Tips on How to Start an eCommerce Business
Starting an eCommerce business is becoming a daily dream for lots of visionary business people. Business merchants wrestle with the question; when and how should one start an eCommerce business. It is a hard nut to crack. With the internet, there are lots of tips and strategies out there that needs careful consideration before taking an action plan.
The Internet has made many business people successful, and it has equally misled several businesses. It’s upon business merchants to carefully sift through what they read. This guide provides an original approach on how to start an eCommerce business.
Create Your Own Company Name
Ideally, a good business name for eCommerce website should relay the skills, services offered, and uniqueness. There is so much than meets the eye in your business name, and therefore it’s better to take sufficient time creating business name before you back it up with the right marketing strategy. Be unique- instead of trying to capture all brands in the company name focus on a single essential element.
You can either use phrases, Compound nouns or transmutations to give your company a good name. Choosing the right business name requires creativity, evade power words. A short name has a powerful gesture than a long one. Remember, your business name shouldn’t capture everything leave something for the imagination. If you follow the outlined process, you will discover an outstanding trademark.
Register Your Own Brand Name
Registering a business brand name is a straightforward process. It only takes less than 90 minutes when the application is made online. The shortest way to register is on the U.S Trademark Office’s Website.
Before you acquire the brand name pause enough to check the Trademark Electronic Search System to be certain that no other company that bears such a brand name.
- You must have the Employer Identification Number (EIN) to actualize the process. It’s a requirement to be able to open a bank account for the payment of the taxes. Remember the process will stall if you don’t get valid business licenses and permits.
- Before you begin operating consult with your state to ascertain the sales tax permits you need. In the end, you should have all the business permits and licenses to comply with the law.
Secure Your eCommerce Domain Name and Website
Creating your website entails choosing your domain name. Web hosting providers provide domain names, and you can choose to buy from either of them. You will then be required to enter the domain name into a text box.
Keyword optimization determines the domain name. You require a great keyword to invent a domain name that will increase traffic in of your site. Remember webmasters don’t use pompous words for URL.
To see how it works open Godaddy.com and enter the chosen keyword. GoDaddy.com scans the names under the submitted keyword. It extracts all the taken names, and then it provides you with suggestions for the appropriate possible names.
Select the Best eCommerce Business Structure
Many business owners wrestle with the question: What is the best eCommerce business structure? We are pleased to tackle this issue in depth. There are three business structures.
Sole Proprietorship
In this structure, you and your business are intertwined. You own all business assets and loses. This structure requires no long-term tax planning. A sole proprietorship is the highly recommended business structure since you don’t need a business license to run sole proprietorship under your name.
Partnership
In partnership, any profit or loss is shared equally to all members according to the percentage of their contribution, and the government doesn’t tax individuals. A partnership is known for its lower compliance cost. If several members are in a connection, the cost of tax work becomes less.
If the partnership is not a general one, then it is a limited partnership. In a general partnership, all members are bound to damages of the business with impeachable liability, but in a limited partnership, the non-active members are only obliged to the amount they have invested in the business.
Corporation
A corporation is an independent legal unity with its mechanisms, constitution, and management officers. The bearers of the corporation run it as a separate entity, and a member can sue it if need be. Therefore you don’t require this type of structure for online eCommerce platform because of its technicalities.
You can either start trading as a partnership or a sole proprietor. However, we normally advise our clients to consider the repercussion when incorporating their eCommerce business. A partnership is the best structure for any online store since with it you avoid major conflicts in the future.
Find the Right eCommerce Vendor
To find eCommerce vendors write down how you want to acquire your orders. Some eCommerce businesses prefer drop shipping while others choose to store their products in a warehouse set for shipping when an order is placed.
To get the best price link with the supplier and shun the middlemen. You connect with them through a phone call; you need to link someone (supplier) who can make a decision. If you connect with the supplier, you cut down cost hence making bigger profits. You also can negotiate for a better price.
In as much as you need to reduce the cost, you don’t need to interfere with the quality of the product. For the best quality, you ought to ask for samples from your vendors. Through this tactic, you will ascertain what your customers prefer. Since there are many vendors out there, don’t deal with the ones who don’t avail samples to you.
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Start with Marketing a New Business Online
Many business merchants get too busy with their companies to spend time when selling online.
Marketing is the backbone of business success; actually, you should start with marketing your new business online before you open it. We present to you simple and effective ways on how to market your online store by yourself.
Discover the structure that best suits you. To understand eCommerce marketing for small businesses, you should know that trending online is an investment. Each different business structure works differently for each category of customers. Acquaint yourself with varying models of business before you choose what to sell online.
Design excellent social media profiles. Become a staunch member of business groups-in that offer advice on social media. If you take the provided information, you become a guru in your field which ultimately improves your reputation hence boosting your sales. Use Facebook and Twitter, for instance, to give discounts to promote your products. Get gifted writers who can do quality content for your blog. Get blogs to do a search for your niche and install a free social sharing plugin. Make sure that the readers can share the content for your blog.
Manage Work Processes with the Right eCommerce Software
When marketing your online store, you need the best eCommerce software that can efficiently manage the online store and aid in processing payment. You can either create your software or purchase.
