WP e-commerce (part-2)

About this part of WP e-commerce tutorial

This is the second and final part of the WordPress E-Commerce tutorial. We recommend you to read the first part before reading this tutorial.

Before starting

Before we move into the deep of the second part, we need to update our e-commerce website a little more like below:

1. Install latest version of Liquorice theme (i.e Liquorice 2.2).

2. Update WordPress to the latest version (i.e. WordPress 3.3).

3. Under Settings -> Store -> Shipping we will edit the Flat Rate option and put $ 0.00 under all the fields. This is done since we will use different shipping rates for different products (without any base rates). Putting $ 0.00 keeps this feature enabled. If you want to keep a Base rate to be added to the individual shipping cost of each product, you may enter your Base rates here.

Our site should look like below:

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Adding Products to eCommerce website

We will change a few more options before adding products:

1. Go to Product -> Coupons page. Here you can specify the Coupon Code, Discount, Coupon Expiry Date and other conditions as per your requirements.

2. Go to the Product -> Variations which lets you add variations to your products.

Suppose you are going to sell T-Shirts and you want to specify its variations in Size or Color. Here, you can define your Variations Set first and then define the different variations under it.

3. Go to Product -> Product Tags which lets you define your own product tags useful for searching a product while using the Product Tags widget.

Product Categories

Go to Products -> Categories page and add some category.For now we have added three categories- Flowers, Confectioneries and Chocolates.

Adding Products

Go to Products -> Add New. Here you can add products for your e-commerce website.

You should specify the Product Name, Product Description, Product Tags and categorize your product under the created Categories. You can also add variation through Variations option.

You can add the Price, Stock and Taxes(if any) of these products. While adding the Price, you can also specify a Sale Price to show a discounted price to your customers.

Use the Product Download option when you are selling downloadable products.

You can upload Product image by clicking the Manage Products Images link.

You should specify your shipping options. You need to specify a Weight for your product and then specify the Local and International Shipping Charges. You also can disregard the shipping charges.

Now click on Publish to save the changes.

Now your product appears under the Products -> Products option. You can edit/delete the products from this option.

Lets add two or more products to our site.

Here is the Light box effect Image of products.

Now you can use the Settings -> Store -> Import option to upload products in a batch using a comma delimited text file. After adding the products you can upload the images and you can insert the additional details.

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Essential Widgets

Now you will find many useful widgets, under the Appearance -> Widgets. Drag and drop it in the area of the page where you want to place it. Lets discuss a little more:

Latest Products – This widget will display the recently added products on your sidebar or the area where you are placing this widget.

Products Categories – This widget will show all your product categories. Customers can search for products using those categories.

Product Specials – This widget will display those products that is on Sale in your site, i.e if the product has any discounted price or the Table Rate Price.

Product Tags- This widget will display the specified product tags in your sidebar so that customer can search for their required products using those Tags.

Price Range – This widget will add the price range of your products in your sidebar through which the customer can search for the products using different price ranges.

Shopping Cart – If you have selected the Widget option for your Cart Location , you can use this widget to display the shopping cart in your sidebar.

Text - This wizard is also helpful if you want to display any special ad on your website. You can copy paste html snippets in this widget.

Reporting

If the products are purchased, you will get the purchase reports under the Sales Summary, Sales by Quarter and Sales by Month. Under the Sales Summary, you will get to know the current month’s sales and the Total Income. The Sales by Quarter displays the sales by Financial Quarters and Sales by Month displays Last four months of sales on a per product basis.

Under Dashboard -> Store Sales, you will get a summary of the sales for the Current Month. It is through this screen that you will be able to see all the sales details and also process the orders. You can change the Sales Status and also add new Tracking IDs to each of the products. Clicking on the Details->Items will display the invoice. You can also email the customer the purchase receipt from this page.

So your e-commerce site is now ready for the first sale.While checking out, the system automatically asks for you Login Credentials or Registers you if you are a new customer.

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Advantages of Short-codes

A short-code is a specific code in WordPress that lets you do great things using very little effort. The other name of Short-code is Shortcut, you can embed files or create objects using just one line of short-code which otherwise would have required lots of ugly codes.

Here are the details of a few important short-codes used in our site.

productspage short-code will help in displaying the complete list of products and their presentation in the website. This is a very important short-code in Wp e-commerce that is used within Products Pages, Products Categories and single Product Templates.

shoppingcart short-code displays the checkout page or the checkout template in the site.

transactionresults short-code displays the transaction page which shows the customers the status and the summary of their purchase.

userlog short-code displays the My Account page of the site. Its is used by already registered customers to see their details regarding purchase history, downloads and account details.

Examples of short-codes:

[wpsc_products product_id='288'] – Displays the product which has ID of 288
[buy_now_button product_id='198'] – Displays a PayPal buy now button for the product(ID-198).
[add_to_cart=112] – Displays an add to cart button for the product(ID-112).

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Conclusion

I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial on WP e-commerce. If you like my effort you can put a facebook like/follow on twitter/put a comment or bookmark this page for further help. You can read my other posts and WordPress development tutorials.