User Roles

What are user roles?

In many online stores, multiple people log in to the admin panel: the owner, a warehouse employee, an accountant, a marketing manager, and perhaps an external developer or an agency. They each work on different parts of the store and do not need the same level of access.

Permissions, also known as user permissions, describe what a user is allowed to do: view orders, edit products, issue refunds, export customer data, and so on. A user role groups the permissions associated with a specific task under a single name. You select the role, and the user is granted the permissions that come with it. This way, you don’t have to decide on each individual permission every time you create a new user. This method of managing access is called role-based access control, or RBAC.

Many systems also distinguish between being able to view something and being able to modify it. For example, an accountant needs to be able to view orders and revenue but rarely needs to change prices or cancel orders.

The Principle of Least Privilege

In IT security, we talk about the principle of least privilege. In plain language, this means that everyone is given only the keys they need to do their job—and no more. In a physical store, a student assistant typically has a key to the storefront door, but not to the safe or the office where the accounting records are kept. This isn’t about mistrust, but about common sense—and the same applies to the administration of an online store.

When each user has access only to what their tasks require, you gain several benefits:

• Fewer errors. The person packing orders can’t accidentally change a price or delete a product.
• Less damage from misuse. If a password is stolen—for example, through a phishing email—the thief can only do what the user’s role allows.
• Better protection of customer data. Fewer people can view and export names, addresses, and purchase history. This is also in line with the GDPR, which requires that personal data be protected from unauthorized access.
• A simpler workday. When the admin interface displays only what is relevant to the tasks at hand, it’s easier for a new employee to find their way around.

User Roles in Shoporama

In Shoporama, you’ll find users under Company → Users. When you create or edit a user, select the role in the “Role and Permissions” tab. A matrix shows what each role can do in each area of the admin panel: “Edit” means the user can create and edit, “View” means the user can only view, and a dash means no access. There are seven predefined roles:

• Full Access: everything in the online store, including payments, design, and integrations.
• Employee: products, orders, customers, inventory, and content.
• Order Management: orders, order queue, and returns. This role can also view products, customers, and inventory.
• Marketing: discount codes, campaigns, newsletters, content, and design.
• Bookkeeper: Can view orders, products, inventory, customers, statistics, and invoices, but cannot make any changes.
• Developer: theme, code, content, setup, and integrations, e.g., with your web agency. However, installing apps and connecting to Claude requires Full Access.
• Supplier: Can create and edit their own products, e.g., when a supplier adds their own items to your online store. Always select which supplier the user belongs to, as this selection restricts the user to their own products. You’ll be taken directly to this selection when you create the user.

In addition to the role, there are five optional permissions for the most sensitive actions and information: Refunds and Cancellations, Data Export, Cost Prices and Markup, Sales and Statistics, and Deletion and Bulk Import. The “Full Access” role always has these permissions. For the other roles, the matrix shows which options the role can have, and you check the boxes for the ones the user should have. For example, if a user with the Order Management role needs to be able to refund orders, check the box for Refunds and Cancellations.

A user can also be a company administrator. This is not a role, but an additional setting that you enable using the “Company Administrator” toggle when you create or edit the user. Only a company administrator can create and remove users, change users’ roles, add online stores, view the activity log, and close or reset an online store. When you make a user a company administrator, that user gains full access.

If you assign a user a role other than Full Access, the menu will only display the items that the role grants access to. If the user nevertheless opens a page outside the scope of their role—for example, via an old bookmark—the “No Access” page will appear with a message instructing them to contact the company administrator. If your company has multiple online stores, a user can have different roles in each online store.

User roles apply to those who work in your administration. Corporate customers in a B2B online store have their own roles, “Member” and “Company Admin,” which you manage under “Customers” → “Companies.” These roles do not grant access to the administration.

Read more about how to assign users the correct role and permissions in the article on roles and permissions.

Best practices when multiple people have access

• Give each person their own login, and never share a login. That way, the correct name will appear next to actions in the activity log, and you can revoke one person’s access without having to change the password for everyone else.
• Start with the role that fits the tasks, and only grant additional permissions and greater access when there’s a specific need. Full access is selected by default when you create a new user, so choose a different role if the user doesn’t need full access.
• Review your users regularly and remove those who no longer need access, such as former employees or an agency you no longer use.
• Ask all users to enable two-factor authentication so that a stolen password isn’t enough to log in.