Question

Difference between store and storeview in magento

Answer 1

The main point for different store is to have the same data basis but present the product in different shops. Let's say you have one store where you sell all your products and then you create specialised shops with their own domains to better target your customers. The prices, tax configuration, shipping methods and so on stay the same everywhere.

If you want to sell your products in several stores and have to change one of the following criteria in these shops, then you have to go for different websites:

different prices different tax classes different  currencies different payment options different shipping options

If you just create store groups, your customers will be able to log in to all shops with the same credentials whether you like it or not.

If you create websites, it's up to you whether your customers can log in to all shops with the same credentials. If it's clear that these shops belong together you may want to do that for convenience. In other cases it's not so clear that your shops belong together. Then you may want to configure Magento so that your customers have to create an account for every single shop.