Custom Multi-Store WooCommerce Plugin
Introduction
An established e-commerce brand operating out of Chennai had ambitious plans to expand its seasonal product offerings to multiple metro cities across India, including Bangalore, Hyderabad, and more. However, their requirement for a location-aware, multi-store WooCommerce environment couldn’t be met by off-the-shelf solutions.
The Challenge
- Location-Specific Product Management: Existing WooCommerce multi-store plugins lacked flexibility for city-based product catalogs and separate seasonal calendars.
- Plugin Limitations: Several leading paid plugins (both open-source and premium) were tested. None allowed the customization needed for store-by-store checkout rules, inventory logic, or user flows.
- Inflexible Admin Controls: Managing products, users, deliveries, and stock for multiple regions in a single dashboard was either too complex or locked behind expensive feature tiers.
- User Experience Confusion: Customers found it difficult to select products relevant to their location, often ending up in incorrect store zones, leading to fulfillment issues.
The Solution
- Location Detection: Integrated Google Maps API to auto-detect customer location and assign them to the nearest store or fallback to a default master store.
- Dynamic Store Manager: Admins can create and configure unlimited city-based stores within a centralized dashboard, each with independent products, delivery slots, and stock.
- Smart Checkout Routing: Checkout flow dynamically adjusts based on the customer’s geo-location to ensure only relevant products and delivery options are visible.
- Admin Simplicity: Product and inventory updates per store are simplified with filterable dashboards and centralized control with overrides.
Feature Description
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Location-Based Store Assignment | Google Maps API to detect user location and map them to the nearest available store |
| Multi-Store Product Management | Each store has its own catalog, pricing, delivery timing, and availability |
| Central Admin Dashboard | Unified dashboard with toggles to switch/manage stores independently |
| Smart Inventory Sync | Shared inventory for master products or independent tracking |
| Member Roles per Store | Integrated with a lightweight 3rd-party plugin for store-based team management |
Core Features
- Store Conversion Rate: 1.9% → 3.7%
- Bounce Rate on Product Pages: 52% → 24%
- Avg. Time Spent on Site: 1m 15s → 3m 40s
- Order Refunds: 14% → <1%
Technical Insights
- WooCommerce
- WordPress
- 3rd-Party User Role Plugin
- Google Maps API
- Multi-Store Manager
- Custom Plugin
Best Practices
- Don't Depend on Off-the-Shelf Plugins.
- Think Customer First.
- Ensure long-term growth.
- Speed up checkout.
- Simpler UI/UX for customers.