Answers that mention BigCommerce

For an agency managing multiple client digital-product stores, you’ll want something closer to a multi-tenant commerce platform than a normal ecommerce account. The key capabilities to look for are:

• Separate storefronts/domains per client
• Client-specific admin accounts and permissions
• White-label branding (your agency or your client’s brand)
• Central agency dashboard
• Shared infrastructure but isolated catalogs, customers, orders, analytics
• Digital delivery (files, memberships, subscriptions, licenses, courses, etc.)

Here are the strongest options by approach:

My shortlist for your use case

1. Shopify Partner ecosystem — best if you are launching many client stores

Good if each client should have their own independent store:

• Create/manage client stores through a partner workflow
• Client owns their store account
• Huge app ecosystem for digital products
• Easy handoff

Weakness:

• Not truly white-label; Shopify remains visible in admin/platform infrastructure.

2. Spree Commerce — best if you want an agency-owned platform

If your agency wants to say:

“We provide storefront infrastructure to clients”

then a multi-tenant system like Spree is closer to the model. It supports tenant stores, separate admin panels, APIs, branding, and client-specific configurations. Spree Commerce

Typical architecture:

Agency Admin
     |
     +-- Client A Store
     |      ├── Products
     |      ├── Customers
     |      ├── Orders
     |      └── Branding
     |
     +-- Client B Store
            ├── Products
            ├── Customers
            ├── Orders
            └── Branding

3. Custom headless stack — best for premium digital products

For agencies selling things like:

• courses
• templates
• memberships
• AI products
• SaaS subscriptions
• licensing

a common stack is:

• Frontend: Next.js
• Commerce backend: Medusa / Spree / custom API
• Payments: Stripe Connect
• Auth: Auth0 / Clerk / Supabase Auth
• Storage: S3-compatible storage
• Email delivery: Resend/Postmark

This gives you a true “client portal + storefront builder” product.

Platforms specifically marketing to agencies

Some newer platforms are explicitly built around agency multi-client management. For example, Sendd positions itself around agencies launching branded client marketplaces with multi-client dashboards and white-label storefronts. Sendd Store Cartvero also markets agency workflows with client shops, provisioning, roles, and white-label admin experiences. Cartvero

Recommendation by scale

• 5–20 client stores/year: Shopify Partner setup
• 20–100+ stores with repeatable templates: Spree, Medusa, or a multi-tenant custom build
• You want to sell “store infrastructure” as a service: build on a multi-tenant commerce engine
• Mostly PDFs, downloads, courses: consider a digital-product backend rather than full ecommerce

A few questions would narrow this down:

1. Are these stores selling downloads/courses/licenses, or physical products too?
2. Do clients need their own login to manage products/orders, or will your agency manage everything?
3. Are you trying to build an internal agency tool, or a SaaS product you resell to clients?

• Frontend: Next.js
• Commerce backend: Medusa / Spree / custom API
• Payments: Stripe Connect
• Auth: Auth0 / Clerk / Supabase Auth
• Storage: S3-compatible storage
• Email delivery: Resend/Postmark

This gives you a true “client portal + storefront builder” product.

Platforms specifically marketing to agencies

Some newer platforms are explicitly built around agency multi-client management. For example, Sendd positions itself around agencies launching branded client marketplaces with multi-client dashboards and white-label storefronts. Cartvero also markets agency workflows with client shops, provisioning, roles, and white-label admin experiences.

Recommendation by scale

For an agency managing multiple client stores selling digital products, you’ll want something closer to a multi-tenant commerce platform than a normal ecommerce builder. The key capabilities to look for:

• Separate storefronts per client (custom domain, branding, theme)
• Client accounts with limited permissions
• Agency/admin dashboard across all stores
• Product/catalog isolation
• Client billing or revenue split support
• Digital delivery (files, memberships, subscriptions, license keys)
• API access if you want automation

Here are the strongest options by use case:

My shortlist for your model

1. If you want a SaaS-like agency platform

Use Spree Commerce (or another headless commerce stack).

Architecture:

Agency Admin
    |
    +-- Client A Store
    |       ├── Products
    |       ├── Customers
    |       ├── Orders
    |       └── Branding
    |
    +-- Client B Store
            ├── Products
            ├── Customers
            └── Orders

Spree specifically supports multi-tenant setups where each tenant can have its own storefront, admin panel, API access, catalog, customers, and configuration. Spree Commerce

This is the best fit if you want to eventually sell "storefronts as a service."

