Multi-Store eCommerce Features and Benefits What to look for when implementing a multi-store eCommerce solution This is part two in a four-part series. Don't forget to check out part one, part three, and part four to learn more! Choosing to use the multi-store eCommerce model is a great way to have multiple online stores that are easy to manage while greatly reducing the costs of creating multiple eCommerce stores that have their own sites. Multi-store eCommerce is employing one eCommerce platform and domain to run multiple web stores and/or subdomains. Each store can have its own unique design, branding, and look while running off of the same eCommerce platform, or all share the same main platform, similar to Etsy, eBay, or Amazon. Below are some benefits and features to look for when selecting an eCommerce platform to use for your multi-store eCommerce business. Control All Stores from One Place A multi-vendor eCommerce solution should enable you to manage all of your stores from one dashboard. The dashboard will be a central location for every one of your stores’ setups, accounts, and information. From the dashboard, you could create more stores, select products and prices to be displayed in each store, and view detailed reports about the sales, data, and visitors of every store. The dashboard should also be able to give you an eagle-eye view of the combined statistics and finances of all of your stores. If you choose the Amazon model, then the platform needs to be able to delegate the management of each store to each Seller signing up to sell their goods and services. Manage All Stores from One Administrator Account A multi-vendor marketplace also lets you easily control and manage all of your stores from one administrator account. They can set prices and change product selections without having to go through each different store's administrator login account. They can easily access information and change settings as well as user roles and privileges without having to log onto anything but the central dashboard. Publish Content in an Inheritance Model For multi-store eCommerce, you want to be able to publish content using an inheritance model. Using an inheritance model helps cut down on the time it takes to update products and product listings. If your eCommerce and stores are set up right, the content will be inherited by the “child” classes from the “parent” classes. Marketing and Email Automation Capabilities Marketing and email automation can also be easily set up and managed using a robust multi-vendor marketplace platform. You could automate certain marketing emails to be sent to just the customers of a specific store. You could create separate email messages for each of your stores’ customers. If customers shop at all of your stores, you could generate and send one email advertising all of your stores, instead of bombarding your customers with multiple email messages. The right platform will allow you to send targeted messages to every one of your online store’s customers. SEO Friendly As with any eCommerce site, you want to ensure that it is SEO-friendly. With multi-store eCommerce, there are a few extra components that need to be considered. Using the right strategies for keywords and marketing will help draw customers to each different store without hurting your other stores’ businesses or your search engine rankings. Having the right SEO meta tags, URLs, and descriptions associated with each of your stores and their individual products helps to make sure they are distinct and aren’t competing against each other for visitors and customers. Clarity Can Help Having the right development company help implement your multi-store eCommerce solution and using the right eCommerce platform makes all the difference when creating multiple online stores. Our experts have decades of combined experience helping businesses implement solutions to fit their needs. Clarity eCommerce, Clarity’s flexible and robust eCommerce platform, can easily function as a multi-store eCommerce solution. Our team of expert developers can customize it to suit your business’s multi-vendor eCommerce development needs. To find out more about Clarity eCommerce or to schedule a consultation with one of our developers, call or click to contact us today!