To attract more customers to your website there must be clear-cut strategies that aid in managing your store online. Also, one of the most important decisions you take is choosing the right platform for your future store. If you just start, you can either sell on the marketplace or create a store. There are some free options as Wix and Etsy, but to grow you need something more scalable to have a room for upgrades.
We’ve written a lot o the articles covering platforms’ comparison for the past year. In short, the strongest competitors on the market are WooCommerce, Magento, Shopify, PrestaShop, OpenCart and BigCommerce.
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According to BuiltWith, all of these platforms shared eCommerce software market with each other.
Another source, SimilarTech, shows that among the most popular platforms are WooCommerce, Shopify, Squarespace Commerce and Magento (all versions). Each platform has its benefits and pitfalls, but we found out that Magento is the most flexible and scalable solution.
Magento is the best eCommerce software that does well with any type of business. It has unique features compared to other software. With Magento, you go live quickly. It has a Cloud hosting and deployment feature to accelerate your sales hence connecting you with certified partners. Cloud hosting helps reduce the cost by enabling you to monitor and host eCommerce solutions by yourself.
Not only this, you can add as much functionality as you want. Different extensions from the marketplace and custom solutions will serve for your business benefits. To go deeper through this topic, you can check our research on the top eCommerce platforms and their features comparison on the Clutch blog.
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Design Your Store Online
After creating a name for your brand and store, and choosing the platform to start, you need to think about unique web design. If you have an online clothing store, ensure that your site has high-quality photos. Fill your store with colorful patterns of shirts, trousers, shorts, and jackets. Customers buy what appeases their eyes; therefore, feed their eyes with what they wish to see, and they will purchase something good.
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Further Development of Your eCommerce Business
After you’ve made all the important steps with documents, you’ve chosen the product that you’ll sell, you have the store, and it’s already working. However, you want to grow, and increase your sales. That’s where you can consider of improving your business strategy, and develop your brand. We recommend you to look at 9 practical tips that are adopted by successful companies, and try them for your business growth.
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How to Create Attribute in Magento
In Magento, an attribute means any property of a product and you can add as many attributes as you need. They can be grouped into attribute sets, so similar products can be created with the same attributes. In this section, you will learn how to work with attributes, create, add, and change them from the admin store view or programmatically.
Let’s say we want to create an attribute called “Material”.
Step 1. Log into the Magento admin panel. Go to Catalog -> Attributes -> Manage Attributes
There you will see all the attributes used in your system.
Step 2. In the top right, click on “Add New Attribute”
Step 3. In the Properties tab you will need to configure the Attribute Properties:
- Attribute Identifier: the name of the attribute used by the system. E.g. material.
- Scope: allows you to declare the attribute value saving scope like Global ( the value of this attribute for a given product must be the same for all websites and stores on this Magento installation), Store View (the value of this attribute for a given product can differ in all Websites and all Store Views), Website (the value of this attribute for a given product can differ in different Websites, however, it cannot differ between Store Views contained under the same Website).
- Catalog Input Type for Store Owner: describes what kind of data the attribute will store. For instance, if you want to manually enter the value for each product into a text field, select Text Field etc. In our case, we want to use Dropdown.
- Unique Value: select “yes” if you want the data saved in this attribute to be unique for each product. But we rather use “no”, because different product types may be made of the same material.
- Values Required: we are using “yes” since all our products are made of some material.
- Input Validation for Store Owner: decides whether the data entered by the store owner is validated when the product is saved. In our particular case, we don’t need validation on this field, so we’ll choose “None”.
- Apply To: determines for which Product Types this attribute will display. If you chose “Select product types” in the drop-down menu, you can set “material” to not apply to grouped/simple/configurable etc product or just use “All Product Types.
Step 4. And the settings for Frontend Properties:
- Use in quick/advanced search: If “yes”, the data saved in this attribute will be searchable in the front-end in the quick search and advanced search.
- Comparable on Front-end: If “yes”, this attribute will be displayed in a product comparison, if as at least one product in the Compare List contains a value for this attribute.
- Use in Layered Navigation (can be used only with catalog input type Dropdown, Multiple Select and Price). Since we selected “Dropdown”, this option is active and we can select e.g. Filterable (with results).
- Position: determines the position of this attribute in the Layered Nav menu.
- Visible on Catalog Pages on Front-end: If “no”, this attribute will not be displayed in the product info page. The “visibility” only controls whether or not the attribute displays in the front-end. Keep in mind – if you set an attribute to “Visible: No”, and leave it as “Comparable: Yes”, this attribute will still show up in comparison charts.
Step 5. Click on the Manage Label/Options tab. Under this tab, you can name the attribute on the front-end by the attribute label. You can enter different labels for different. If a store’s label is blank, this store will look to the default label and use this one. Here we’ll enter “Material” under “Admin” and under “English”. Then, under the Manage Options (values of your attribute) we’ll enter lycra, nylon, polyester, satin, lace, silk and sheer fabric. Click Add Option each time you need a new line of fields for the attribute values. In the Position row you can enter 1,2,3 enter to position them.
Step 6. When you are ready, click Save Attribute in the top right corner.
Step 7. To apply this selectable attribute to a product, first, add it to an attribute set. Go back to the Catalog tab and select Manage Attribute Sets.
