The choice
When you start selling in more than one country, you can either run everything from one store, or open a separate store for each region. The decision affects how much work your team does every week, and it is expensive to undo, so it is worth thinking about early.
One store
Choose this if your products are mostly the same everywhere, one team looks after everything, and you want the same look across every country.
- Products are updated once.
- Changes are made once.
- Customers and orders are in one place.
Separate stores
Choose this if each region has a very different range, its own team, or its own company and finance set-up.
- Each region can work independently.
- Each store can be set up for its own market.
The cost is that more things are done more than once, and someone has to keep the stores consistent.
Questions to ask yourself
- Is our range mostly the same in every country?
- Does one team manage all of it?
- Do we run everything through one company and one finance set-up?
- Do we want every country to look the same?
If most answers are yes, one store is usually simpler. If most are no, separate stores are worth a closer look.
Plan for it early
Whichever you choose, the store should be built with the differences between countries in mind from the start. Adding them later costs more.
If you are weighing this up, get in touch with the countries you sell to and what you sell, and I can help you decide. You can also read about my work on multi-country Shopify stores and B2B selling.