Global commerce without duplicate infrastructure - multiple stores on a single backend

Multi-region commerce in Medusa - how does a single backend support multiple stores?

Traditional multi-store setups rely on duplication. Every market receives its own environment: separate admin panels, separate integrations, separate product structures. Even if the stores share a codebase, synchronizing data becomes expensive and error-prone.

Medusa follows a different principle. The platform treats region as a core domain object, not a configuration tag. The backend exposes one API and one data model, while the sales channel + region pairing determines what any given storefront displays.

In practice this allows you to run:

• store.us.com for the United States,
• store.eu.com for the European Union,
• store.asia.com for APAC partners,

…all backed by the same infrastructure, without conflicting pricing logic or duplicated catalogue trees. The business value becomes obvious immediately: every new storefront is a frontend project, not a backend rebuild.

Regions in Medusa - The Foundation of Pricing, Currency and Market Rules

A region in Medusa encapsulates everything that differentiates one market from another. It is not a simple label indicating geography but a domain entity with real operational consequences.

A region defines:

• the currency used for all customer-facing prices,
• tax behaviour, including VAT models, country-specific thresholds, or tax-exempt rules,
• eligible payment methods (e.g., Klarna or iDEAL in Europe, Stripe or Authorize.net in the US),
• shipping profiles and carriers, mapped to regional fulfilment flows,
• relationships with price lists and sales channels.

Because regions are part of the backend core, a product does not need to be cloned to appear differently in each market. One definition serves all markets, but each region shapes how it is sold.

This allows scenarios such as:

• a product costing 99 USD in the US but 89 EUR in the EU,
• region-specific promotions (e.g., EU-only seasonal discounts),
• separate fulfilment logic, depending on where inventory is located,
• different variant availability, without fragmenting the global catalogue.

As a result, the backend remains compact, and operational rules remain contained within their respective regions.

Multiple stores, one backend - how Medusa uses sales channels

Regions define the rules. Sales channels define who sees what.

A sales channel acts as a controlled slice of the catalog and can represent:

• a US storefront,
• a European storefront,
• a B2B partner portal,
• an outlet or seasonal store,
• a campaign-specific temporary storefront.

A channel filters visibility, pricing and product sets. Combined with regional rules, it provides fine-grained control over what appears on each market — all without maintaining separate backend instances.

Regional pricing and price lists - differentiating markets without duplicating catalogs

One of the biggest challenges in multi-store architectures is pricing. Medusa solves this through price lists, which can be assigned to:

• regions,
• sales channels,
• customer groups (for B2B scenarios).

A price list may include:

• fixed prices or discount rules,
• variant-level overrides,
• relevant currencies,
• validity dates.

In practice:

• the US store uses price lists defined in USD,
• the European store uses price lists in EUR,
• B2B partners receive contract pricing associated with their customer group.

This structure allows markets to scale without multiplying price tables or maintaining redundant catalog versions.

Logistics and fulfillment across regions - separating processes without separating systems

Every region in Medusa can define its own:

• shipping methods,
• carriers,
• fulfillment integrations,
• warehouse assignments.

A US storefront can fulfill orders from a warehouse in California, while an EU storefront uses a distribution center in Germany — all within the same backend.

Customers only see shipping options relevant to their region, and operational flows remain isolated where necessary. This is particularly valuable in global operations where logistics rules differ significantly between markets.

Local promotions and campaigns - separate rules for separate markets

Promotions in Medusa can be scoped to regions or sales channels. This allows you to run:

• 15% off the entire catalog in the US,
• free shipping across the EU,
• dedicated discounts for regional partners.

No duplication of promo codes, no separate panels. The backend handles all logic consistently across markets.

Localised Promotions and Market-Specific Campaigns

Promotions are rarely global. Tax laws differ, customer habits differ, partner models differ. Medusa allows promotions to be tied to specific regions and sales channels, ensuring:

• discounts apply only where intended,
• campaigns can run independently across markets,
• promotional logic does not spill into other storefronts.

Example scenarios include:

• free shipping only in the EU,
• a US-only 15% campaign for a holiday weekend,
• regional loyalty programmes,
• partner-specific bundles.

All of these share one backend but operate as isolated rule sets.

Multi-market storefronts - how one backend powers different domains

Frontends can run on multiple domains:

• example.com
• example.eu
• example.us
• partners.example.com

All of them query the same backend, passing region and channel identifiers in the request. As a result:

• content and prices adjust to each market,
• inventory and fulfillment respect regional constraints,
• integrations remain unified and maintainable.

The backend is single. The storefronts can be as diverse as your business needs them to be.

Why running global commerce on a single backend lowers costs and increases control

Medusa’s approach eliminates the most common pain points of traditional multi-store setups:

• no duplicated catalogs,
• unified ERP/PIM integrations,
• consistent order and tax logic,
• one admin panel,
• reduced DevOps and infrastructure overhead,
• faster time-to-market when launching new countries.

The main advantage? Scaling markets without scaling complexity. Teams can focus on growth — not on maintaining parallel systems.

Want to build a global e-commerce architecture without expanding infrastructure?

U11d designs and implements multi-market Medusa architectures — from regional configuration and contract pricing to logistics and ERP integrations.

If you're preparing to enter new markets or want to simplify an existing multi-store setup, let’s talk about building a system that grows with your business rather than adding operational weight.