Once you have reached a particular stage in your WooCommerce (WC) business, you may have decided to open more stores and create a WooCommerce multistore business to grow your fledgling business further.
However, you, like many other people, may find running a WooCommerce multistore business very intimidating as it most likely involves a lot of challenges multiplied by 10. That’s ten times the challenges that come with running a single online store.
If you are a person who falls into the above category, then we have good news for you. This article will explain how you can easily manage a WC multistore business without getting overwhelmed.
So whether you are running a single store or a multistore business, continue reading because we are about to explain almost everything you need to know about managing a WooCommerce multistore business.
What is a WooCommerce Multistore Business?
A physical store starts off with one branch, and as time goes on, if the store has been doing great (sales-wise) it will need to open new locations to be able to grow even further. Moreover, as an online store owner, you too can “open” a new store so that you will be able to sell more products to a wider customer base, attract more customers, offer more products, and sell your products in different locations.
Once you have a few years of online trading under your belt, you might find the need to set up a multistore business to reach even more customers with more specialized products and boost your sales. Moreover, these new stores will take the form of different websites that are independent of each other, but within a common multisite network. Furthermore, you can manage each of your stores similarly to how you used to manage a single store, the difference is that now you will have more store locations to look after.
WordPress allows you to create a WooCommerce multisite network using a single domain and hosting plan. As a result, you will be able to “open” multiple stores, add products to these stores, and begin managing orders for each individual store.
Benefits of Having a WooCommerce Multistore Business
While having multiple stores is a good solution for most businesses, not everyone needs to or is well-equipped to open a WooCommerce multistore business. Therefore, it is better to reflect on whether opening this kind of business is a good idea for you or not.
After all, you don’t want to get ahead and start something you can’t handle. Furthermore, it is better to weigh your options first and decide if you are ready to open a multi-store business. If not, you can always try again after a few years.
But, if you feel you are ready to open a business with many stores, then please keep on reading.
If you have decided to open a multistore business, let’s take a look at some of the benefits you can get from having multiple store locations.
WooCommerce Multiple Store Location Benefits
- Region-Focused Stores – A different store location in a specific region can help you sell certain products to a particular demographic. For example, you could open a store in a country with a cold climate, and dedicate it to selling winter wear.
- Expand Your Business – Opening more stores will allow your business to grow and flourish further. At one point, having a single store may not be enough to keep up with the demand of your customers. Therefore, in this case, you will need a multistore setup to be able to sell your products to more people
- Native Language Store – To better connect with customers in a certain region or country, you can open a new store in that region or country’s native language
- Specialized Product Stores – By opening additional stores, you will be able to assign specific products to a specific store, thus having a specialized store for selling a specific type of product. For example, you can have a store that is entirely dedicated to selling electronic items.
- Unique Store Designs – Opening more stores will also enable you to customize the stores with unique appearances that are consistent with what type of product is being sold. In addition, each store’s SEO can be improved by using different keywords for different stores.
- Wholesale and Retail Stores – By opening many store locations, you will be able to differentiate stores that deal with retail products and wholesale products. Therefore, you will be able to direct your target customers to specific stores, depending on whether they want to purchase wholesale or retail.
How To Manage Multiple Stores on WooCommerce?
As you can see, the challenge of a WooCommerce multistore business (or multistore locations) is that you will need to manage all of the following aspects for each of your stores:
- Orders
- Shipping
- Sales and Discounts
- Overheads
- Customer and Product Data
- Store Appearance
- Admin Work
- Marketing
- Customer Support
- And so much more
This leads us to the question of why anyone would want to open multiple store locations if the task of managing them seems overwhelming.
Well, the answer is very simple.
Manage Multiple Store Locations Easily
You will easily be able to manage multiple store locations by using the right tools. That’s right, with the correct WooCommerce multistore management plugins, the task of managing a business with lots of stores will be almost as easy as managing a single store.
Unlike single-store plugins which can only handle things in one store at a time, a WooCommerce multistore plugin is a special group of plugins that can handle/ manage specific operations across all of your stores. For example, you can have a WC multistore plugin that handles shipping for all of your stores.
