardless of your business plan. You will be able to better cater to the demands of each consumer as a result of this.
Test and Create New Opportunities
It's easier to target new clients without compromising your brand by opening a different Shopify store as an outlet. Targeted incentives and the chance to experiment will be feasible without disturbing your current audience. The danger of doing so on your main site is that reduced items may not appeal to all consumers, lowering the value of your brand.
Best Multi-Store Inventory Apps
Multi-Store Sync Power
With Sync Power, you can focus on sales while your inventory is synced, updated, and current across all of your stores. Once uploaded, products are automatically generated and updated in all storefronts. All fields and images are synchronized. You can also see if any SKUs/barcodes are missing from the synchronization process.
Out-of-Stock Police
All sold-out goods will be instantly hidden or pushed down by Out-of-Stock Police in real time. Merchants can increase targeted traffic and aid sales while reducing the number of sold out goods. This app helps you to intelligently and automatically hide out-of-stock goods.
Bestsellers reSort
Bestsellers reSort is the simplest way to increase revenue and sales by changing the order of things to meet your needs. To assist with generating greater ROI and sales through your business, this app lets you show potential customers exploring your site the most profitable or significant goods first. For shops of all sizes, Bestsellers reSort sorts millions of items automatically and in several locations.
Simple Sample Data
No more clumsy import–export files! Simple Sample Data allows merchants to easily add relevant sample data to their Shopify stores. This tool can also search for test data CSV files. With one click, your business will be stocked with test goods, collections, orders, and customers.
Other Inventory Management Techniques
ABC Analysis
This method identifies the most popular and least popular stocks.Safety Stock
An inventory management philosophy that prioritizes safety stock ensures that there is always spare stock reserved in case the business is unable to restock those items.Minimum Order Quantity
To cut cost, a company that relies on minimum order quantity will order small amounts of merchandise from wholesalers in each purchase.Consignment
When using consignment inventory management, a company withholds paying its supplier until a particular product is sold. Until the inventory is sold, that provider retains ownership of the inventory as well.
If you are an e-commerce store owner, then you know the importance of managing your inventory. A multi-store inventory app can help you do just that. If you are ready to take your e-commerce business to the next level, then visit Egnition to see the variety of apps we offer.