Step 8. There you will see all the attribute sets created in your system. Click Add New Set.
Step 9. Give your new attribute set a name by entering the Name filed. E.g. material. Let it be Based On -> Default. Click Save Attribute Set.
Step 10. On the next page, you will see the attribute set you’ve just created in the third column labeled Unassigned Attributes. You will drag and drop it to one of the groups in the second column. For instance, to General.
Step 11. Click Save Attribute Set in the top right.
Step 12. Now you can create a new product under Catalog -> Manage Products -> Add Product and in the Attribute Set drop-down select the attribute setyou’ve created. Then click Continue.
Step 13. Now you can proceed and create a new product based on the new product attribute group you created (“material”). Since you have added the new attribute to the General section, you will find it there in there under the General tab in the same order it was added. Once your new product is created, you can open it on the frontend to see the new attribute you have added among its details.
Next, we move on to creating an attribute in Magento 2 step-by-step.
How to Create Attribute in Magento 2
Step 1. Complete Basic and Advanced Properties information
- On the Admin panel, click Stores. In the Attributes section, select Product
- Click Add New Attribute button
- In the Attribute Properties section, do the following
- In the Default Label, enter a default label to identify the attribute
- In the Catalog Input Type for Store Owner field, select the type in input control to be used for data entry
- Text Field
- Text Area
- Date
- Yes/No
- Multiple Select
- Dropdown
- Price
- Media Image
- Fix Product Tax
- Visual Swatch
- Text Swatch
Note: If you use Dropdown and Multiple Select input types, do the following
- Under the Manage Options section, click Add Option button
- Select Default if you use the option as the default value
- If you have only one store view, let enter only the Admin value and it will be used for the storefront as well
- If you have multi-store views, let enter one value for the Admin and a translation of the value for each store view
- Click on Add Option to create multi options that you want to include in the list
- In the Values Required field, select Yes if you want to require the customers to choose an option before they can purchase products
- In the Advanced Attribute Properties section, complete the following (If needed)
- In the Attribute Code field, enter a unique Attribute Code in lowercase characters, and without space
- In the Scope field, select one of the following to indicate where in your store hierarchy the attribute can be used
* Website * Store view * Global
* In the `Unique Value` field, set to `Yes` if you want to prevent duplicate values from being entered
* In the `Add to Column Options` field, set to `Yes` to add this attribute to the list of column options in the product grid.
* In the `Use in Filter Options` field, set to "Yes" to add this attribute to the list of filter options in the product grid.
Step 2. Manage Labels
- Open the Manage Labels section, do the following
- Enter a title to be used as a label for the field. If your store is available in different languages, you can enter a translated title for each view.
Step 3. Describe the Storefront Properties
- Open the Storefront Properties section, do the following
- In the
Use in Search
field, set toYes
if the attribute is to be available for search - In the
Comparable on Storefront
field, set toYes
to include the attribute in Product Compare - In the Use in
Layered navigation
field, set toYes
if you want to use the attribute as a filter in layered navigation - In the
Use in Search Results Layered Navigation
field, set toYes
if you want to use the attribute in layered navigation on search results pages - In the
Position
field, enter a number to indicate the relative position of the attribute in the layered navigation block - In the
Use for Promo Rule Conditions
field, set toYes
to use the attribute in price rules - In the
Allow HTML Tags on Frontend
field, set toYes
allow the text to be formatted with HTML - In the
Visible on Catalog Pages on Storefront
field, set toYes
to include the attribute in log page listings - In the
Used in Product Listing
field, set toYes
include the attribute in product listings - In the
Used for Sorting in Product Listing
field, set toYes
to use the attribute as a sort parameter for product listings - When complete, click
Save Attribute
button.
What Do You Need to Know About Magento 2 Live Chat?
eCommerce is booming around the world. According to eCommerce News Europe, in Sweden users spent 6.7 billion euros while shopping online in 2017. eCommerce also makes up 10% of retail sales in the United States. The United Kingdom isn’t far behind. As a result, online storefronts must evolve. Magento® 2 encourages this growth with its integration of live chat extensions. Live chat through Magento makes real-time communication between yourself and your clients more straightforward.
What Problems Magento Support Chat Solves for eCommerce?
Integrating a live chat feature into your Magento storefront isn’t difficult, and it comes with many benefits.
Solving a Communication Barrier
There’s no more need to guess at what your customers need or exchange emails throughout several days. Live chat with Magento is instantaneous. It allows for stellar customer service, which promotes sales without delay.
Collecting Data and Analyzing Users Behaviour
A live chat Magento 2 extension also enables you to collect customer data more easily. Track behavioral trends on a moment-to-moment basis. These extensions record chat transcripts for later access. They protect and store customer information. This means that live chats are more than communication tools. They are also by-the-minute surveys of your consumer base.
Increasing Customers’ Engagement and Satisfaction
Live chat extensions also encourage marketplace empathy between merchants and consumer audience. This empathy, in turn, leads to improved customer satisfaction. The more customers are impressed by your willingness to work with them, the more business your storefront is likely to see. That’s the power of a Magento live chat extension. These extensions enable your customers to get to know you as a relatable businessperson. That relatability then translates into sales.
