Private storefronts let you create exclusive, password-free shopping experiences for specific corporate clients, employee groups, or partners — complete with custom branding, curated products, and tailored pricing. You can control everything from the Zest dashboard with no engineering required.
This guide walks you through creating private storefronts, configuring access, customizing the experience, and managing multiple private storefronts at scale.
Overview: Public vs. Private Storefronts
Every Zest account starts with a main storefront — your primary public-facing gifting storefront (e.g., gifts.yourbrand.com). You can then go on to create unlimited custom storefronts, each with its own URL path, products, pricing, and branding. Custom storefronts can be public or private.
Public storefronts are accessible to anyone with the URL. They are not indexed by search engines, so you control distribution by choosing where you share the link. No login is required.
Private storefronts require email-based authentication before a user can browse or purchase. Only people whose email addresses appear on your allowed customers list can access the storefront.
Why would you make a storefront private? Private storefronts are ideal for:
Restricting access to a specific corporate client or partner.
Offering exclusive pricing that shouldn't be visible to the general public.
Curating a product selection for a particular audience.
Note: The main storefront cannot be converted to private. To stop new orders on your main storefront, remove links from your website and adjust the Max Order Quantity setting.
Creating a New Custom Storefront
Before you start, make sure you have:
An active Zest account with dashboard access.
Products in your ecommerce catalog tagged and available for Zest.
To create a storefront:
In the Zest dashboard, click Create Storefront.
Enter a Name for the storefront (e.g., "Google Holiday Gifts").
Enter a URL slug (e.g., /google or /jp-morgan). This determines the storefront's URL:
gifts.yourbrand.com/google.Click Save.
Your new storefront is created and ready to configure. By default, new storefronts are set to private.
Tip: You cannot use the slug main — that is reserved for your primary storefront. Choose something short and recognizable for your client.
Configuring Private Access (Email-Based Authentication)
To make a storefront private (or confirm it is private):
Open the storefront in the Zest dashboard.
Navigate to Settings.
Find the Is Public? toggle and make sure it is turned off.
In the Allowed Customers field, add the email addresses of people who should have access.
Click Save.
When the storefront is private, only users whose email addresses appear in the allowed customers list can access it. The authentication flow is passwordless — users verify their identity with a one-time passcode sent to their email (see How Corporate Clients Access Their Storefront below).
Important:
The one-time passcode flow is mandatory for private storefronts and cannot be disabled.
Admins must add their own email address to the allowed customers list to preview a private storefront as a customer would — even if they have backend dashboard access.
Customizing Products, Pricing, and Branding Per Storefront
Each storefront has an independent configuration. Settings in one storefront never affect other storefronts or your direct-to-consumer site.
Products
Open the storefront and navigate to Product Listings.
Select which products to display on this storefront.
Drag and drop to set the display order.
Click Save.
You can also configure add-on products separately for each storefront.
Pricing and discounts
Each storefront supports several pricing options:
Percentage discount: Apply a flat percentage discount across all products on the storefront (e.g., 20% off everything).
Exclude specific products from the discount: When a storefront-wide discount is active, you can exclude individual products so they remain at full price.
Volume incentives: Set tiered discounts based on order size — for example, 10% off for 100+ recipients, 15% off for 200+ recipients. These can apply to the subtotal or to shipping costs.
To configure pricing:
Open the storefront and navigate to Pricing.
Set the Discount Percent for a storefront-wide discount.
Add Volume Discounts for tiered pricing if needed.
Click Save.
Tip for custom per-product pricing: Native per-product price overrides within Zest storefronts are not currently available. The current workaround is to duplicate the product in with the same SKU but a different price, tag it with "zest," make it unavailable on all other sales channels, and add only the re-priced variant to the specific storefront.
Branding
Custom branding is optional — if you choose not to alter branding, the storefront will use your default brand settings. If you choose to do so, here’s how to customize the look and feel for each private storefront:
Open the storefront and navigate to Branding.
