we have curated this article that explains the different elements required to duplicate shopify store. Furthermore, well also be discussing the necessary components needed for the process.
One of the fastest-growing platforms, eCommerce, is word of mouth today! Further, the recent pandemic has got us so used to the industry that imagining our everyday lives without online stores is nearly impossible.
If youre one of those Shopify store owners, youll understand how the eCommerce business model can become an addiction once youve tasted success with your store.
So much so, you might be tempted to explore new ventures by opening another store. Or, you might want to move to the next level with your business and want to create a brand that wants to explore a new area or region.
In such cases, you cannot waste your time and resources developing another similar store from scratch. Now that you have access to all the required elements from your first store, why not use them to create identical product categories, features, and even product images.
Doing all the operations manually from scratch can be one of the most tedious tasks ever.
The only possible solution here is to copy the contents of your current store and paste it to your new store while making the required modifications for your new site.
Whether youre an established eCommerce brand or just want to scale your business, duplicating your Shopify store can be a huge task if you have no idea of the process.
Therefore, to help you out with the uncertainty of the situation, we have curated this article that explains the different elements required to duplicate the Shopify store. Furthermore, well also be discussing the necessary components needed for the process.
But before that, lets have a look at How to Duplicate Shopify Store?.
Table of Contents
How to Duplicate Shopify Store?
As the name suggests, duplicate Shopify store means copying the entire content of your website and using it to open a new store. Shopify duplication allows you to create a similar store that comprises all its features (content, products, categories, and others).
For instance, let’s say that you are a successful store owner of a Shopify store that deals in garments. Now that you’re enjoying great success in running this store, you’re planning to take it to the next level by opening a new store.
In such a situation, you can easily copy the content of your primary store and paste it into your newly formed store. This would sum up the meaning of the term Shopify duplication.
Since Shopify doesn’t allow brands to create a duplicate store for them automatically (unless you’re a Shopify Plus user), you’ll have to use a CSV (Comma Separated Value) file format to copy the content of your store successfully.
While the platform allows you to transfer a considerable amount of data to duplicate your store, the process has certain limitations. There is some information that you can only manually input to your CSV file from your Shopify admin.
Let’s have a look at the different elements:
- Shopify doesn’t allow users to import data on visitor traffic as they’ll now be creating a new store with the .myshopify.com domain.
- You cannot import your stores orders through the Shopify admin. However, you can import your orders through Shopify API.
- Discount codes in your store cannot be duplicated or transferred.
- Gift cards cannot be transferred. However, you can transfer your gift card products via the product CSV file.
- You cannot transfer saved custom reports.
Reasons to Duplicate Shopify Store
If you look at it, there are numerous reasons why you’d want to create a duplicate Shopify store. Or simply duplicate it, to be more precise. To help you understand better, we have created 4 of the most commonly used cases. Lets check it out!
Here are 4 use cases for a Shopify store duplication:
1. Creating a test store
One of the first use cases under which youd want to duplicate the Shopify store is to create a test store to run your experiments. One of the most famous use cases amongst the new users of the platform, most eCommerce store owners prohibit themselves from making edits to their store live, fearing negative consequences.
If you are one of those store owners who often like to experiment with themes and other similar modifications to your store, we suggest you duplicate your store. This way, you wont be at risk of losing important content of your store if the code changes.
2. While creating multiple language stores
For the second use case, lets assume that you are a store owner that has managed to run their business well and wants to scale their venture beyond national boundaries. Here, youll have to deal with an entirely new level of the market, and the very first thing you need to take into account for the international market are the languages used in selling such products.
While most people still use and communicate in English, there are markets where the customers have no idea of the language. In such cases, you might have to switch from English to another native language to sell products without losing potential buyers.
Duplicating the content of your store might come in as a great time-saver here. Why? Once youve duplicated your store, all you need to do is translate the primary language to the secondary one.
3. When youre offering multiple currencies
Similar to the language use case where you run your store using only one language, you might lose potential business when you accept only one form of currency.
In such instances, it is always a smart move to duplicate your Shopify store to sell your products locally and enhance your customers purchase experience.
When you accept multiple currencies, shopping gets easier for customers spread across the globe. It is because there might be some regions where your product performs better and has more potential buyers when compared to other similar areas of the store.
With your shop displaying the local currency, your buyers know the amount they need to pay. Rather than just having to convert the prices for every item.
4. Create a wholesale store
Duplicating your Shopify store can be a great idea if you intend to open a wholesale store or expand your lineup. In such use case, you wont have to spend your time and efforts developing a store from scratch.
Youll have access to the correct elements; all you need to do is modify and paste it accordingly.
How to duplicate Shopify store?
When it comes to duplicating your Shopify store, you cannot just copy and paste the entire content of your store to a new domain; there are limitations to the process!