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Magento 2 Livechat Extension: 4 Outstanding Solutions
When searching for a live chat extension to include as part of your storefront, consider the following:
LiveChat for Magento 2
General consensus names LiveChat as one of the most commonly used live chat extensions compatible with Magento 2. This online chat module is easy to integrate into your storefront. Its widget stays out of users’ way and is readily accessible. LiveChat’s security features also come in handy. You can protect your clients’ private information and immediately address their concerns in real time.
LiveChat’s many features include:
- 30-day trial free of credit card
- Multi-page compatibility
- View customer’s cart
- View reports and analytics for the individual, active customers
Crisp and Magento 2.X Integrations
Crisp also serves as a responsive live chat integration for merchants on Magento 2. Including this extension as part of your storefront is cost-friendly. Crisp limits its licensor payments and ensures free trials to potential users. This Magento 2 live chat extension also prides itself on its multi-site operations.
Crisp includes features such as:
- Compatibility with IOS, Android, Mac, and Windows
- Unlimited site crossover
- Availability of multiple operators
- The ability to retain chatroom transcripts
Landofcoder for Magento 2
You may be looking for a more versatile live chat for Magento 2. Consider, then, Landofcoder’s updated extension. Landofcoder’s live chat extension does need you to sign up with their service. The extension is straightforward to use. It automatically records your customers’ data. The basic extension is also free. However, Landofcoder does not provide support service to their free extension. You’ll have to buy a support package if you find you need assistance.
Landofcoder’s live chat extension includes the following features:
- Direct chatting with customers
- Chat notifications and reminders
- Customer outreach
- Accessible chat interface for merchants and customers
Belvg Magento 2 Livechat
You may be more inclined, though, towards open source extensions. Luckily, Belvg’s Magento 2 live chat shares its inner workings with the whole of the Internet. Its Pure Chat module integrates a live chat window into your Magento-base store. There’s no more need to wait on emails when you have this extension working for you.
Belvg Magento 2 Livechat includes such features:
- A fully customizable chat window
- Easy-to-collect customer data
- Multi-chat support
- Chat transcripts for all conversations
Live Chat Integrations for Magento 1.x Sites
Magento 1.x continues to serve as a reputable site of eCommerce. There are a number of live chat options available for integration on Magento’s previous hub.
Live Chat by Diglin
Growing customer trust is easy with Zendesk Magento live chat extension. Diglin makes its live chat easy to embed. Storefront technicians will also be able to manage any customer difficulties with ease.
Many of the Zendesk extension’s other captivating features include:
- Free installation
- A fully customizable chat window
- The ability to include images, such as screenshots, in the chat
- Sales enhancing contact with customers
Olark Live Chat for Magento
Olark, too, offers you the opportunity, as a merchant, to respond to customer needs as soon as they arise. As a Magento live chat, it is straightforward to install and can immediately boost your sales.
Features of Olark’s live chat extension include:
- Free installation
- A fully customizable chat window
- Ability to increase the conversion rate
- Easy extension configuration and site integration
Live Chat by Vnecoms
When you’re looking for extension support for Magento 1.x, though, you’ll want to look to Vnecoms. This is the only extension on this list that isn’t free. The $159 price tag is well worth the service you’ll receive, though.
Features of Vnecoms live chat include:
- A fully customizable chat window
- User-accessible chat views
- Multi-chat support
- Customer-targeted chat conversations
WEB4PRO Became Envato Elite Author
We want to share our new exciting achievement with you – we’ve got an Elite Author Status on Envato. We couldn’t do it without you, our clients, who evaluate our work by using our email templates for business.
What Elite Author Program Means
In short, this is just the beginning of a new journey in Elite Author Program. This program highlights your sales achievements along with some other rewards and lets you use more of Envato community benefits.
Elite Author badge is showing that a company provides top quality products and has a trust of its clients. Now, we feel more dedicated and inspired to create new and improve existing products for our clients.
WEB4PRO Path on Envato
Our team is creating email templates since 2012. Handy and stylish designs are giving companies the ability to tell about their brand, deals and attract customers to their store and blog. We decided that client-oriented emails are the topmost in email marketing. With this in mind, we help our clients and other businesses to give a clear message, spending on email creation less time and put more efforts to their sales strategies.
Presenta Email Template
Our first marketing email pack Presenta was great to showcase the product from the presentation and pre-order to its selling. It was the first email template that was supported by our Emailbuilder. With it, you can edit each module (text, links, buttons, colors) and change their queue as you need.
From that time, we are grateful to all our clients that use our email templates – you inspire us to move on and create new, even better products and increase opportunities.
Magma Email Template
The most popular email template of all the time is Magma. It is a fully responsive email template with 35 modules that you can combine and edit from our Emailbuilder. It was featured by Themeforest among the best Mailchimp templates and we were very happy to deliver this module-rich template for businesses.
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After all, we want to highlight some of our popular email and theme-based templates for holiday deals.
Store-e and Skipper Email Templates
Among others, similar email templates packs are Store-e and Skipper. They are made for eCommerce businesses and business pitches to help you conquer new heights.
