Do you manage multiple e-commerce store fronts? Controlling one e-commerce store is no easy task, let alone multiple. Some e-commerce platforms hinder user accessibility and make managing these stores a nightmare. Within the last year, Magento transformed their platform to accommodate multiple websites or stores. They now offer unique features for business owners operating within dynamic online environments. Here is a basic guide to Magento Multi-Store:
What is Magento Multi-Store?
Each Magento store has a hierarchy of websites, stores, and store views. The global aspect of Magento is the initial installation of Magento. The Main Website is the default installation webpage. There can be multiple websites, each with its own IP address and domain. A single website may have multiple stores, which will share the same product catalog, but different design and products. Individual store views may be utilized for different customers. Additional store views may support different languages or different brands.
Magento Multi-Store allows a user to utilize multiple websites, stores, or store views. Users can limit product categories, restrict extensions, and utilize multiple languages for different shops.
Benefits of Multi-Store
There are countless benefits to working with the multi-store view. Here are just a few:
- It is easier for customers to explore your website
- Site management is simplified with a single central panel
- You can geotarget consumers with various language structures
- Targeting specific customer segments
- Use various payment & shipping methods
Use Cases
There are numerous ways to approach multi-store for your needs. You could utilize multiple websites, stores, or store views. For example, it is common to manage only one store, but allow access to several languages. This would impact the number of store views available. For businesses with products under the same brand, but different categories of products, they may create separate websites or stores based on the grouping. It is possible to create a completely separate website with a unique domain from the same product catalog.
Some Considerations
Before configuring your Magento Multi-Store, there are a few things to consider. Most importantly, an SSL certificate can only serve one domain and IP address. You must add SSL to multiple domains in order to resolve this issue. Some of the possible solutions include Wildcard SSL, Subject Alternative Name (SAN) certification, and Cloudways Solution. Furthermore, you will need to ensure your hosting is multi-site to limit risk of server issues.
Getting Started
Magento Multi-Store is a great tool for e-commerce store owners will many different products, stores, or brands. We hope our guide to Magento Multi-Store provided some insight into the benefits of these upgrades. These features are added benefits of an upgrade to Magento 2. Check out some of the many other benefits of Magento 2 in this article. For more information on Magento Multi-Store or for further help developing and managing your store, contact us at (865) 465-4040 or schedule a meeting!
