Multi Store for multi-country best practice

[amoswright]

We're setting up a b2b / wholesale site, which is US based, but will sell internationally, and wondering about best practices. What we're hoping for, for our setup:

 

1) We want customers to pay in their native currency, using country specific pricing (not just converted by currency rates).

2) Non-registered users should be able to browse products, without prices.

3) Registered / approved users should browse products/order in the multi-store specific to their country. Non-registered users should not be able to browse any stores except for the default US store.

4) Run prestashop under one domain, and use sub-directories for the multiple stores.

4) Should be easy/intuitive to use for approved customers :-)

5) Ease of maintenance for back-end pricing/product updates.

 

I'm playing around with configurations, and seems like there are several options that are close / might work. Has anyone else made a similar set-up work well? If so, what advise / tricks to offer?

 

My first thought was to share customers between the multi stores, allowing a single login, and then restrict the registered customers "customer group" to  the appropriate store. However, if they get off-track and into one of the other stores, that does not work well (would have to code a redirect for logged in users to the appropriate multi store?). Barring that, I'm back to not sharing customers between stores, and trying to work out the details of a good user experience for login and browsing.

 

Thoughts? Thanks!

[El Patron]

  On 5/27/2016 at 4:03 PM, amoswright said:

We're setting up a b2b / wholesale site, which is US based, but will sell internationally, and wondering about best practices. What we're hoping for, for our setup:

 

I do not recommend native MultiShop unless you are using say a .com with ccTLD' like .de/.fr/.es etc.

 

1) We want customers to pay in their native currency, using country specific pricing (not just converted by currency rates).

back office-->preferences-->geo location-->enable  then in back office-->catalog-->products-->edit product-->prices-->add new specific price by country.  I only recommend using geo location with my module Geo Targeting Pro.  (note: currency back office-->localization-->countries-->edit country-->set default currency.

2) Non-registered users should be able to browse products, without prices.

back office-->customers-->groups-->set show prices to 'no' for visitors group

3) Registered / approved users should browse products/order in the multi-store specific to their country. Non-registered users should not be able to browse any stores except for the default US store.

This is a little confusing but I think I understand, if pre-approved visitors only then you can use my Private Shop module.  see module for more info.

4) Run prestashop under one domain, and use sub-directories for the multiple stores.

ew, I don't like this method...lol...I'd rather have the ccTLD by country or a localized gTLD.

4) Should be easy/intuitive to use for approved customers :-)

5) Ease of maintenance for back-end pricing/product updates.

I would seriously consider shop commander rather then .csv upload or worse yet, managing in back office.

 

I'm playing around with configurations, and seems like there are several options that are close / might work. Has anyone else made a similar set-up work well? If so, what advise / tricks to offer?

 

My first thought was to share customers between the multi stores, allowing a single login, and then restrict the registered customers "customer group" to  the appropriate store. However, if they get off-track and into one of the other stores, that does not work well (would have to code a redirect for logged in users to the appropriate multi store?). Barring that, I'm back to not sharing customers between stores, and trying to work out the details of a good user experience for login and browsing.

 

TIP: rule 1, never ever redirect, rule 2, see rule 1.

 

here is link to new genre (category) of international seo, invented by me...lol

 

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

I added feedback in red.  I hope this helps....I cannot answer all maybe but give you some ideas on how to move forward.  happy dal el

Edited May 28, 2016 by El Patron (see edit history)

[Tamara F]

  On 5/28/2016 at 4:56 PM, El Patron said:

4) Run prestashop under one domain, and use sub-directories for the multiple stores.

ew, I don't like this method...lol...I'd rather have the ccTLD by country or a localized gTLD.

 

Hi,

 

Why wouldn´t you recommend that? I was thinking about opening a new web based in multistore with subdirectories becasue it is easier for seo if you are not very big.

As I understand, big companies can benefit from the extra SEO point related to having specifid country domain BUT small companies can find better results in having just one domain to focus all SEO and linkbuilding in ONE domain. isn´t it?

 

Is there any problem that maybe I did not notice using subdirectories?

 

Thanks in advance

[El Patron]

  On 9/19/2016 at 1:21 PM, Tamara F said:

Hi,

 

Why wouldn´t you recommend that? I was thinking about opening a new web based in multistore with subdirectories becasue it is easier for seo if you are not very big.

As I understand, big companies can benefit from the extra SEO point related to having specifid country domain BUT small companies can find better results in having just one domain to focus all SEO and linkbuilding in ONE domain. isn´t it?

 

Is there any problem that maybe I did not notice using subdirectories?

 

Thanks in advance

 

because with ccTLD/gTLD strategy, you avoid duplicate content which is significant in itself.  you probably run a .com....so you compete with all .com's with similar product at 'world' level, and you get not SEO benefit but most likely penalized for dupe content.  