Special Email Templates for Holidays
As for the special holiday deals, we have Back2Black, BlackFriday, that help you to show all the products and discounts. Also, we have a real-time clock counter that you can set to notify your clients about the limited time of the sale. This will increase the overall demand for products/services.
Santa, XMas and other Christmas email templates help to make your email look festive and create the right message to customers showing all the best deals at your store. Theme-based emails also increase the overall conversion, as customers always look at some Christmas products as well as presents at a great price.
In total, we sold more than 3,800 items on Envato marketplace and gloriously happy to continue creating more innovative, client-oriented and creative email templates.
How to Operate Your Store With Magento Store Manager Effectively?
Every business owner knows that having a successful business is achieved by having a company that is managed properly. That’s why you might be thinking of using the Magento® Store Manager to help you with your daily needs. Below, you can learn more about Magento 2 Store Manager; for example, what it is, the benefits of the tool, and more!
What is Magento Store Manager?
Store Manager for Magento 2 is a tool that allows you to keep track of your inventory, your customers, your orders, and other necessary tasks.
One of the best features of the Magento Store Manager Extension is that you can work offline to edit your inventory. With it, you can experience better functionality.
Overview of the Features
If you want to know how you can manage your store with this addon, you need to know about which features you have at your disposal.
Product and Category Management
Magento Store Manager allows you to organize your inventory. You can also create different categories to ensure that you never lose track of the products you have.
Beyond this, you’ll also be able to import all information regarding your inventory to make sure that you always control all the stocks at your store.
Order Management
When you use Magento Store Manager, you can work with an unlimited number of customers and orders. Among many features, you’ll experience the following:
- You can edit products that were ordered.
- You can send invoices.
- You’ll always have real-time data regarding imports and exports.
- You can sync your eCommerce store with both eBay and Amazon
Customers’ Management
This allows you to manage as many clients or customers as you need. You’ll also be able to collect data on your various customers so that you can analyze this information for your marketing purposes.
Advanced Management
You can take advantage of its management features and advanced reporting. With the last one, you can prepare charts on your mobile device. In this way, you can manage your business when you’re on the, go, and you can always be up-to-date with your reports. You will have access to your sales and view them in the formats by country or in multiple languages. Advanced features will allow you to manage complicated tasks.
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Inventory Management
You can keep track of your inventory at all times and have it synced so that you always have a real-time version of your stocks. This is beneficial for people who have a large number of orders or who change inventory often.
Technical Details
While the many benefits of Magento Store Manager are appealing, you’ll also need to know about the tool’s technical details. To operate the store, use these browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, Edge, and IE.
Which Problems Will Store Manager Solve?
In order to know whether you should be using this tool, you should also know which problems you’ll be able to solve by using it. You might also find it useful to use Store Manager for Magento reviews.
Speed Up the Performance and Order Fulfillment
Because of Magento Store Manager’s high efficiency, your store’s online performance will be improved. As your inventory and orders are synced in real-time, the entire process occurs more quickly.
Regulated Workflow
Because you won’t have to spend as much time organizing your inventory, orders, and customers, you’ll be able to work more efficiently in general. Your workflow will be regulated because you can focus on other aspects of your business.
Advanced Analytics and Reporting
There are a number of benefits to using advanced analytics and reporting. Among them, you can understand your customers or visitors better and you can tailor your content to accommodate their needs. In this way, you can attract more people to your website, and increase the chance of them buying more products.
Store Diagnostics
Store diagnostics are some of the best ways for you to gain an understanding of your business. Depending on your edition, you can have between one and eleven different reports. From best sellers to latency matrix, you’ll have an idea of which products are best. This will provide you with an idea of which products you should put up for sale or which you should take off the market completely.
How Much Does Store Manager for Magento Cost?
If you’ve gotten this far, you probably want to know the total cost of using Store Manager.
- The Standard package costs $249. You can have a total of one seat with this package, along with one connection. It’s compatible with Magento Open Source and Magento Commerce. You’ll have a number of support questions and you’ll be able to buy a separate training session to ensure you know how to run this feature. With the standard package, you’ll be slightly limited in what you can do; for example, you won’t be able to import orders or provide gift cards.
- The Professional edition will cost $499 and will provide all of the features we presented before. You’ll also have access to a number of other features. You’ll have an extra seat and an unlimited number of stores/connections. While you still won’t have gift cards, you’ll be able to import orders and limited tier price multi-editor.
- At $1499, you can have an Enterprise edition. This will provide you with every feature you could want for your store. You’ll have a free, 2-hour training session, 2 hours of technical remote desktop assistance, access to gift cards, and more! One of the most desired features of the enterprise edition is their store diagnostics. You can have access to 11 different reports. This will provide you with information like frequency, best sellers, order total, best viewed, etc.
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Top Solutions To Store Manager For Magento
Now that you know more about Magento services, you might be wondering what the best Magento Store Manager alternative is.
Store Manager Connector by eMagicOne
With this extension, you have the opportunity to connect your Store Manager with Magento 2. As such, you’ll always have an idea of what your inventory is and you’ll be able to see your business’s data in real-time.
Package and Versions: Community; 2.0, 2.1, 2.0.
Price: Free to use.