To manage WooCommerce multiple store locations, you will need to use proper plugins that are compatible with WC. Moreover, these plugins should help you manage many stores by providing you with the following features:
1. A Centralized “Command Center” from where you can control almost all aspects of your stores such as order processing, inventory management, shipment tracking, etc.
2. Product/ stock updates
3. A detailed report or summary of what is going on in all of your stores
4. Allow you to make changes such as store appearance, price, discount, product description, etc. without needing to go to each store
A WooCommerce multistore plugin that allows you to perform various operations from one dashboard is the most ideal plugin to manage a business with many stores.
WooCommerce MultiStore Business Summary
All in all, here is a quick summary of what you need to do to create and manage a WooCommerce multistore business:
- Activate the Multisite Feature on WordPress to create a network of sites
- Set up domains, subdomains, folders, etc. depending on how many new stores you want to open, and in what fashion you want them to operate
- Activate the WC plugin
- Create a store on WC and add some products to it
- Install a WC multistore manager plugin, this plugin will help you manage multiple stores at once
- Create multiple stores and add some products to them
- Use the WC multiple store manager plugin to manage orders, track inventory, accept payments, etc.
Top Plugins to Manage WooCommerce Multistore Businesses
Now that you know what a WooCommerce multistore model is and why it’s useful, let’s take a look at some plugins that will help you easily manage a WC business that has lots of stores.
1- Multi Stores Addons for WooCommerce
Multi Stores Addons for WooCommerce is an all-around plugin that helps you manage inventory, product pricing, product shipping, and payment methods for all of your WC multistore locations. As a result, this plugin is the perfect solution to manage your multistore business.
Multi Stores Addons for WC is divided into 8 sections, with each section controlling a certain aspect of your WC store, these sections are:
- Global Tab
- Products Tab
- Notifications Tab
- Labels Tab
- Shipping Zones tab
- Payment Method Tab
- Import/Export Tab
- Shipping Cost tab
Each of the above sections helps you manage a certain area of your entire multistore network such as product stock, discount prices, shipping regions, email notifications, store frontend features, etc.
This plugin, created by the makers of Agile Store Locator, comes with many useful and powerful features that will make managing WooCommerce multistore business very convenient and easy.
Key features of Multi Store Addons for WooCommerce
- Inventory Management Across Multiple Stores
- Location Picker at Checkout
- Distance Rate Shipping Calculator
- Location-Wise Shipping Methods
- Location-Wise Payment Methods
For a more detailed guide on how and what Agile Stores Addons for WooCommerce does, please refer to the following guide: Multi Stores Addons for WooCommerce: An Ultimate Guide for Beginners.
2- Veeqo
The next WooCommerce multistore manager plugin on our list is Veeqo.
Veeqo is described as an inventory management software that is well-equipped to be your solution for managing your multistore locations. This is because Veeqo can be used for inventory management, order management, shipping, and reporting forecasts.
One of the most notable things about Veeqo is that it directly integrates with other e-commerce stores such as Shopify, Magento, Amazon, etc. All in all, according to Veeqo’s website, the Veeqo platform integrates with 21+ e-commerce platforms, marketplaces, shipping carriers, third-party logistics platforms, POS platforms, and accounting software.
Veeqo is able to manage the orders from all your WC multistore locations because it can sync with the inventory of your WC stores. Moreover, you can fulfill orders and ship products all from one place. In addition, all order statuses are updated automatically once you complete an action.
As you can tell, Veeqo clearly has all the right things going for it when it comes to efficiently managing a business with many stores. Moreover, it has all the features you need for a smooth experience in managing numerous store locations.
You try Veeqo for free for 30 days without providing any credit card information. Once the free trial ends, you will need to sign up for a monthly package that ranges from £120 – £200.
Key Features of Veeqo
- Automating repetitive shipping
- Digital picking scanners
- Shipping bulk orders
- Live search for acquiring orders
- Advanced filter options
3- WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory
The next plugin on our list is WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory.
WC Multi Warehouse Inventory is a plugin that can help you reduce shipping resources such as time and cost by enabling you to efficiently manage product inventory in multiple warehouses.