[Tamara F]

  On 9/19/2016 at 3:02 PM, El Patron said:

because with ccTLD/gTLD strategy, you avoid duplicate content which is significant in itself.  you probably run a .com....so you compete with all .com's with similar product at 'world' level, and you get not SEO benefit but most likely penalized for dupe content.  

 

Thanks for your answer

 

But it  would be duplicate content even if they are or not different domains (duplicate is duplicate isn´t it?). Anyway that would not be a problem as my different stores would be in different languages depending on the country (spanish for spain, italian for italy...) so they would not be duplicate in any case (I will do manual translation).

 

In your opinion it still worth enough to divide all linkbuilding and seo efforts in so many domains?

In case it would be important to evaluate, all my content would be original.

 

Thanks!

[El Patron]

Hi, this is an area I've spent a long time working in and/or developing sfw for.  

 

This is good starter article,  from there you  can read/lean more by searching ccTLD duplicate content....see moz for good discussions..

 

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/182192?hl=en#3

 

Note there is hierarchy ccTLD/1 gTLD |  fr.yourdomain.com | 'other' methods.

 

The subdirectory method, as exampled by shoes/shirts/...and as examples used by ps in multishop, are for non-shared products....so to say your setup could be penalized or not I cannot say...but I think the 'simple' exampled shown by PS has separation of poducts per subd.

 

I've taken a new approach to localization,  where we extend native ps frienly url language from /xx/ /xx-yy/...

learn more here

https://www.prestashop.com/forums/topic/528250-module-prestashop-seo-friendly-language-url-pro/

The reason behind this module is that now we can geographically target our content using same idea as ccTLD, es-es spain es-ar argentina...This is the 'new way' of doing things. And I was first to do it in PS.  I win..lol

 

I love localization....happy day el

[NielsTy]

Hi El Patron.

I am actually looking for same option... the Multi Store solution.

I read your comments about not to use it, but in my case, do you think there is other possibility?

I have a shop, and for each product there is a bunch of combinations. Now, i need the price of combinations to be different from one country to another (and also different currency and different VAT). Is there a way to do this without Multi Store?

 

 

  On 5/28/2016 at 4:56 PM, El Patron said:

I added feedback in red.  I hope this helps....I cannot answer all maybe but give you some ideas on how to move forward.  happy dal el

[El Patron]

  On 5/29/2017 at 2:30 PM, NielsTy said:

Hi El Patron.

I am actually looking for same option... the Multi Store solution.

I read your comments about not to use it, but in my case, do you think there is other possibility?

I have a shop, and for each product there is a bunch of combinations. Now, i need the price of combinations to be different from one country to another (and also different currency and different VAT). Is there a way to do this without Multi Store?

My advice is to create copy of your existing shop, say in subdomain.  there enable multishop and use another sub-domain for example.  I think native PS multishop is very good and serves good many good purposes.  I think for you to have a working multishop that you can learn with and see if it  meets your requirements will be best.  I'm pro multi-shop but for different reasons, i.e. when looking at cms as app and how we can multiplex that content across region/country.  For price by country,  this can be accomplished for most people with say my geo targeting pro module.  

 

Note: if you are going to require a different default shop currency other than main shop, the you will also need to entertain idea of separate installations, which should be avoided if at all possible.  

 

So start with devcopy of your shop, enable ps multishop, see if it meets the requirements you have and go from there.  I'd also be happy to provide assistance in geo localizing your shop as it's a hobby of mine.

 

Happy prestashopping

[NielsTy]

Hi El Patron.

Thanks a lot for your advice. I will definitely try the multi store functionality, as i can't see how else i can sell same product with different VAT's depending on country.

I also mentioned this in another thread of mine, you were so kind to answer

 

Niels

 

  On 5/29/2017 at 5:20 PM, El Patron said:

My advice is to create copy of your existing shop, say in subdomain.  there enable multishop and use another sub-domain for example.  I think native PS multishop is very good and serves good many good purposes.  I think for you to have a working multishop that you can learn with and see if it  meets your requirements will be best.  I'm pro multi-shop but for different reasons, i.e. when looking at cms as app and how we can multiplex that content across region/country.  For price by country,  this can be accomplished for most people with say my geo targeting pro module.  

 

Note: if you are going to require a different default shop currency other than main shop, the you will also need to entertain idea of separate installations, which should be avoided if at all possible.  

 

So start with devcopy of your shop, enable ps multishop, see if it meets the requirements you have and go from there.  I'd also be happy to provide assistance in geo localizing your shop as it's a hobby of mine.