Omnichannel Solution by Magestore
Having a single interface to run your entire store is essential. This way, you can see all of your store’s data on a single screen, and you don’t need to worry about having anything updated because your updates are performed in real-time. As such, you always know what’s happening in your Magento eCommerce store.
Package and Versions: By request; including the latest 2.3 version.
Price: $299 for the basic solution. Other 2 packages’ price information is available upon request.
How to Work with Magento Extensions/ Magento 2 Database
Magento extensions are the combination of functions that can be added to any Magento store to enhance its functionality. If you are looking for the general setup and the initial steps on how to create Magento extension – this section is formed for your help. Also, we’ve covered the question of how to work with databases and set up the cron job.
Below you can find frequently asked questions and solutions for each of them.
What is Magento 2 Marketplace?
Magento Marketplace, the official Magento extension store, is the global eCommerce resource for applications and services that expand Magento solutions with powerful new features and functionality. Now global retailers can do even more with their digital stores.
This source is designed for easy discovery of relevant Magento extensions. It provides a curated user experience with offerings from top brands and new innovators. Discover new and customized functionality, in key business categories, to help your business thrive.
Customers can trust that all extensions and providers with offerings in Magento Marketplace are reviewed and checked for quality. In addition, Magento Technology Partners participate in a manual code and documentation review…for an even higher level of quality assurance.
So, how to install, create and uninstall any extension from your Magento store, you can find below.
How to Install Extension for Magento 2 in Localhost?
Step 1: Download/Purchase the extension.
Step 2: Unzip the file in a temporary directory.
For example, on Linux you can use next command:
unzip exten_file.zip -d somedir
Step 3: Upload it to your Magento installation root directory.
Step 4: Disable the cache.
Go to System >> Cache Management or use the command:
sudo bin/magento cache:flush
Step 5: Run the command.
Enter the following at the command line:
sudo bin/magento setup:upgrade
Step 6: Find your extension installed.
After opening Stores >>Configuration >>Advanced >> Admin, the module will be shown in the admin panel or, you can find your extension on list modules that are displayed in command line after step 5.
How to Create Custom Extension in Magento?
Step 1. Disable Magento cache (recommended).
Disabling Magento cache during development will save you some time because you won’t need to manually flush the cache every time you make changes to your code.
The easiest way to disable cache is to go to Admin >> System >> Cache Management >> select all cache types and disable them.
Step 2. Put Magento into a developer mode (recommended).
You should put Magento into a developer mode to ensure that you see all the errors Magento is throwing at you.
In order to do this, open your terminal and go to the Magento 2 root. From there you should run the following command:
php bin/magento deploy:mode:set developer
Step 3. Create the folder of Hello World module.
Name of the module is defined as “VendorName_ModuleName”. The first part is the name of the vendor and the last part is the name of the module: For example Magento_HelloWorld.
Focus on the following guide to create the folders:
app/code/NS/Firstmodule
Step 4. Create etc/module.xml file.
Then, it is necessary to create an etc folder and add the module.xml file:
app/code/NS/Firstmodule/etc/module.xml
Contents would be:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:Module/etc/module.xsd"> <module name="NS_Firstmodule" setup_version="0.0.1"/> </config>
Step 5. Create etc/registration.php file
In this step, we will add registration.php as the following guide:
app/code/NS/Firstmodule/registration.php
Contents would be:
<?php \Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::register( \Magento\Framework\Component\ComponentRegistrar::MODULE, 'NS_Firstmodule', __DIR__ );
Step 6. Enable the module.
Finish the step 5, we have already created Firstmodule. And we will enable this module in this step.
After creating the module run the next commands:
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
If all is good, you will see your module in the list, for example:
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy
Step 7. Creating a controller.
7.1. First, we need to define the router.
To do this, create a routes.xml file in the
app/code/NS/Firstmodule/etc/frontend/
folder with the following code:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:framework:App/etc/routes.xsd"> <router id="standard"> <route id="firstmodule" frontName="firstmodule"> <module name="NS_Firstmodule" /> </route> </router> </config>
After defining the first part of the route, the URL will be displayed as:
http://<yourhost.com>/firstmodule/*
7.2. Create a controller
The folder and file you need to create are:
app/code/NS/Firstmodule/Controller/Index/HelloWorld.php
Contents would be:
<?php namespace NS\Firstmodule\Controller\Index; class HelloWorld extends \Magento\Framework\App\Action\Action{ public function execute() { echo "Hello! It’s my first module of Magento 2!"; exit; }
After completed, please run sudo bin/magento cache:flush
to check result.
Your URL now should be as:
http://<yourhost.com>/firstmodule/index/helloWorld
After finish all steps, the output Hello! It’s my first module of Magento 2! should be displayed in your browser when you open the URL.
How to Uninstall Magento 2 Extension?
If the extension is installed via composer, then you can uninstall Magento 2 extension this way:
Step 1. Remove extension from the composer.json file
Step 2. Execute command composer update
Step 3. Execute command bin/magento setup:upgrade
Step 4. Execute command bin/magento setup:di:compile
Step 5. Execute command bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy
If the extension is installed to app/code directly, it will be uninstalled this way:
Step 6. Remove extension from app/code. It’s enough to remove extension registration.php file
Step 7. Execute command bin/magento setup:upgrade
Step 8. Execute command bin/magento setup:di:compile
Step 9. Execute command bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy
Next, we move on to work with a database and set up the cron job.
