Lets imagine a scenario: you’ve got a growing website with a wide variety of products. You’re looking to expand your customer base and grow revenue. What do you do?
One option some retailers will employ is dividing their website product up into sub-niche markets by creating multiple store fronts. Recently, we discussed on the blog how our Multi-Storefront Extension can help you do this (check it out here). However, this does beg the question—how do you decide whether or not creating multiple store fronts is for you?
Recently I came upon a great article written by developer Michael Stearns on this very issue. You can find the article on Practical Ecommerce’s website here: The Case for Launching Sub-Niche Websites by Michael Stearns.
In the article, Stearns lays out a process that every ecommerce retailer should go through before they make the leap towards dividing their business. Some good point include:
- Don’t be shy on branding–the whole point of dividing your market is to brand each site into the best possible source for your product.
- Multiple websites = multiple marketing campaigns. Make sure that you have the time, manpower and drive to invest in promoting your storefronts with as much gusto as your single website. Take time to build unique content, and you will see the benefits.
- Have a robust database in place that can handle multiple storefronts (may we suggest perhaps Upshot Commerce’s Multi-Storefront Extension?)
With the right amount of work and planning, creating multiple storefronts can be a great way to expand and grow your business in new directions. If you would like to know how Upshot Commerce can help you to make this happen, please do not hesitate to contact us!