Final answer:
The statement is false; private applications on Shopify are designed for use with a single store only, whereas public apps can interact with multiple stores, given they have the necessary permissions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement 'Private applications can interact with the Shopify API on behalf of multiple stores, as long as the application has been granted explicit permission by a merchant' is false. Private applications on Shopify are designed to be used by a single store. These applications are tightly integrated with the store they are created for and cannot interact with multiple stores. For an application to interact with multiple stores, it would need to be a public app, which is created for a wider merchant audience and goes through a more rigorous set of requirements, including an approval process by Shopify. To help delineate access permissions and manage multiple stores, developers can use access tokens with a public app. These tokens are granted after a store's owner authorizes the app, enabling it to perform API actions on behalf of the store.