Skip to main content

Retailer structures

To meet the various needs of businesses, Storefront Pro supports diverse retailer structures, from simple models to highly complex setups. These structures are categorized based on the relationships between parent organizations (partners) and their affiliated banners or stores.

Layers in retailer structures​

  • Partner: The parent organization that manages settings or views information across all banners and sites under the parent organization.
  • Banner: An affiliated store or subsidiary operated by the partner that manages settings or views information across all sites under a banner.

Retailer structures overview​

Single banner​

A single banner structure features a one-to-one relationship between a partner and its banner. It is ideal for smaller businesses that manage just one banner and its associated stores or sites.

Multi-banner​

Multi-banner structures (or complex retailer structures) refer to the unique ownership and operational configurations that retailers can use. These structures involve managing multiple banners (multi-banner) under one parent organization.

The following image shows a model where a partner manages two banners:

Shows a diagram with a Partner at the top, branching into Fresh Grocery Banner and Neighbor Pharmacy Banner. Each banner connects to three stores labeled Store 1, Store 2, and Store 3.

In this multi-banner model, a partner operates as the parent organization and manages other banners within the structure. At the banner level, access is restricted to their designated stores. In other words, Fresh Grocery can only manage the stores with their banner, and the same applies to Neighbor Pharmacy.

Wholesalers​

The wholesaler model can take multi-banner structures further. A wholesaler is an intermediary that provides goods and services to individual retailers. This includes product sourcing with bulk discounts, merchandising, marketing, and technical support for their online storefronts.

Due to the growing complexity of modern retailer structures, more flexible models are needed. In order to achieve these models without having to add additional tiers to the hierarchy, we have created virtual partners. A virtual partner is a designation that allows wholesalers to operate as partners, giving them the ability to manage stores across multiple partners within a two-tier structure.

The following image shows a retailer structure where a wholesaler is a virtual partner:

Shows a diagram with Fresh Grocery and Neighbor Pharmacy labeled as partners, Wholesaler as a virtual partner, each connected to three stores labeled Store 1, Store 2, and Store 3.

A virtual partner wholesaler can manage stores across different partners. For example, a wholesaler who is a virtual partner with two different partners can create a custom home page for each. In the custom homepage tool, the wholesaler can then manage both homepages, while both partners only access their banner's homepage.

With the addition of virtual partners, Storefront Pro and Instacart Platform Portal can support most complex business models today.

For more information about how virtual partners can select the appropriate scope while managing banners, see Select a scope.

To determine the retailer structure that fits your needs, contact your Instacart representative. They will work with you to identify and configure the environment that best meets your requirements.

Last updated on