Multistore Pricing – Set Different Prices for Different Stores or Websites

I used to do it like this:
create the folders website1/store1, website1/store2, ...
Then, in the folder website1 clone the index.php and .htaccess from the rood folder and replace this in index.php

$mageFilename = MAGENTO_ROOT . '/app/Mage.php';

with

$mageFilename =  '../app/Mage.php';

and replace

/* Store or website code */
$mageRunCode = isset($_SERVER['MAGE_RUN_CODE']) ? $_SERVER['MAGE_RUN_CODE'] : '';

/* Run store or run website */
$mageRunType = isset($_SERVER['MAGE_RUN_TYPE']) ? $_SERVER['MAGE_RUN_TYPE'] : 'store';

Mage::run($mageRunCode, $mageRunType);

with

Mage::run('website1_code_goes_here', 'website');

Do the same for the folder website2 but change the code accordingly on the last line I mentioned.

Then copy the same files in the folder website1/store1 and change

$mageFilename = MAGENTO_ROOT . '/app/Mage.php';

with

$mageFilename = '../../app/Mage.php';

and

/* Store or website code */
$mageRunCode = isset($_SERVER['MAGE_RUN_CODE']) ? $_SERVER['MAGE_RUN_CODE'] : '';

/* Run store or run website */
$mageRunType = isset($_SERVER['MAGE_RUN_TYPE']) ? $_SERVER['MAGE_RUN_TYPE'] : 'store';

Mage::run($mageRunCode, $mageRunType);

with

Mage::run('store1_id_goes_here', 'store');

Do the same for the other store folders (website1/store2, website2/store1, website2/store2) adjusting the last line accordingly.

Then you will have to go to System->configuration->web->unsecure in the backend, select from the top left selector, website1 and fill in the base url field to http://www.domain.com/website1/. Do the same for base link url.
and for media base url fill in http://www.domain.com/media/. The same goes for skin and js urls.

Do the same for website 2.
Then select from the top left selector the store view store1.
Fill in the base url to http://www.domain.com/website1/store1/ and the same for base link url. I don't think there is a need to change the values for base media/skin/js url.
Do the same for the 3 others store views.

Clear the cache and give it a go.

I sent you an email with my contact info if you want to discuss this in more details.

We typically only see up to 3 languages per website when deployed in this manner. Are you able to reduce the # of languages per country website to just the number of officially supported languages for that country? I think that would help reduce the effective sku count on this install significantly (effective sku count = #sku * #store views * #customer groups).

Reason I ask is we have many customers that have a similar setup, but they have a # of store views per website that line up with the # of officially supported languages for that country (usually 3 or less). Once you get past about 6 websites/store views you generally need to tune your mysql.cnf - tmp_table size setting for proper indexer operation. Once you've done that you should be good to go.

We have noted some room for improvement with our indexers in the above scenario so are working on improving indexer performance in our upcoming release (2.2).

Some additional thoughts:

• Using user groups for customer specific pricing; to support B2B use cases (customer specific pricing) we're headed this direction with our upcoming release (2.2 B2B). Prior to 2.2 though I would expect going down this path would put more load on your indexers and increase the database size as effective sku count increases.
• Splitting into continent based installations would help reduce the data base complexity and indexer work done by each installation. PIM (product information management)/ ERPs provide a path to centralizing management of your content and then you can use APIs/import-export to synchronize data between the various installs. Alternatively, you can have admins manage content locally. We generally recommend this approach as a way to reduce database complexity for sites with large #'s of websites/store views.

Regards, Chuck