With this plugin, you can create multiple warehouse locations in which you can store and manage products. The benefit of having multiple warehouses is that you will be able to keep stock of your product on a warehouse-to-warehouse basis. Moreover, you will effectively be able to reduce shipping costs by matching a warehouse to a certain delivery region.
WC Multi Warehouse Inventory even allows your customers to choose from where they would like to receive their product. In addition, the plugin also comes with smart inventory management that can update stock across all locations from a single dashboard.
WooCommerce Multi Warehouse Inventory is available on the Envato market at $49 for a regular license.
Key Features of WC Multi Warehouse Inventory
- Create multiple warehouse locations to store and manage products
- 3 product page inventory styles
- Inventories for frontend and backend
- Use Excel to import or export stock quantities
- Well-documented plugin with fast support
4- WooCommerce Multisite Duplicator
The next multistore plugin on our list is WooCommerce Multisite Duplicator.
When you have hundreds of thousands of products across a huge number of stores, then adding and removing products one by one can be a huge pain in the rear. However, by using WC Multisite Duplicator the previously mentioned problem will be a thing of the past because this plugin makes your life easier by creating or deleting copies of your products in your whole multisite network.
With this plugin, you can create duplicate products and add them to any store in your multisite environment with ease. Furthermore, the duplicated product will retain its original data and image. Moreover, the duplicated products can be used to create variation by making small adjustments to SKU, title, or slug.
Products can also be deleted network-wide with a click of a button. As a result, you will not have to go from site to site to manually delete certain products.
Key Features of WC Multisite Duplicator
- Copy products to multiple sites
- Delete products from multiple sites easily
- Create unlimited store categories and filters
- Made in Germany
- Highly rated product
5- WooCommerce Global Cart
Another WC multistore plugin that will be very beneficial for your multistore business is WooCommerce Global Cart.
WC Global Cart “unites” all your stores in your multistore network with a single cart and checkout process. As a result, your customers will be able to add products from any store into a single cart, making the shopping experience better for your visitors because they won’t need to fill multiple carts or go through multiple checkout screens.
This plugin can effortlessly unite an unlimited number of stores within the multisite network, so you won’t have to worry about over-integrating a huge number of stores with this plugin.
WCe Global Cart is 100% compatible with WooCommerce and WordPress, and it works with all domain types such as subdomains, custom domains, subfolders, etc.
An easy setup feature makes this plugin an attractive offer for people who are new to WooCommerce. Moreover, if you ever have any issues, you can always refer to documentation articles and videos that are available for WC Global Cart.
Key Features of WooCommerce Global Cart
- Store network performance reports that indicate which stores are performing well
- Single interface order management feature that allows you to manage orders for all your stores
- A global search feature that runs across all your stores
Most Important Questions:
In this section, let’s take a look at a few common questions that are asked about WC.
Is WC good for large stores?
Yes. WC is good for large stores because it is perfectly capable of handling large amounts of product, provided all the products you add don’t slow your website down.
Can WC handle 1 million products?
Technically, yes, but the reality is that one million products are a lot of data, and it will take a long time to load all of those products on your WooCommerce store. Moreover, that much product data is bound to put a lot of load on your server
Can WC handle high traffic?
Yes. WC is well-equipped to handle high amounts of traffic.
What are the disadvantages of WC?
- Needs more micromanagement
- Requires a sufficient amount of technical/coding skills
- Limited customization options
- Lack of customer support
- Not suitable for beginners
Is Shopify or WC better for SEO?
Regarding technical SEO offerings, Shopify offers more all-rounded SEO capabilities with many integrated features such as SSL certification authentication, faster page loading speed, auto-generated tags for pages, etc.
Conclusion
Having a WooCommerce multisite business is the logical progression step for any single-store owner. However, owning and managing a WC multistore business can be very hectic due to the need to manage many moving parts of multiple stores.
Luckily, the solution to the above problem is to use one of the many WC multistore plugins to help manage your multistore network.
The multistore plugins mentioned in this article will certainly make managing your multistore business more stress-free.