Multiple Store Fronts with One Backend
Almost every other bigger Ecommerce project nowadays turns into a complex system where the store owner wishes to have multiple online stores – front ends – linked to the same backend and the same database.
There are several reasons to consider this approach good for online ecommerce businesses.
1 having multiple front ends all linked to the same backend allows for having different (from the buyer’s point of view) online stores. Correspondingly approaching various niche markets becomes possible. Each front end may have its own design, products, and even domain names. Each front end can be marketed separately, dependently on the best approach to reach its target audience.
2 managing several online stores using the same backend is way easier than managing several separate online stores. The online store management team can be the same, all orders are stored in one place, all dispatches can be also managed easier. Finally, reports and statistics will show the status of the whole business and not just some of its parts. If properly implemented, the system should be very easy to enhance with more features, and those features will be automatically added to each front end.
3 having the product catalog split into several front ends may improve SEO of the whole system. Each front end can be given its specific product range, so keyword density within a particular front end can be higher than one of a web site that would have all the products. Also, all front ends can point to each other, improving page ranks. One fairly important note here is that it’s preferable to have different descriptions per product per each individual front end, as otherwise the problem of duplicate content may ruin SEO efforts.
4 having a system with multiple front ends in place the online store management team can launch a very featured Affiliate Programme. Front ends are hosted on the same server where the back end of the system is located. Naturally, a front end of an online store with its list of products, with its own design is an ideal solution for an affiliate business. The store management team would just need to assign certain commission per cent on all orders received from an affiliate’s front end, and the system is ready to go live! All received orders will be stored in the database as orders received from certain front end, and commission per cent will be real easy to calculate.
It’s clear that to turn a store into a multiple-front ends system a significant amount of development and marketing efforts should be invested into the business, but a multiple front ends system can easily repay for itself very soon if properly marketed.
Our solution is available in two versions. Multiple Frontends is useful for when an online business is managed from the same backend by the same Administration team, having multiple frontends available to the end customers. Multiple Stores is useful for when each frontend / store is given its very own Administration team, who operates it without interfering with Administrators of other online stores that are part of the system.