 

Happy prestashopping

[Surffari]

  On 5/29/2017 at 5:20 PM, El Patron said:

My advice is to create copy of your existing shop, say in subdomain.  there enable multishop and use another sub-domain for example.  I think native PS multishop is very good and serves good many good purposes.  I think for you to have a working multishop that you can learn with and see if it  meets your requirements will be best.  I'm pro multi-shop but for different reasons, i.e. when looking at cms as app and how we can multiplex that content across region/country.  For price by country,  this can be accomplished for most people with say my geo targeting pro module.  

 

Note: if you are going to require a different default shop currency other than main shop, the you will also need to entertain idea of separate installations, which should be avoided if at all possible.  

 

So start with devcopy of your shop, enable ps multishop, see if it meets the requirements you have and go from there.  I'd also be happy to provide assistance in geo localizing your shop as it's a hobby of mine.

 

Happy prestashopping

Expand  

Hi @El Patron

Thanks for the good insights!!

This is just what I am trying to decide at the moment.

We have a pilot shop in Chile (vapura.cl)
I have just reserved the domain in Australia for the next shop (vapura.com.au)

I have 3 main concerns with SEO and manageability of the different stores.

1. What is the best choice from SEO perspetive (I think you answered already that domain.com/xx-yy (=lang-country)??
2. What is the recommended/easiest way to manage this kind of scenario with prestashop (It seems that there are many dark corners with Presta multishop implementation)
3. Last and probably least, what is the marketing value of having the country domain version for each country/market

To make things more complicated, we don't have a universal domain like xyz.com. It would be kinda silly to serve AU market with a .cl domain too...

The mor I read about it, it seems that prestashop is not very versatile to cater all these customisations and it would be easier to set separate shops off the bat??

Edited May 19, 2020 by Surffari (see edit history)

[El Patron]

  On 5/19/2020 at 10:17 AM, Surffari said:

Hi @El Patron

Thanks for the good insights!!

This is just what I am trying to decide at the moment.

We have a pilot shop in Chile (https://vapura.cl)
I have just reserved the domain in Australia for the next shop (https://vapura.com.au)

I have 3 main concerns with SEO and manageability of the different stores.

1. What is the best choice from SEO perspetive (I think you answered already that domain.com/xx-yy (=lang-country)??
2. What is the recommended/easiest way to manage this kind of scenario with prestashop (It seems that there are many dark corners with Presta multishop implementation)
3. Last and probably least, what is the marketing value of having the country domain version for each country/market

To make things more complicated, we don't have a universal domain like xyz.com. It would be kinda silly to serve AU market with a .cl domain too...

The mor I read about it, it seems that prestashop is not very versatile to cater all these customisations and it would be easier to set separate shops off the bat??

Expand  

 

1)best choice for seo is lang-country in URL like https://azure.microsoft.com/  I did some work in this area a while back https://prestashopaddons.prestaheroes.com/en-us/prestashop-geo-localization-solutions/google-international-friendly-url?search_query=interseo&results=1&cate=

2)here is another of my works, for those that want to multiples same content (supports by shop key infos)....(now only for 1.7) https://prestashopaddons.prestaheroes.com/en-us/modules/prestashop-17/prestashop-multistore-multishop-pro?search_query=multishop&results=3&cate=

3)you organic will compete at country level.  much like creating by country campaigns, keywords vary 'by country' in cost.  

The example I gave with azure and our work in this area is 'best practice'.

my best advice.....99% of community can only take their shop so far to take ecms to next level requires expert agency, people like me as there are things you didn't know you didn't know.

US PrestaShop Agency five years.   happy selling

 

[digitalwebspot]

Hi,

 

Why would´t you recommend that? I was thinking about opening a new web based in multistore with sub directories because it is easier for SEO if you are not very big.

As I understand, big companies can benefit from the extra SEO point related to having specified country domain BUT small companies can find better results in having just one domain to focus all SEO and link building in ONE domain. isn´t it?

I would like to share or my best choice will be goes for the companies who are growing rapidly. The best practice company is DigitalWebspot. 

for the reference : https://www.digitalwebspot.com/search-engine-optimization

Is there any problem that maybe I did not notice using sub directories?

[El Patron]

  On 6/3/2020 at 11:00 AM, digitalwebspot said:

Hi,

 

Why would´t you recommend that? I was thinking about opening a new web based in multistore with sub directories because it is easier for SEO if you are not very big.

As I understand, big companies can benefit from the extra SEO point related to having specified country domain BUT small companies can find better results in having just one domain to focus all SEO and link building in ONE domain. isn´t it?

I would like to share or my best choice will be goes for the companies who are growing rapidly. The best practice company is DigitalWebspot. 

for the reference : https://www.digitalwebspot.com/search-engine-optimization

Is there any problem that maybe I did not notice using sub directories?

