--- title: Managing sales channels | Shopware Community Hub description: >- Learn how to effectively manage and configure sales channels in Shopware to create distinct shopping experiences for different markets, customer segments, and… canonical_url: >- https://hub.shopware.com/learn/unit/solutions-architect-managing-sales-channels --- # Managing sales channels - Understand the concept of **sales channels** and how to fit into the wider philosophy of Shopware as a platform. - Identify when to use a sales channel to **achieve specific business objectives**. - Learn how to **create, configure, and manage** different sales channels. # Understanding the Concept of Sales Channels Sales channels in Shopware form a key component of the platform's approach to enabling omnichannel experiences. The concept is designed to allow businesses to manage both online and offline sales seamlessly from a single instance, offering unique selling experiences across different channels. This could include anything from an online storefront, a physical brick-and-mortar shop, integration with POS systems, or selling through third-party marketplaces like Amazon or eBay. Another everyday use case for sales channels is to create one for each country where you have an online shop. Once a sales channel is created, various entities can then be assigned to it. For example, their administration interface can assign products and categories to multiple sales channels. When an order is placed, it is automatically assigned to the used sales channel. In general, you can choose whether the customers should be bound to one sales channel or can use all. The same applies to different settings, which can be defined at the sales channel level. More info about sales channels configuration can be found here [Shopware - Settings - Sales Channel](https://docs.shopware.com/en/shopware-6-en/settings/saleschannel#overview) **Defining Sales Channels**: At its core, Shopware's sales channel is defined by its unique way of selling. This uniqueness could be attributed to a variety of factors, including: - **Content**: A Sales Channel can be differentiated by the content it presents. For instance, a B2B sales channel might offer detailed technical specifications, while a B2C channel focuses on rich imagery and lifestyle content. Equally, we might use different content for a marketplace than on the webshop. - **Pricing Strategies**: Different sales channels can implement unique pricing models. For example, a sales channel targeting wholesale customers may offer bulk pricing without VAT, while another channel might use dynamic pricing strategies or subscription models for retail customers. Similarly, different geographical regions might have different pricing for the same product. - **Product Offerings**: Sales channels can have tailored product catalogs. A physical shop might only offer a subset of products available online, or a special collection might be exclusive to a particular online channel. - **Target Audience**: Channels can be segmented by customer type, such as B2B, B2C, or specific customer groups like VIPs or regional markets. - **Business Units**: Sales channels can be used to manage different business units within a company. For instance, the US business unit could be assigned control over the US sales channel, including access to US-specific products, content, and customer segments. This allows for localized management while maintaining centralized oversight. **Strategic Importance of Sales Channels**: From a Solutions Architect's perspective, it is crucial to understand how to set up a sales channel and when and why to use it strategically. Sales channels should be leveraged to tailor shopping experiences where needed and streamline efficiency in management. By carefully defining the purpose and behavior of sales channels, businesses can ensure that they meet the specific needs of different customer segments, geographical regions, and business units, all while maintaining a cohesive and unified brand experience. ## When to Leverage a Sales Channel As the observant reader might have noticed, many of the examples we've provided—such as unique product offerings or tailored pricing—can also be achieved through other methods within Shopware. For instance, you could use customer groups to provide an exceptional product offering or special pricing. However, these approaches often require the customer to log in to access the experience, which may not be practical or desirable in the long run. A sales channel should be leveraged when you need to offer a specific experience or configuration of selling that is accessible without requiring the customer to log in or take additional steps. Sales channels serve as distinct entry points into these experiences, making them ideal for scenarios where you want to: - **Offer a different Brand or Sub-Brand Experience**: If you have a sub-brand or a distinct brand that you want to promote, creating a separate sales channel allows you to offer a unique storefront, content, and product offerings without forcing customers to navigate through your main brand's shop. - **Cater to different Geographical Regions**: When targeting different geographical markets, such as Europe, Asia, or the US, a sales channel enables you to offer region-specific products, pricing, and content, ensuring that each market receives a tailored experience. - **Support a B2B Sales Model**: In scenarios where you don't want customers to log in just to see wholesale pricing or other B2B-specific offerings, a dedicated B2B sales channel can provide these features upfront, offering a smoother experience for your business clients. - **Integrate a POS System**: For physical shops, integrating a POS system as a sales channel allows it to be pre-configured for the specific shop location and product catalog. This eliminates the need for shop employees to log in and select settings each time, streamlining the sales process. **Potential Negative Impact**: While sales channels offer significant benefits, it's also important to consider the potential drawbacks. Creating and managing multiple sales channels can increase the complexity of your operations. Each sales channel requires governance, and because they don't inherit settings from one another, there may be a degree of duplicate work involved in maintaining consistency across channels. Additionally, the more sales channels you create, the larger your database grows, which can introduce a slight performance hit. This impact on performance needs to be carefully weighed against the benefits of creating additional channels. Furthermore, when you have multiple sales channels within a single Shopware instance, you should think about implementing a robust backup and fallback strategy to ensure business continuity in case of unexpected downtime. Ultimately, there is no definitive answer as to when you should create a sales channel—it depends on your business's specific needs and goals. ## Creating a Sales Channel in Shopware To create a new sales channel in Shopware, we observe the following steps: 1. **Access the Sales Channel Section**: In the Shopware administration, navigate to the "Sales Channels" section in the left side bar. Here, you can view all existing sales channels and add new ones through the (+) button. 2. **Select Sales Channel Type**: Click on "Add Sales Channel" and choose the type of sales channel you want to create. Shopware offers various types, including Storefront (for web shops), Headless (API-driven sales channels), and other integrations like marketplaces and POS. 3. **Configure the Sales Channel**: Each sales channel has a specific set of configurations that must be set. Below is a summarized overview of the values. ## Configuration values **General Information** such as the *name*, *category node* (CROSSLINK), *default customer group, allowed shipping countries, available-* and *default languages.* Further information is available here [General settings](https://docs.shopware.com/en/shopware-6-en/settings/saleschannel#general-settings). **Checkout options** such as *available-* and *default shipping methods*, *available-* and *default payment methods*, and *tax calculation method* and *currencies.* You can read more here [Payment and shipping](https://docs.shopware.com/en/shopware-6-en/settings/saleschannel#payment-and-shipping). **Domains** attached to the sales channel with each their own *URL*, *default language*, *currency*, and more. More about this is available here [Domain](https://docs.shopware.com/en/shopware-6-en/settings/saleschannel#domain). **Products** can be assigned from the "Products" tab, without having to edit each product individually. More about how to add products to a sales channel here [Products](https://docs.shopware.com/en/shopware-6-en/settings/saleschannel#products).