# Multiple storefronts on one platform: when to share the cart

> Shops that sell to the same customers can run as multiple storefronts on one platform, with one cart and checkout. When that fits, and when it does not.

Source: https://lastdoorsolutions.com/blog/multiple-storefronts-one-platform

**When several shops sell to the same customers, consider whether they can share one platform, cart and checkout.** A shared platform can support distinct brands and catalogues. The shops still need to agree which customer, payment and operating requirements they share.

## What multiple storefronts means

- **Several shops a customer sees as separate,** each with its own brand, line and catalogue.
- **One platform underneath,** so products, customers and orders sit in one place.
- **A choice about the checkout.** Some set-ups give every storefront its own cart; others let a buyer fill one cart from all of them.
- **Check the platform’s actual boundaries.** More than one storefront does not automatically mean a shared cart, account or checkout.

## The example

In 2014 WOW Sight and Sound came back as an online retailer with three shops: Sight and Sound for electronics, Gaming for consoles and games, and Movies for films. **We designed and built all three on one Magento installation.**

![What the buyer sees: three shops, Sight and Sound, Gaming and Movies, each with its own logo, line and departments. What the retailer runs: one cart, one checkout and one account, on one Magento installation.](/images/blog/three-shops-one-cart.png)

*Three storefronts, one cart, checkout and account underneath.*

**Each shop had its own logo, its own line and its own departments.** Underneath, they shared one cart and one checkout. A buyer could add a laptop in one shop, a game in the second and a film in the third, then pay once. The shop's own About page promised "a shared cart and one easy checkout".

![The tops of the three shops, one above another: Sight and Sound with electronics departments, Gaming with consoles from PlayStation 4 to Nintendo Wii U, and Movies with DVDs and Blu-ray. Each has its own logo and line, and the same search, account and cart.](/images/wow-sight-and-sound/three-shops.webp)

*The three shops, each with its own departments, on one build.*

**The build ran in every Web Archive capture from June 2014 to February 2017,** 27 in all.

## Why it works

Separate accounts and checkouts would have made a purchase across the three shops more involved. Shared records also reduced what the retailer would need to keep in step.

**One platform moves the difference to the surface.** The customer sees three shops. The business runs one.

## When it does not fit

| Sharing may fit when | Separation may matter when |
| --- | --- |
| The shops sell to the same people | Each shop has its own customers |
| A buyer would pay once for things from more than one shop | Legal or payment requirements cannot share one checkout |
| The differences fit in a short list: logo, line, departments | Different owners want their own checkout |
| One team runs the catalogue | The shops should change on their own schedules |

**A shared platform and a shared checkout answer different questions.** The platform can serve the team running the shops; the checkout has to make sense to the customer buying from them.

## Three questions before you decide

1. **Do the shops sell to the same people?**
2. **Would a buyer want to pay once** for things from more than one shop?
3. **Can the differences be named in a short list:** logo, line, departments?

If all three answers are yes, assess a shared platform against the shops’ legal, payment and operating requirements. [The WOW Sight and Sound case study](/work/wow-sight-and-sound) shows the three shops, a category page and a product page from 2014, and our [e-commerce page](/services/ecommerce) covers the rest of that work.

Multiple storefronts are a choice about what the customer sees. The platform underneath is a choice about what the business has to run, and the two do not have to match.

## Running more than one shop for the same customers?

Tell us what each shop sells and who buys from it. We will say what they should share, and what each should keep for itself.

[Talk to us about your storefronts](https://lastdoorsolutions.com/contact?service=ecommerce)