Instead of creating different websites on your Magento 2 instance, you can simply create multiple stores with the different product catalogs and manage them easily from the admin panel.
Magento hierarchy of multiple websites, stores and store views provide you with the opportunity of effective and simple Magento 2 store management.
So, in this article, you'll learn how to create multiple stores in Magento 2.
In order to create multiple stores in Magento 2 follow these steps:
1. Go to Stores > All Stores and press the Create Store button.
2. Fill out the Store Information.
- Choose the Website the Store will be assigned to.
- Set the store Name and Code.
- Choose the Root Category.
Note: if you have not created categories yet, check this guide on how to create categories in Magento 2.
3. Press Save Store and check if it appears on the list of stores.
However for your store to be complete, you necessarily need to set the default store view for it. If you don't have a store view create one.
4. Once you have the store view created, navigate to the store you've just created and set the Default Store View for it. Don't forget to press the Save Store button.
Magento allows you to have multiple stores under the same domain, set them as subdomains of the main domain or have completely new domains.
Based on that, one last step when creating multiple stores on Magento 2 website is to set the store URL.
5. Go to Stores > Configuration > General > Web and switch to the Store you want to set the URL for.
6. Unfold the Base URL section, uncheck the Use Website option and set the Base URL for your store. Set the Base URL (Secure) as well if you need to.
7. Don't forget to Save Config once you're finished.
So, that is the way to create a store on your Magento 2 website. All you need now is to create other stores so that your multiple stores Magento website is complete.
Just in case you're interested in moving to the global scope level, there is a set of articles to help you go through all stages of setting up the multi-language Magento 2 store.
Start from creating a store view and up to the translation of the product attribute values.
There is also a list of great extensions for multi-language Magento 2 stores provided, so go on and check out the guide on How to Create a Multi-Language Website!