How to Find Database Name in Magento 2
Go to your store core folder and open the env.php file under the app/etc folder.
Find the next code, where database_name is the actual database name which you use for your Magento 2 store.
array ( 'host' => 'host_name, 'dbname' => 'database_name', 'username' => 'your username', 'password' => 'your password', ),
How to Change Database Name in Magento?
In Magento 1.0, the configuration file that contains database settings and other information is located here:/app/etc/local.xml
In Magento 2.0, the configuration is in the same directory (/app/etc/
) but has been renamed to env.php. The file path is: /<Magento Install Dir>/app/etc/env.php
Navigate to your Magento 2 installation directory and edit app/etc/env.php configuration file in your favorite editor
For example :
'db' => array ( 'table_prefix' => '', 'connection' => array ( 'default' => array ( 'host' => 'localhost', 'dbname' => 'Magento2', 'username' => 'root', 'password' => 'root', 'active' => '1', ), ), ),
Where:
host – is your MySQL server hostname
dbname – MySQL database name of Magento
username – MySQL user to connect database server
password – MySQL user password
After changes in this file you need to run the command: sudo bin/magento setup:di:compile
That’s how you change Magento database name.
How to Setup Cron Job in Magento 2?
Magento 2 Cron job may be set up by module file etc/crontab.xml, that will have such content.
<?xml version="1.0"?> <config xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="urn:magento:module:Magento_Cron:etc/crontab.xsd"> <group id="default"> <job name="download_expire_link" instance="Web4pro\Download\Model\Cron" method="execute"> <schedule>0 1 * * *</schedule> </job> </group> </config>
Class Web4pro\Download\Model\Cron should exist and implement method execute, that will run when cron job starts.
The Overview of the eCommerce in Sweden: Stats and Trends
Online shopping is on the rise internationally, and this trend shows no signs of slowing. It’s picking up more speed and generating larger revenues each year.
Sweden is a business-friendly, modern country, and currently has one of the most successful and stable economies in Europe. Though not at the top of these trends, eCommerce in Sweden has increased significantly over the last decade.
With this in mind, we’ll look at some of the key trends for online shopping in Sweden. We’ll explore the behavior and preferences of Swedish shoppers, as well as some of the most important features needed to make your Swedish online store successful.
In addition to market trends and hot product categories, we’ll have a look at preferred payment types and overall shopper activity. This will give you all the information you need to create a profitable eCommerce website in Sweden, or to refine your existing site to get the most of it.
Online Shopping Statistics by Country
Before we will be looking into the specifics of online shopping in Sweden, let’s go into some of the stats. According to Statista research, China stands at the top of the list with $740 million. The US is a relatively close second at $560 billion. Sweden is significantly lower on the scale, with nearly $12 billion spent on eCommerce purchases per year projected for 2019.
Besides, this annual revenue for eCommerce shopping in Sweden is growing at a rate of 6.3% per year.
By 2023, this is projected to amount to over $15 billion for online purchases alone. When breaking this down by the user, we look at the ARPU, or average revenue per user. This presently stands at $1355.70 per year for Swedish buyers. The fashion industry is strongest for online purchases. Below you can see the number of dollars spent on the most popular goods in Sweden.
Economic Trends
To make the most out of your Scandinavian online store, you’ll need to understand the economic trends of the Scandinavian countries and Sweden in particular. In addition to having some of the strongest economies in Europe, the distinction between physical sales and online purchases is rapidly disappearing. Nordic shoppers are more receptive than most to expansion in the online market.
In 2016, online purchases in the Nordic countries amounted to nearly 22 billion Euros.
- Finland accounted for the lowest proportion of these sales. 49% of the population, about 1.9 million people, purchased on average of 135 Euros per person per month.
- Norway has the highest per capita sales on average at 173 Euros per month. 65% of the population reported that they had purchased online, about 2.4 million people.
- Denmark has 2.6 million people made online purchases in 2016. It is about 63% of the population and at an average of 162 Euros per person per month?
- Sweden is the 14th wealthiest country in the world with currently $51,209 dollar per capita. Estimates for 2021 increase the numbers to 7.2 million online shoppers, an additional 900,000 in two years alone.
One important trend to take note of is the fact that the percentage of purchases from abroad has dropped. The most popular nations to buy from are Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, and China. As of 2012, 40% of eCommerce purchases were made from countries abroad. By 2016, this had dropped to 25%, even though overall revenues from online purchases had risen steadily over the period. This suggests that Swedish eCommerce is trending in favor of local sites.
The Most Popular Product Categories
It’s important to remember that the Swedish online market is steadily becoming stronger. One of the best questions to ask when planning your Swedish eCommerce site is, “what is famous in Sweden for shopping?” Online purchases in Sweden and internationally are weighed most heavily towards fashion. Swedish online clothing stores will account for $2.6 billion in 2019.
Purchases are divided equally amongst men and women. The most popular product categories for online purchases are divided by age group. The younger age groups will tend to buy health and beauty products and clothing. The older age groups primarily buy books. Those in the middle age groups will tend to purchase products intended for children.
