In 2024, as a Shopify store owner, you might be looking for ways to offer a more curated shopping experience to your customers. Hiding your Shopify store from certain customers can be an effective strategy for this. It allows you to cater to an exclusive audience or test some changes in your store without public visibility. If you are planning to launch premium products or conduct market research, then you should hide your Shopify store to ensure that the customer’s experience is not broken at any time.

Another significant advantage of hiding Shopify store’s content from select customers involves managing special promotions and stock availability. You can create targeted campaigns that are visible only to specific groups, such as return customers or subscribers. This method ensures that promotional items are reserved for only customers that you want, enhancing their shopping experience by building exclusivity and making them feel valued.

In the article below we will look at the steps to hide your Shopify store but first, let’s look at when you should be hiding your Shopify store.

When and why should you hide your Shopify store?

• Testing store for issues: When you are doing some tests on your products, or checking the quality before you want to make your store live to the public, hiding it will help you ensure that any issues are raesolved once real customers start to come in.

• Exclusive Offers for select customers: If you have special customers, this generally happens when people sell wholesale on their Shopify stores, you may want only a certain group of customers to access your store. Hiding your Shopify store from others could be beneficial here so that no one other than your select customers can access the deals and offers.

• Legal compliance during operations: There might be an instance where some products may be restricted due to local laws or licensing agreements. Therefore, hiding these products from customers in restricted areas will help you comply with the legal requirements of that region.

• Preventing server overloading: At times your store might get high traffic during events such as major sales or product launches. In such cases, temporarily hiding your store can help manage server load. This prevents the site from crashing and ensures that every visitor has a smooth and responsive experience.

• Checking market readiness: You can offer to check the market validation for the products or services that you are trying to sell by starting your store only for a certain group of customers and hiding it from others. This enables you to make the necessary changes before making your store live to a wider audience.

Steps to hide your Shopify store without using an app

Let us look at the steps that you can take to hide your Shopify store without using an app.

• Sign in with your Shopify account which has admin access.
  

• From the left navigation bar click on ‘Online Store’ as depicted in the image shown below. 

•     Next, click on ‘Preferences’ as depicted in the image shown below.

• Next, scroll down to the password protection section, and enter a password that you want users to enter to be able to access your store as depicted in the image shown below.

• After selecting the password, add a message that displays why your store is hidden from them as depicted in the image shown below.

• Click on ‘Save’ to implement password protection and hide your Shopify store as depicted in the image shown below.

That’s it! You have successfully hidden your store and only customers with the password can access your Shopify store. 

Hiding Shopify’s store content using Wholesale Lock Manager B2B

If you want advanced control and options to hide your Shopify store and its content you can install 3rd party apps from the Shopify app store. One such powerful app is the Wholesale Lock Manager B2B.

The app enables Shopify store owners to hide products, collections, pages, specific URLs, prices of products, and even the entire storefront. You can also control who sees what on your store – i.e. you can hide Shopify store’s content from certain customers and show it to others based on various factors like customer tags, their login status, etc.

Conclusion

Hiding your Shopify store from select customers can be super helpful under a lot of circumstances. This can allow you to personalize the shopping experience for your customers and ensure that special products and offers reach just the right audience. Whether you’re conducting market research, managing inventory for exclusive events, or complying with local regulations, controlling access to your store can enhance the user experience of your store. |

Moreover, when you can control who sees what on your Shopify store, this helps you maintain your website’s performance by managing traffic during high-demand periods and could prevent potential crashes. This approach improves the customer experience and also builds a sense of exclusivity and loyalty among your premium customers. Follow the simple steps mentioned above to easily hide your Shopify store when necessary.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are some of the main reasons to hide a Shopify store?
Some of the reasons why store owners would want to house their Shopify stores can be to offer exclusive products, conduct market tests, manage inventory for special events like festive sales, and comply with local regulations to control product availability.

2. Can I hide specific products instead of my entire Shopify store?
Yes, using apps like the Wholesale Lock Manager B2B, you can hide specific products, collections, pages, URLs, and even the entire store from select customers.

3. Will hiding my store affect my SEO?
If you are hiding your store temporarily for only short durations, that should not affect your SEO, but in case of prolonged invisibility of your store, your SEO could get affected.

4. Can hiding my Shopify store help manage high traffic volumes?
Yes, during periods of high traffic, such as major promotions, hiding your store can help manage server load and enhance user experience.

5. What message should I display when my store is hidden?
You should provide a clear, friendly message explaining why the store is hidden and, if applicable, how the visitor might gain access if they are part of your target audience.