Expand  

 

the problem is not in practice but what is realistic, for example get a .it domain and try and use it, it won't work...so you need to get .it domain registrar approval...in your scenario you are not using cctlds to target a country, so switching to it.yourdomain add no real value and is disconcerting to visitor, i.e. there is change they notice, any notice during visitor experience not direcly related to product purchase is bad.

ok, so you gave example, now let me give you a 'best in class' example of how to multiplex same/different content across multiple languages/countries.

https://azure.microsoft.com/

now notice the lang-country...no need for multishop, no need for additional domain names, no subdirectory(very old school).

I had my team develop that sometime ago

https://prestashopaddons.prestaheroes.com/en-us/prestashop-geo-localization-solutions/google-international-friendly-url

 

so to answer everyones answer, multstore by country 1) lost seo juice 2) has been replaced by new best practice lang-country....imagine now...you have es pack....it's es-es...but imagine some brains creating module that for ps where es-es, now dynamically change to es-(country dependng on geo)...now imagine google.com.ar (argentina) visitor seeing es-ar, bots  indexes by country then localize....

I'm not just a legend here...

 

 

 

[Danrobot]

I read the discussion and since I am developing a platform that can operate in different territories, I think things have changed now.
The globalization standard requires this type of approach.

Store 1:

• de_CH.prestashop.ch
• fr_CH.prestashop.ch
• it_CH.prestashop.ch

The ccTLD (.ch) indicates Switzerland, therefore a store with a single currency (CHF Swiss Franc).
The subdomain indicates the language_location (in Switzerland the official languages are 3).

Store 2:

• zh_CN.prestashop.cn (Simplified Chinese)
• zh_HK.prestashop.cn (Hong Kong Chinese)
• zh_TW.prestashop.cn (Taiwan Chinese)
• en_US.prestashop.cn (English)

The ccTLD (.cn) indicates China, therefore a store with a single currency (CNY Chinese Yuan).
The subdomain indicates the language_location (in China, several languages are spoken).

This globalization approach allows different advantages, has anyone implemented it? With Prestashop or something else?

These are Enterprise solutions...

[El Patron]

  On 3/17/2025 at 8:01 PM, Danrobot said:

I read the discussion and since I am developing a platform that can operate in different territories, I think things have changed now.
The globalization standard requires this type of approach.

Store 1:

• de_CH.prestashop.ch
• fr_CH.prestashop.ch
• it_CH.prestashop.ch

The ccTLD (.ch) indicates Switzerland, therefore a store with a single currency (CHF Swiss Franc).
The subdomain indicates the language_location (in Switzerland the official languages are 3).

Store 2:

• zh_CN.prestashop.cn (Simplified Chinese)
• zh_HK.prestashop.cn (Hong Kong Chinese)
• zh_TW.prestashop.cn (Taiwan Chinese)
• en_US.prestashop.cn (English)

The ccTLD (.cn) indicates China, therefore a store with a single currency (CNY Chinese Yuan).
The subdomain indicates the language_location (in China, several languages are spoken).

This globalization approach allows different advantages, has anyone implemented it? With Prestashop or something else?

These are Enterprise solutions...

Expand  

This module was written 5 years ago.

https://prestaheroes.com/collections/international-growth-solutions/products/advanced-shop-url-localization?variant=40653347881167

here is one of the shops it runs on and a demo shop  here

[Danrobot]

  On 3/18/2025 at 1:03 PM, El Patron said:

This module was written 5 years ago.

https://prestaheroes.com/collections/international-growth-solutions/products/advanced-shop-url-localization?variant=40653347881167

here is one of the shops it runs on and a demo shop  here

Expand  

This is nice but its functions are limited, especially regarding my requests, I found something more complete:

https://prestashow.com/en/prestashop-modules/59-domains-manager-multiple-domains-in-prestashop.html

[El Patron]

  On 3/18/2025 at 7:58 PM, Danrobot said:

This is nice but its functions are limited, especially regarding my requests, I found something more complete:

https://prestashow.com/en/prestashop-modules/59-domains-manager-multiple-domains-in-prestashop.html

Expand  

yes, we have similar solution since 1.4 here, 

at end of day providing visitor assurance the shop caters to them is very important, and our module allows for multiplexing one language across any country code, es-de for example....and it meets your request.  maybe  you don't understand the module, most do not even know it's best practice....I've known for long time and am only one to provide it...

thankfully my business is services...modules I publish do not have counterparts in ps eco....

 

 

[Danrobot]

I have read the entire operation of your module, very interesting but important information is missing in the description, which would deserve attention:

1. Does your module generate alternative links in the <head> of the page?
2. Does your module generate a different sitemap for each domain added?
3. Does the sitemap of each domain contain alternative links?
4. Are the HREF links present in the front-end pages updated automatically?

Thanks