Magento 2 Multi-Site Setup (Website/Store/Store View)

Configuring Multi-site Setup in Magento 2 (Website/Store/Store View)

Magento 2 allows managing multiple websites from a single installation. This is not just convenience — with proper architecture, multi-site significantly reduces operational burden: one codebase, one deployment, shared products and customer base with separate catalogs and settings.

Three-level Hierarchy

Magento divides sites into three levels with clear hierarchy:

Website — top level. Determines:

• Independent cart and checkout (purchases don't transfer between Websites)
• Shared customer base (by default) or isolated
• Base currency
• Store groups

Store (Store Group) — middle level:

• Root category of the catalog (different category trees for different Stores)
• Multiple Store Views for one language version
• One Store View must be marked as Default

Store View — bottom level:

• Language and localization
• URL (subdomain or path)
• Content translations

Typical structure:

Website: Main (myshop.com)
├── Store: Retail
│   ├── Store View: English (en_US)   [default]
│   └── Store View: German (de_DE)
└── Store: Wholesale
    └── Store View: English (en_US)   [default]

Website: Partner (b2b.myshop.com)
└── Store: B2B Catalog
    └── Store View: English (en_US)   [default]

Creation via Admin

Admin > Stores > All Stores

1. Create Website
   - Name: B2B Portal
   - Code: b2b (unique, only latin/digits/underscore)
   - Sort Order: 2

2. Create Store (Store Group)
   - Website: B2B Portal
   - Name: B2B Catalog
   - Root Category: B2B Categories (created separately)
   - Default Store View: (selected after Store View creation)

3. Create Store View
   - Store: B2B Catalog
   - Name: English
   - Code: b2b_en
   - Status: Enabled
   - Sort Order: 1

Nginx Configuration for Multi-site

Option 1 — different subdomains:

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/magento-retail.conf
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name shop.example.com;
    root /var/www/magento/pub;

    set $MAGE_RUN_CODE "base";
    set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE "website";
    include /etc/nginx/snippets/magento.conf;
}

# /etc/nginx/sites-available/magento-b2b.conf
server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name b2b.example.com;
    root /var/www/magento/pub;

    set $MAGE_RUN_CODE "b2b";
    set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE "website";
    include /etc/nginx/snippets/magento.conf;
}

Option 2 — URL paths (one domain):

server {
    listen 443 ssl http2;
    server_name example.com;
    root /var/www/magento/pub;

    # Store View determination by URL path
    location ~ ^/b2b {
        set $MAGE_RUN_CODE "b2b_en";
        set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE "store";
        rewrite ^/b2b/?(.*) /$1 break;
    }

    location / {
        set $MAGE_RUN_CODE "base";
        set $MAGE_RUN_TYPE "website";
    }

    include /etc/nginx/snippets/magento.conf;
}

Option 3 — via PHP entry point (most flexible):

// pub/index.php — custom mapping before Bootstrap::run()
use Magento\Framework\App\Bootstrap;

require __DIR__ . '/../app/bootstrap.php';

$host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] ?? '';
$params = $_SERVER;

$runCodes = [
    'shop.example.com'   => ['type' => 'website', 'code' => 'base'],
    'b2b.example.com'    => ['type' => 'website', 'code' => 'b2b'],
    'de.example.com'     => ['type' => 'store',   'code' => 'store_de'],
];

if (isset($runCodes[$host])) {
    $params['MAGE_RUN_TYPE'] = $runCodes[$host]['type'];
    $params['MAGE_RUN_CODE'] = $runCodes[$host]['code'];
}

$bootstrap = Bootstrap::create(BP, $params);
$app = $bootstrap->createApplication(\Magento\Framework\App\Http::class);
$bootstrap->run($app);

URL Configuration for Store View

Admin > Stores > Configuration > Scope: [Store View]
> General > Web > Base URLs

Base URL: https://b2b.example.com/
Base Link URL: https://b2b.example.com/
Base Static View Files URL: https://b2b.example.com/pub/static/
Base Media Files URL: https://b2b.example.com/pub/media/

For HTTPS:

> Base URLs (Secure)
Secure Base URL: https://b2b.example.com/
Use Secure URLs on Storefront: Yes
Use Secure URLs in Admin: Yes

Separate Catalogs

Each Store has its own Root Category. This allows showing different category trees:

Admin > Catalog > Categories

Create root category "B2B Categories":
├── Industrial Equipment
│   ├── Machines
│   └── Measurement Instruments
└── Consumables

Create root category "Retail Categories":
├── Electronics
├── Home Appliances
└── Tools

Products can be shared — one product linked to categories from different trees.

Configuration Scope

Most Magento settings have Scope: Global → Website → Store View. Store View settings override Website settings, which override Global.

Admin > Stores > Configuration
Current scope: selected in top left corner

Example — different shipping methods for different Websites:
Scope: Website B2B
  > Sales > Shipping Methods
    Table Rates: Enabled
    Free Shipping: Disabled (show real cost for B2B)

Scope: Website Retail
  > Sales > Shipping Methods
    Table Rates: Enabled
    Free Shipping: Enabled (from 3000 USD)

Via CLI with scope specification:

# Set base URL for specific Website
bin/magento config:set --scope=websites --scope-code=b2b web/unsecure/base_url https://b2b.example.com/
bin/magento config:set --scope=websites --scope-code=b2b web/secure/base_url https://b2b.example.com/

# For Store View
bin/magento config:set --scope=stores --scope-code=b2b_en general/locale/code en_US
bin/magento config:set --scope=stores --scope-code=b2b_en general/locale/timezone UTC

bin/magento cache:flush

Static Content Deployment for Multiple Themes

In multi-site, different Websites/Stores can use different themes:

# Deploy for all themes and locales
bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy en_US de_DE \
    --theme MyCompany/retail \
    --theme MyCompany/b2b \
    --jobs=4 \
    -f

Shared Customer Base vs Isolated

By default, customers are shared across the entire installation — email is unique globally. To isolate customers by Website:

Admin > Stores > Configuration > Scope: Global
> Customers > Customer Configuration > Account Sharing Options
  Share Customer Accounts: Per Website

After change — mandatory bin/magento customer:hash:upgrade and reindexing.

Multi-site Performance

Each Store View adds load on indexers and cache. With large number of Store Views:

• Indexer catalog_product_price — heaviest, needs optimization
• Varnish FPC divides cache by Store View via X-Magento-Tags
• Redis cache should have separate databases for different data types

Monitoring slow indexers:

bin/magento indexer:status
bin/magento indexer:reindex catalog_product_price

# Last reindex time
SELECT indexer_id, status, updated FROM indexer_state;

Timeline

Adding second Website/Store with shared catalog and separate settings: 2–3 days. Full multi-site with 3–5 Websites, different themes, isolated catalogs, separate customer base and custom Nginx rules: 1–2 weeks. With B2B module Adobe Commerce with corporate accounts and price lists: additional 2–4 weeks.