If you’ve been running an online shop for a while, you’ll know that growth doesn’t always come from doing more of the same. At some point, the question shifts from “how do I improve what I’ve got?” to “what else could I be doing?”
For a growing number of online businesses, the answer is a second ecommerce website.
And that means different things to different people. For some, it’s a second shop that serves a different part of the same business. For others, it’s a second business that’s already trading elsewhere, whether on another platform or a marketplace, that’s ready for a proper home of its own. Both are more common than you might think, and both are more straightforward than most people expect.
Here’s what that looks like in practice, and why more EKM businesses are making this move right now.
One shop can only do so much
Your existing shop was built with a particular customer in mind. Maybe that was the general public. Maybe it was a specific type of buyer or a specific range of products. Either way, it was built around one idea of who you’re selling to and how.
But businesses evolve. Your product range grows. You start attracting different types of customers. You spot opportunities in markets you weren’t originally targeting. And suddenly, one shop is being asked to speak to everyone at once – which usually means it’s not speaking to anyone as well as it could.
A second ecommerce website lets you be more deliberate. Instead of one shop trying to do everything, you have two shops that each have a focus.
To give their best-selling products their own space
Most online shops have a handful of products that consistently outperform the rest. They drive the majority of revenue, attract the most repeat customers, and convert better than anything else in the catalogue. But on a general shop, they sit alongside everything else, competing for attention.
A dedicated shop built around those products – with everything from the navigation to the content focused entirely on them – can perform significantly better than asking customers to find them among a full catalogue. Less distraction. Clearer journey. Better conversion.
To create a proper trade or B2B experience
If you sell to both trade and retail customers, you’ll know how difficult it is to serve both well from a single shop. EKM’s Trade discounts feature lets you manage trade pricing from your existing shop, which is a great starting point. But for businesses that want to go further, with dedicated trade account management, a B2B focused browsing experience and content written specifically for business buyers, a separate trade website makes a significant difference.
Trade customers buy differently to retail customers. They think differently, they compare differently, and they respond to different things. A shop built specifically for them reflects that.
To target a different territory or audience
If your existing shop is doing well in one market and you’re starting to see interest from another, a geographically targeted second site can be far more effective than trying to adapt your existing one. The right language, the right currency, content that speaks to that specific audience – these things matter more than most people expect when it comes to converting international traffic.
The same logic applies to reaching a new type of customer domestically. A second site with its own identity, its own SEO strategy, and its own tone can reach people that your main shop simply isn’t built for.
To take a bigger share of the market you’re already in
Sometimes the opportunity isn’t somewhere new. It’s right where you already are. A second ecommerce website means a second presence in search results, a second chance to be found, and a second opportunity to convert customers who might otherwise end up with a competitor. For businesses in competitive markets, that additional visibility can make a meaningful difference.
To get a second business online properly
Not everyone opening a second ecommerce website is doing it for the same business. If you’ve got a second venture that’s currently running offline, sitting on a marketplace like Amazon or Etsy, or living on a platform that isn’t really working for you, EKM is a straightforward place to give it a proper home. And because you’re already familiar with the platform, getting a second business up and running is far less daunting than starting from scratch somewhere new.
Why open your second ecommerce website with EKM?
The obvious question. And the honest answer is that doing it with EKM is about as straightforward as it gets.
Because you’re already on the platform, you don’t start from nothing. We copy your existing shop as the starting point, carry over your content and design, and make whatever adjustments are needed for the new site’s purpose or identity. If you need a rebrand, we handle that too.
And if the second site is for a completely different business, we start that conversation fresh, with the benefit of already knowing how you work and what you need.
Your account manager is with you throughout the process. You’re not handed off to someone who doesn’t know your business. You work with a team that already understands what you’ve built and what you’re trying to do next.
There’s no new platform to learn. No rebuilding from scratch. No lengthy onboarding process. Just a focused conversation about what the second site needs to do, and then getting on with making it happen.
For businesses that want to accelerate visibility on the new site, you can also speak to our dedicated team about our SEO and PPC services, to help get the new site ranking and driving traffic from the start – which brings us to something worth knowing about.
And here’s the good news…
Right now, EKM customers who open a second shop can get EKM SEO at half price for the first three months*. It’s available to new SEO customers who sign up at the same time as opening their second shop.
Getting SEO in place from day one makes a real difference to how quickly a new site starts to gain traction in search.
If you’d like to find out more or just have a chat about whether a second ecommerce website is right for your business, our team would be happy to talk it through.
*New SEO customers only. Must be taken at point of opening second shop. T&Cs apply.