To help you out, heres a list of all the possible things that you can duplicate from your Shopify store,
Things to duplicate in shopify store
1. Theme files
You can easily duplicate the theme file of your store. Shopify allows users to duplicate theme files as it is one of the significant parts of your store. Further, having a theme saves you most of the time as it is one of those elements that require lots of time.
2. Products
The other element that Shopify allows you to backup from your store is its products. You can easily duplicate the products of your store and carry them over to your new domain. This way, the platform saves you from the hurdles of listing your products in an entirely new way.
3. Customers
Customers are the essence of any store, and the Shopify platform understands it just better. The platform allows you to create a backup of all the customers that your business has interacted with.
4. Collections
Collections of a store are another major element that makes up the category page of your store. The number of collections in your store can be easily copied and placed on some other platform.
5. Images
Shopify also allows its users to duplicate the images that are present in their original stores. This way, the platform ensures that you dont have to look around your database for all the product images stored in your Shopify store.
6. Apps
The last element in the list is applications. Shopify allows users to carry over the applications present in their platform. This way, you wont face any issues running your new store when every element looks and feels the same way.
Things you cannot Duplicate shopify store
Coming over to the things that a Shopify store owner cant duplicate, lets have a look at the different options available:
1. Visitors
You cannot carry over the visitors of your website. Such pieces of information are only limited to the domain of your original store.
2. Orders
While Shopify allows users to carry over the customer data, they arent allowed to carry over the orders of their initial store.
The reason is simple, orders are placed over one specific domain and cannot be placed over another store by copying.
3. Discount codes
Users cannot carry the discount code of their store. Every Shopify store has its discount code.
4. Gift cards
Gift cards are another element that Shopify doesnt allow to duplicate.
5. Custom reports
As the name suggests, custom reports are meant to be the reports of a specific store. Therefore, they cannot be carried over to any other platform.
Now that we have a clear idea of the different use cases and the exclusions in duplicating the Shopify store lets delve into the process.
Step by step process of duplicating Shopify store
Before we get into the process, it should be noted that theres not one but two ways by which you can duplicate the contents of your store.
They are:
- Duplicating your Shopify store using a CSV file
- Duplicating Shopify store using 3rd party application
Option#1: Steps to duplicating Shopify store using CSV files
When you opt for exploring the content of your Shopify store manually, youll have to do it using the CSV file. Using this file format, you can easily copy all the elements of your store that Shopify allows (theme, orders, customers, products, financial data, gift card codes, and discount codes, among others).
Heres a step by step procedure to duplicate your Shopify store; lets have a look:
- Log in to your Shopify stores (both primary and new) as the admin of the stores.
- Ensure that your new store uses the same subscription plans as your primary store.
- Double-check the subscription plan of your new store and ensure that it has the same plan as your primary store.
- Select the file which contains the same backup theme as your primary store, or you can also upload the theme file from your local database or cloud.
- Export the required CSV files to back up all the data around customers and products. Now, in case you want to back up the information in a more convenient manner, we suggest you add a collection column to your products CSV.
- Remember, you can export your CSV files to create a backup on any of the two following types of store information:
- Products
- Customers
7. Once done, your Shopify store is ready to be exported.
This step marks the end of exporting the required information of your Shopify store.
The next part of the process requires you to import the CSV files in the following ways:
- Reinstall all your apps in the secondary store.
- Manually reconfigure the settings of your store. For example, checkout, taxes, shipping, and payments.
Option 2: Duplicating shopify store using 3rd Party Tool
Using third-party applications saves you from the burden of manually copy-pasting individual elements of your store. When using such tools, all you need to do is select the categories of products that you want to create a duplicate CSV file for.
Once done, all you need to do is click on the export button and the tool gets the task done in real-time.
This way, you can easily create a duplicate store, without having to worry about the hurdles in the process when done manually.
However, never forget to backup your duplicate store to ensure things run smoothly.
Frequently Asked Questions about duplicate Shopify stores
1. How do I duplicate Shopify store?
Duplicating your Shopify store is really easy. The process involves you creating manual CSV files of different elements of your Shopify store. Or, you can also consider using a third-party tool to simplify the process.
2. How do I clone my Shopify store for free?
You can follow the aforementioned steps in this article. We have listed out a complete process of cloning your Shopify store manually (the process is free).
3. How do I duplicate Shopify homepage?
Here are your steps to duplicate the Shopify homepage. They are:
Step 1: Add a new template
Step 2: Edit the template code
Step 3: Add a new section
Step 4: Modify the section code
Yes, you can duplicate a menu in Shopify. However, we suggest you use third-party applications for the same. Duplicating your store the manual way might cost you a lot of time and effort.
Conclusion
So thats a wrap on duplicating your Shopify store! While running multiple Shopify stores might sound like a challenging task, it allows users to have a better chance at improved customer experience and sales.
With the entire process now being simplified, we hope that you wont be facing any problems in duplicating your store without any expert help.
All the best!
