Understanding Store Scope
One of Magento Go’s advanced features allows for management of multiple store views referred to as “scopes”. A scope can be set on a website level as well as on a store view level. What this means is that any parameter can have different values when assigned to different scopes.
Scopes can be configured within Products, Categories, Attributes, Customer Management and Configuration settings.
Understanding Attribute Scope
The Scope field in Attributes determines the level at which the values of an attribute is shared. When creating an attribute, you can choose to make any attribute shared Globally, at the Website Level, or at the Store View Level.
Global means that the value of this attribute for a given product must be the same throughout your website.
Website means that the value of this attribute for a given product can differ on different websites, however it cannot differ between store views contained under the same website. As of this writing, Magento Go only supports one website level.
Store view means the value of this attribute for a given product can differ on all websites and all store views. For example, if you were creating an attribute called Color, within a Store View scope, you would be able to set the color of a product to green in one store view, and blue in another store view.
Understanding Category and Product Scope
The scope provided in the Category and Product menu allows you to define them across multiple store views. For example you could use one category in an English Store view defined in the English language and in a French store view defined in the French language. The same setting in product information panel allows you to change a product’s general information, SKU number, imagery, and more.
Understanding Configuration Settings
The configuration of Magento Go acts as a kind of tree when setting up the stores. When it is initially installed, all configuration settings point to “default”, meaning the global settings. A check box next to each configurable item can be un-checked in a particular website or store view, to indicate that this item will be specific to this store view. For example, after a store view has been created, you can configure the layout and visual settings of the store view however you’d like - a drop-down allows customers to switch between store views. This will reload the current page with the alternate view. This can be used for multiple languages, but can also be a way to easily do A-B testing between several design packages to see if one yields more conversions. The possibilities are endless!
If an admin user’s access is restricted to a specific set of websites and/or stores, the websites and stores for which they are not authorized will not be shown in the scope dropdowns or they will be displayed as inactive. Only the sales and other data for allowed websites and stores will be shown.