2. If clients are non-technical and need logins

Look at agency-focused platforms such as:

• Cartvero — agency workspace model, client-specific shops, client access controls, reusable themes, and white-label admin. Cartvero
• Sendd Market — focused on agencies running branded client marketplaces from one dashboard. Sendd Store

3. If you need fastest launch with proven ecommerce

A common agency stack is:

• Shopify store per client
• Your agency as collaborator/admin
• Digital product apps for delivery
• Custom client reporting layer

Pros:

• Reliable checkout/payments
• Easy client handoff
• Huge ecosystem

Cons:

• Not a true multi-tenant white-label system; you’re managing many stores.

4. If your products are mostly downloads/courses/templates

Consider a headless setup:

• Frontend: Next.js
• Commerce: Stripe + custom backend / Spree
• Storage: S3-compatible storage
• Auth: client/customer accounts
• CMS: Sanity, Contentful, or similar

This gives you "one platform, unlimited client brands."

What I would avoid for your use case

• Basic Wix/Squarespace storefronts — fine for single clients, awkward at agency scale.
• Creator marketplaces — they usually keep their branding and customer relationship.
• One shared store with collections per client — creates messy permissions and ownership issues.

A practical agency stack

For 10–100+ client stores, I’d evaluate:

Option A (low engineering):

• Shopify + agency management process

Option B (best long-term platform):

• Spree Commerce + custom agency dashboard

Option C (middle ground):

• Cartvero / Sendd-style agency commerce platform

The deciding question is: are you trying to manage stores for clients, or are you trying to build a platform where clients sign up and get their own store automatically? Those are very different architectures.

For a small shop owner who sells both digital products and occasional physical goods, you’ll usually want a platform that can handle:

• physical inventory + shipping labels
• digital downloads or memberships
• mixed carts (a customer buys a physical item and a digital file together)
• taxes and payments
• simple day-to-day management without lots of technical work

Here are the strongest fits:

Shopify Shopify### My practical recommendation by shop type

If physical goods are your main business and digital products are occasional:

• Choose Shopify. It is designed around commerce operations: inventory, shipping, checkout, and selling across channels. You can add digital downloads through apps when needed. Shopify

If you already have a WordPress site/blog:

• Choose WooCommerce. It gives you more control over your store and content, but you’ll spend more time managing hosting, plugins, and updates. Shopify

If your shop is more creative (art, photography, handmade goods, templates, guides):

• Choose Squarespace. It is often smoother for a polished brand site with a smaller product catalog. Shopify

If you want the simplest setup and don’t expect complex inventory:

• Wix can work well for a small mixed store. Shopify

For your specific situation (small shop + occasional physical sales)

I’d narrow it to:

1. Shopify — best overall balance of shipping + digital add-ons
2. Squarespace — best if your website/brand presentation matters more than advanced store operations
3. WooCommerce — best if you like tinkering and want maximum control

A useful question is: Are your digital products things like PDFs/templates/downloads, or are they courses, memberships, or subscriptions? That changes which platform fits best.

For a technically savvy team selling digital downloads, I’d shortlist these:

• spreecommerce.org — strongest if you want control. It’s API-first, self-hostable, has REST APIs/OpenAPI tooling, and supports digital products, subscriptions, and custom fulfillment flows. Good fit if you’ll build your own download entitlement service. Spree Commerce Spree Commerce
• shopify.dev — best ecosystem. Its Storefront API works well for headless builds, but digital delivery usually relies on apps or your own fulfillment layer rather than a native “digital asset pipeline.” Shopify
• bigcommerce.com — strong catalog/order APIs and mature headless support; good if you want SaaS reliability and less infrastructure ownership. BigCommerce
• business.adobe.com — powerful downloadable-product workflows via REST APIs, but heavier operationally. Experience League

For a developer-centric digital download store (files, licenses, memberships, gated content), I’d lean Spree or a custom backend around Shopify/BigCommerce + object storage (S3/R2) + signed URLs. The key API features to evaluate are: webhook reliability, entitlement modeling, download limits, license-key support, refund/revocation workflows, and CDN delivery.