Spree Multi-Store, Markets, Marketplace

Before writing code

Fetch live docs:

1. Fetch https://spreecommerce.org/docs/use-case/multi-store/model for the multi-store data model.
2. Fetch https://spreecommerce.org/docs/use-case/marketplace/model for the marketplace use case (Enterprise).
3. Fetch https://spreecommerce.org/docs/use-case/multi-tenant/multi-tenant-model for SaaS-style isolation.
4. Check the v5.4 announcement for the Market model details (https://spreecommerce.org/announcing-spree-commerce-5-4/).
5. Inspect Spree::Store and Spree::Market source for current column shapes and associations.

Conceptual Architecture

Multi-Store: One Install, Many Brands

A single Spree app serves many Store records, each with:

• Its own domain (store.foo.com, store.bar.com)
• Its own theme, CMS pages, blog
• Its own legal/policy text
• Its own subset of products (via Spree::Store#products)
• Its own orders/payments/shipments
• Its own integrations (Stripe account, Klaviyo list, etc.)

What's Shared Across Stores

• Products and their inventory (StockItem)
• Customers (User accounts)
• Shipping methods and payment gateways (each can be enabled per store)
• Admin users and roles
• Markets (v5.4+)
• Tax rates (per Zone, not per Store)
• Promotions (can be scoped per-store, but the engine is shared)

What's Per-Store

• Orders — Order#store_id always set
• Payments / Refunds / Reimbursements — inherit from order's store
• Store credits / Gift cards
• Themes / CmsPages / Blogs / FAQ
• Logo / brand / typography
• Domain & SSL
• Currency (default; v5.4+ uses Markets)
• SEO settings
• Webhook endpoints

Resolving the Current Store

Spree middleware resolves current_store from:

1. Request domain (matches Store#url)
2. Session / cookie override (for previewing)
3. Fallback to Spree::Store.default

In controllers and views:

current_store              # the resolved Spree::Store
current_store.url
current_store.default_currency

Always scope queries by current_store in customer-facing code.

The Market Model (v5.4+)

Markets bundle regional configuration:

Market: "US"
├── currencies: [USD]
├── locales: [en-US, es-US]
├── countries: [US]
├── payment_methods: [stripe_us, paypal_us]
├── shipping_methods: [ups_us, fedex_us]
└── tax_handling: inclusive | exclusive

Market: "EU"
├── currencies: [EUR]
├── locales: [de, fr, it, es]
├── countries: [DE, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, ...]
├── payment_methods: [stripe_eu, sepa, klarna_eu]
├── shipping_methods: [dhl_eu]
└── tax_handling: inclusive

URL routing pattern: /us/en/, /de/de/, /eu/fr/. The storefront detects market by domain / path / cookie.

Marketplace (Enterprise Module)

Multi-vendor sites add the Marketplace module (Enterprise Edition, official as of v5):

Vendor (Marketplace seller)
├── Products
├── Stock locations
├── Payouts (via Stripe Connect)
├── Commission rate
└── Account dashboard (separate from main admin)

Customer Order
├── LineItems split across Vendors
├── Marketplace payment → fan-out to Vendor accounts
└── Commission deducted to platform

The community gem spree_multi_vendor exists but is not the recommended path for v5. Use the Enterprise marketplace module.

Multi-Tenant (Enterprise Module)

For SaaS Spree where each tenant gets isolated data (separate stores, separate users, no cross-tenant visibility). Built on top of multi-store with stricter scoping at every query.

Implementation Guidance

Creating a Second Store

Spree::Store.create!(
  name: 'EU Store',
  url: 'eu.example.com',
  mail_from_address: 'eu@example.com',
  default_currency: 'EUR',
  default_locale: 'de',
  default: false
)

In admin, copy products from the default store via the bulk action (admin → Products → bulk → "Assign to store").

Sharing vs Splitting Products

# A product can be in multiple stores
product.stores << eu_store
product.stores << us_store

# Query per-store
us_store.products.active

Pricing per market:

variant.prices.create!(amount: 19.99, currency: 'USD')
variant.prices.create!(amount: 18.50, currency: 'EUR')

Querying Safely

Bad (leaks across stores):

Spree::Order.complete.where('total > ?', 100)

Good:

current_store.orders.complete.where('total > ?', 100)

For admin reports that intentionally span stores, scope explicitly:

Spree::Order.where(store_id: [us_store.id, eu_store.id])

Setting Up Markets (v5.4+)

us_market = Spree::Market.create!(
  name: 'United States',
  default_currency: 'USD',
  default_locale: 'en-US',
  countries: Spree::Country.where(iso: 'US'),
  payment_methods: Spree::PaymentMethod.where(name: ['Stripe US', 'PayPal US']),
  shipping_methods: Spree::ShippingMethod.where(name: 'UPS US')
)

(Verify exact API — Market is new in v5.4 and the helpers may differ.)

Headless Multi-Region Routing

The Next.js storefront routes by market:

/us/en/products/classic-tee
/de/de/produkte/classic-tee

The storefront's market resolution forwards Spree::Market#id to the API via header or path.

Multi-Store Webhooks

Each store has its own Webhook endpoints. Subscribing to order.completed for one store doesn't fire for orders in another. Configure separately per store.

Marketplace Vendor Management

Enterprise marketplace adds:

• Vendor onboarding flow with Stripe Connect Express / Standard
• Per-vendor admin dashboard
• Commission calculation engine
• Payout scheduler
• Vendor product approval workflow

Read the Marketplace use-case doc — the implementation hooks are different from base Spree.

Common Pitfalls

• Naive queries leak across stores — Spree::Order.all returns every store's orders. Lint for this in code review.
• Forgetting default: false on new stores — only one store should be default.
• Shared products with diverging pricing — easy to miss a currency Price when adding a new market.
• Webhook secrets reused across stores — security risk; generate fresh per store.
• Domain-based store resolution breaks in local dev — use Host header override or environment-based Spree.config.default_store_url.
• Marketplace integration without Stripe Connect — payouts require Connect; you can't roll your own with bank transfer.
• Multi-currency without per-market shipping — customer gets quoted USD price + USD shipping when their market is EU. Configure Markets fully.

Always verify multi-store fields and Market associations against the live source — these are among the most rapidly-evolving subsystems in v5.4+.