Upload a Client Logo (e.g., your corporate client's logo).
Choose a Banner Type — you can use a default image, upload a custom banner image, or use a text-based banner.
Set Banner Text and Banner Subtext if using a text banner.
Configure Foreground Color and Background Color to match the client's brand.
Select Digital Card designs available on this storefront.
Click Save.
URL slug
Each custom storefront has a unique URL slug that determines its path (e.g., gifts.yourbrand.com/clientname). The slug is set when you create the storefront. For custom storefronts, you can update the slug in Settings.
Note: The main storefront's slug (main) cannot be changed.
Managing the Allowed Customers List
The allowed customers list controls who can access a private storefront.
Adding email addresses
Open the storefront and navigate to Settings.
In the Allowed Customers field, type or paste email addresses. The field accepts comma-separated values — you can paste a list and each address becomes a separate entry.
Click Save.
For bulk additions, create a CSV file with your email addresses, open it in a text editor, copy the comma-separated list, and paste it into the Allowed Customers field in Zest.
Removing email addresses
In the Allowed Customers field, click the remove icon on any email address chip to delete it.
Click Save.
Note: There is no bulk export of the allowed customers list. Contact Zest support if you need an export.
How Corporate Clients Access Their Storefront
Private storefronts use passwordless, one-time passcode (OTP) authentication. There are no passwords to manage.
Here is the experience from the client's perspective:
You share the unique storefront URL with your client (e.g.,
gifts.yourbrand.com/clientname), typically via email.The client visits the URL and is prompted to enter their email address.
If their email is on the allowed customers list, they receive a 6-digit verification code in their inbox.
They enter the code on the storefront to gain access.
They can now browse products, build gifts, and place orders.
Organizing Multiple Storefronts: Use Cases and Best Practices
There is no limit to the number of storefronts you can create. Some brands operate 100+ storefronts successfully. All storefronts connect to the same ecommerce platform instance and share the same subdomain structure (e.g., gifts.yourbrand.com/clientname).
Common ways to organize storefronts
By corporate client: One private storefront per client with custom branding, products, and pricing (e.g.,
/google,/jp-morgan).By occasion: Seasonal or event-based storefronts (e.g.,
/holiday-2026,/employee-appreciation).By customer segment: Separate storefronts for different audiences (e.g.,
/vip-customers,/wholesale).By product category: Curated collections for different use cases (e.g.,
/premium-gifts,/welcome-kits).By sales rep: Dedicated storefronts for commission tracking per rep.
Best practices
Start with one public storefront for general use and create private storefronts only for clients who need custom pricing or restricted access.
Use clear, descriptive names so you can quickly find storefronts in the dashboard.
Choose short, recognizable URL slugs — your client will see them.
Archive storefronts you no longer need so you retain the configuration for reference.
For seasonal storefronts, switch visibility to private after a promotion ends to effectively close public access without losing the setup.
Note: Global settings — including shipping calendar rules, tax configuration, and shipping settings — apply across all storefronts and cannot be customized per storefront. Products, pricing, branding, and access controls are per-storefront.
Troubleshooting Access Issues
If a user cannot access a private storefront, work through these steps:
Verify the email address is on the allowed customers list. Open the storefront in the Zest dashboard, navigate to Settings, and confirm the user's exact email address appears in the Allowed Customers field.
Confirm the user is visiting the correct URL. The full URL should be
gifts.yourbrand.com/slugwith no extra path segments.Check the spam folder. If the one-time passcode email is not arriving, it may be caught by corporate spam filters. Ask the user to check their spam or junk folder.
Try a different email address. If the user's corporate email consistently blocks the passcode, consider adding a personal email address to the allowed list as a workaround.
Contact Zest support. If none of the above resolves the issue, reach out to the Zest support team for further investigation.
Tip: When sharing storefront URLs with clients, always share the clean URL (e.g., gifts.yourbrand.com/clientname) without any query parameters to avoid access issues.