How many stores can Prestashop handle in multistore mode?

[ten9its]

I'm just wondering if there is a limit to the number of multistores that can run on one Prestashop installation?  My store(s) will be set up so that each of my customers has their own store where they sell my products; the only difference between stores is that we brand each product with the customer's logo, for their customers.

 

Can Prestashop handle 100, 500 or 1,000+ stores in multistore mode?  I want to make sure my solution is scalable for the long term.  Thanks for your input!

[Dh42]

It can handle as many as your server can handle. For 1000 store I would guess your hosting fees might be around $15,000 a month though.

[kate-upton]

two questions that you should ask yourself before deciding to enable the multistore feature:-

 

1. Do you want your shops to have a different price for the same product (besides special discounts for a client or group of clients).

If the answer is 'yes', then you need to use the multistore feature.

2. When a client buys from one shop, would you want him or her to not have access that shop's order history and invoices from the other shop (even if the client have the same login credentials on both shops).

[ten9its]

The reason I chose to enable multistore is that I need individually branded stores for my "vendors" (their logo in the header) but they will not be adding/selling their own products.  They will only sell the products I add; products and prices will all be the same for every store.  The only difference between stores is that each product has a placeholder where that vendor's logo will be placed on the product once it is sold to their customers.

 

I do, however, have it set up so stores share inventory, customers and cart.  I want customers to be able to purchase from any of the stores under a single login/cart.

 

Maybe there is a better way to do this?  I'm new to Prestashop so any advice is greatly appreciated.

[El Patron]

I don't know if you saw this module or not.

 

https://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/464878-module-agile-multiple-sellersvendors-and-market-place-module-for-prestashop/

 

you might find it of interest.

[Dh42]

You honestly need another solution to work with the stores. I would drop the requirement of sharing accounts and I would handle the thing differently. This is how I would do it. 

 

 

I would make several different store designs, say 5, but all of them have the same product catalog. Then I would use WHMCS to administer them. When someone signs up with an account and pays, you can launch an instance with their store on it in whatever design you want. You can also suspend the stores if they do not pay you as well. It seems like a win-win without knowing all of your requirements.  

[El Patron]

Would there also not be a duplicate content issue especially since they would be from same IP?

[Dh42]

Oh, none of them would really get indexed. In my mind I am thinking of stores like the MLM kind like Avon or one of these new fangled juice things. No SEO value on a per store level, just basically an affiliate domain name. 

[Márcio Silva]

I'm having shipping issues

The ideal is for the customer to buy at any store and pay at any URL, this is easy to do, the problem is shipping.

Stores with different addresses have different costs too, at checkout the freight is not separated or added, it takes into account the address of the store where the purchase is being finalized.

In this case it is not feasible for physical products, for digital products it is great but physical products are not good.

Ideally, freight should be calculated separately in the comparison cart

EXAMPLE:

Store A with address X freight charge 1 X

Store B with address Y freight amount 2 X

But Prestashop takes into account the shipping cost based on the store where the checkout is taking place.