Shopify Expansion Stores: Everything You Need to Know in 2024

A great ecommerce platform for expanding your online business is Shopify. Organizations of all sizes can obtain the infrastructure and support they require with a variety of pricing options and a wide range of proprietary tools. One great feature of Shopify Plus is that it allows you to have more stores.

Shopify Plus expansion stores give brands the ability to better target specific markets with their content curation, build stores that cater to particular geographies, and improve their SEO.

Are you considering upgrading to Shopify expansion stores? This is important to know!

Source: Shopify Plus

Store Expansion Meaning

An additional store that you can open with your Shopify Plus account is called an expansion store. The store will function independently of your primary one and may have its own products, branding, and domain name.

You can import as much data from existing stores as you want, whether you create one more store or several. This can entail transferring the same themes, files, access and permissions for staff, billing, and inventory.

Source: Clearomni

Creating up to nine distinct regional stores in a single storefront is one of the key benefits of the Shopify Plus plan. What's even better is that Shopify Plus makes this possible for free.

All the necessary components for managing international eCommerce are included in expansion stores, including localized content experiences that help brands increase CVR, boost SEO rankings, and make use of paid media. Other requirements include local shipping options and currency.

It's among the greatest strategies to grow your company into new markets while offering a customized experience.

Pros and Cons of Shopify Plus Multiple Stores

Source: ehousestudio

Pros:

• Increased market share: Businesses can increase sales and revenue by expanding their storefronts to more locations and gaining a larger share of the market.
• Brand recognition: A brand becomes more noticeable the more locations it has. Customers' trust in the brand may rise as a result.
• Diversified risk: Businesses can lower the risk of possible local adversities, such as economic ones, that could affect a single location by distributing their operations across multiple locations.
• Economies of scale: Expansion may result in economies of scale in marketing, purchasing, and other operational domains, which could cut costs per unit.
• Local market adaptation: Companies can customize their products to meet regional needs, tastes, and demands, which improves market fit and may increase revenue.

Cons:

• High initial costs: Substantial capital investment is necessary for expansion.
• Operational complexity: The complexity of operations increases when managing multiple stores. This could call for hiring more people, providing more training, and implementing a more advanced management system.
• Inconsistent brand experience: There's a chance that different stores will provide customers with inconsistent brand experiences due to differing service or product quality levels.
• Market saturation: Saturating the market can result from rapid expansion or improper research. This may lead to cannibalization, in which newly opened stores steal customers from already open ones rather than bringing in new ones.

Although expansion stores can lead to growth and higher profits, they are not without difficulties. For this international selling strategy to be successful, careful planning, careful execution, and in-depth market research are necessary.

Read more: Shopify Plus Stores: Success Stories To Inspire You

How to Create Shopify Plus Expansion Stores?

It's time to start creating your expansion store at Shopify Plus once you have a solid idea for one.

Use the following steps to establish a new store from the organization admin:

1. From the Shopify admin, click Stores
2. From the dropdown menu, choose Create store
3. In the Store type section, choose the purpose of the new store
4. In Store details, enter a name and a URL. You won’t be able to change the URL once the site is live!
5. At this point, you can also choose any apps you wish to preinstall. We recommend connecting all the apps you use on your primary store.
6. Next, it’s time to import themes. Navigate to Themes
7. Select Import themes and check the themes you wish to import.
8. From the Choose a theme to publish in your new store list, choose the theme you want to use
9. Next, import files from your store. If you’re only selling some products on the new storefront, you’ll only need to import the files associated with that product line. If you don't want to import any files, then uncheck Import all files from this store
10. Select Done
11. To import staff, head on over to the Users section
12. Click Import users
13. Select the staff you want to import into your new store
14. Click Done
15. Click Create Store

You may encounter certain difficulties now that you have established your new store, or stores.

Let's examine those issues and potential solutions:

1. Geolocation

It's very simple to lose track of the time and money needed to establish your new store.

Let's say you have tailored your experience for a particular market, but new users aren't being sent to that store. You will lose a sale if the prospective customer has a bad experience and decides to leave the store.

Using a Geolocation Shopify app, you can link all of your expansion stores. Depending on your users' IP address, it will automatically synchronize with your Shopify Markets configuration and recommend the appropriate experience. It also has SEO features that will improve the effectiveness of your online positioning while adhering to data protection laws.

Quick read: Shopify for Artists: The Complete Guide to Sell Online

2. Selling cross-border

You should take into account the Geolocation app for this. They provide a number of tools that will cover all your international logistics needs and take care of import procedures and regulations, making end-to-end operations much simpler. If you don't have local teams and sell in multiple markets, this is useful.

Source: Orbe

3. Coordination

Owning multiple expansion stores on Shopify Plus requires a lot of coordination for things like post-purchased operations, inventory synchronization, and customer support.

You can now start adding any details you want to your brand-new expansion store by logging in. It really is that easy, and it's just one of Shopify Plus's many wonderful advantages. Check out our guide on why you should upgrade from the basic packages to Plus if you're considering making the move.

Shopify Markets vs Expansion Stores

1. Shopify payouts in several currencies are required

It is currently not possible in Shopify Markets to accept payments in USD for your US store and GBP for your UK store; instead, you will need to use expansion stores.

Shopify has plans to remove this restriction in the future.

2. Full localization of the Shopify store

You should think about opening multiple Shopify stores if you want full localization of your store, such as the capacity to develop highly market-specific content or campaigns.

3. Complex rules for pricing, shipping, tax, warehousing, etc.

We would strongly advise taking into account expansion stores if a business has intricate regulations pertaining to these areas. Having a catalog of goods with various tax obligations is one way to illustrate this.

4. Discounting and promotions

Discounts and promotions will be applied to all regions simultaneously when using Shopify Markets. You will need to use expansion stores if you need more flexibility than this and want to design promotional campaigns that are specific to a given region.

5. Reliance on third-party apps

Shopify Markets is a Shopify solution. Consequently, not every third-party app is compatible with Markets. Verify the compatibility of third-party apps with Shopify Markets if your store heavily depends on them for essential features. It is likely that you will have to use expansion stores if they are incompatible or if their compatibility is restricted.

6. Email translation requirements

Source: Klaviyo

Compared to a website's front end, translating an email is much more difficult so an email must be sent through Klaviyo. Emails cannot be translated if they cannot be sent through Klaviyo.

The next best thing is to have multiple languages in the body of your email. The primary drawback in this case relates to third-party tools that email clients, such as those used for post-purchase review requests. You will need to use expansion stores if you don't want to send emails with multiple languages like this.

7. Regions are managed independently

Using expansion stores makes sense if the various market regions are overseen by separate teams. This preserves the independence of distinct teams.

8. In certain areas, Shopify Payment is not available.

Shopify Payments is necessary for a large portion of Shopify Markets' functionality. Payments, however, aren't available everywhere. As a result, the multi-store approach is your best bet if your company is located in an area where Shopify Payments are not available. This is because a large portion of Shopify Markets will not work.

Conclusion

When your ecommerce grows and scales, you can greatly benefit from building a Shopify Plus development and expansion store. While providing your customers with an excellent shopping experience, using these two store types can significantly lower the risk involved with testing features on your live site.

The solution to growing on a new e-commerce site without going bankrupt is a Shopify Plus expansion store. All things considered, a Shopify Plus expansion store gives your company access to thousands more consumers without requiring a sizable initial outlay of funds.

Above all, see how a Shopify Plus development store can elevate your online store to new heights. You'll be pleased to discover how much easier the transition can be with the help of a Shopify Plus development company.

Explore more, check out: Top 10 Shopify Baby Store Examples for Your Inspiration