When you’re managing multiple online storefronts you’ve likely got enough to worry about without having to add manual management to the list. The rise of multi-store platforms and features in ecommerce has been a blessing or a curse pending your operations. Used effectively, multi-store functionality such as those available through BigCommerce and Magento 2 have the ability to expand your brand’s reach, cater to specific audiences and diversify your offerings – all while helping centralize your technology stack. Used poorly, you could potentially be biting off more than you can handle, especially if you don’t have the internal resources, knowledge or strategy to keep all your brands well positioned in their prospective markets.
What is automation?
Technically speaking, automation is defined as “the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically.” In layman terms, automation provides the technology to control, monitor and in essence deliver on services through a defined process.
Why does automation matter for companies who have multiple online stores?
Automation reduces human error risk, free’s up your team’s time spent on manual or tedious tasks and to focus on sustaining or growing the business at hand. Automation can be at work 24/7 so you don’t have to, simplifying management while also tailoring a unique customer experience. It’s especially helpful when sharing the same or similar product service offerings on multiple websites. Centralized systems make for a single source of truth and are able to disperse information as designed or directed in a controlled manner be it for content, catalog or otherwise.
Why choose to use multi-storefront functionality?
With platforms who offer multi-storefront functionality, you can create multiple ecommerce websites within a single system. This allows you to scale smarter by creating tailored experiences for your buyers while simplifying management. On of our platform partners, BigCommerce, points out some important benefits that MSF enables merchants to do:
- “Effortlessly grow into new markets by creating custom experiences for your various buyers without additional work.
- Reduce costs by streamlining your ecommerce operations
- Empower efficiency and ditch duplication of efforts with a centralized system to manage all of your storefronts.
- Make better decisions for your business with a unified data source — and powerful insights to grow.” (source)
Brand Labs works specifically with multi-store companies as an extension of their technical team. To discuss your company’s needs, you can reach us here!