Preferred Payment Types
As of 2016, the preferred method of payment for Swedish online shoppers was by invoice. Nearly 37% of sales were made via invoice, reflecting the appeal of this method in traditional purchasing. It’s projected that in 2019, 49% of online payments will be made with credit and debit cards. 20% of sales were made through PayPal and other online wallets. However, the landscape changed significantly over the next few years.
Current projections show that this percentage will increase over the coming years as well. This means that purely online methods of payment will increase significantly, while invoices are almost a thing of the past. Another surprising shift over the next few years is an increasing reliance upon payment on delivery. While this is expected to rise only to 1% by 2021, it suggests an increased trust in online purchase methods.
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Customers’ Activity and Preferences
One of the benefits of establishing a Swedish online store is that the Swedes tend to be confident in online purchases. Nearly three-quarters of the population are reported to have purchased online at least once during the year, and 30% have ordered online at least once a month.
As indicated above, fashion purchases are the most popular.
Useful for you:
As of 2017, the greatest bulk of online Swedish purchases – 57% – were done through a laptop. Smartphone and desktop purchases were close behind, with 34% of purchases made with desktops and 37% made via smartphone. Tablets were the devices least used, accounting for only 19% of online purchases. The use of smartphones and laptops for online purchasing has been steadily increasing since 2016.
Features of the Successful Swedish Online Store
One of the most important features for successful Swedish eCommerce sites is delivery.
Delivery satisfaction is key to retain customers and encourage future purchases. Clear delivery information is absolutely essential. 89% of Swedish online shoppers require this before they feel confident making a purchase.
Choices in delivery are important as well. About 67% of shoppers report that they prefer to have a choice in the delivery day, and 55% would feel more comfortable purchasing if they have the opportunity to choose same day delivery. Furthermore, 60% of online shoppers prefer home delivery over other options. Finally, it’s crucial to use delivery services that your customers know and have confidence in.
Other ways to increase customer trust include free refunds, and, if possible, free delivery.
Tracking options are expected by 78% of Swedish shoppers, so this is a key feature for the successful Swedish online store.
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The second key is payment options.
This goes for all online stores, but it’s a major selling point. If a customer goes through the process of browsing and selection, only to find that they can’t purchase with their preferred method, you’ll have abandoned carts, and worse, they’ll not be likely to visit your site again. So, make sure to include payment by card, e-invoice, e-wallet, and bank transfer.
Another important feature is to provide a means for your customers to contact you.
Old methods include feedback and testimonials. However, one of the best methods is to use live chats. Customers will be able to reach you live and at the moment, and this increases customer trust.
Payment Processing Tips for the Online Clothing Store
The world is changing due to improvement in technology, which has dramatically eased payment processing for the online clothing store. Many customers can now buy online from clothing store websites — the reason why your online store is critical. It’s the only point where customers relinquish their credit card to pay for the acquired goods and services.
It’s prudent to be entirely in charge of your check out page to increase sales for your business. Other than popularly known PayPal, there are several online payment methods. Unlike long ago when you used to shop manually, with a single click nowadays, you can buy the attire you want online without having to travel. Here are general payment processing recommendations for any eCommerce online clothing store.
General Recommendations for eCommerce Online Clothing Store
Online clothing store should be able to take its clients through significant processes such as payment options, hosting, marketing tools, reports, and designs. It would help if you began by examining how much you can sell.
Customization is another vital tool for eCommerce online clothing store. To increase the level of customization offer attractive templates because clients prefer the great user experience along with trendy design. The site speed is also usable for UX.
Useful for you:
And last, but not least are various payment gateways available for your customers’ convenience. To implement them successfully, you need to follow certain security standards, compatibility with the platform you use and payment methods related to the country where you sell goods. Below you can read about the most essential payment methods for the next years and security standards to make your customers’ payments safe and prove the trustworthiness of your business.
eCommerce Security Features in 2019
Any online clothing store requires reliable security features. Without trusted security features cause payment fraud and hacking of your online clothing store. Apart from financial fraud, you risk exposing your customers’ data. However, using credible security features will build trust within your clients and reduce any payment fraud. Here are examples of trusted security features that you can use to improve the confidence of customers on your website.
SSL Certificate
SSL certificate is an important security feature which protects sensitive information from being transferred via online clothing stores. It also boosts the ranking of your online clothing store due to Google added SSL certificates. It is hard to determine the original SSL certificate, but there are online comparison tools which can help you get the right certificate for your need.
Business Validation SSL enables your visitors to check Company’s business name and verification of your business number. While Extended Validation SSL certificate is equipped with Green Bar, which has your verified company name, the right SSL certificate doesn’t and has never failed. Get the right SSL certificate and avoid fake ones.
Two-Factor Authentication
Weak passwords predispose your online clothing store to the highest risk of hacking. In Two-Factor authentication, you combine two of the three possible factors. These potential factors are; what the user knows (e.g., a PIN code), what the user has (e.g., a credit card) and what the user is (e.g., a fingerprint). So online clothing store uses the Two-Factor authentication (what the user has and what the user knows) to transact online.
The second authentication occurs when you link your account with your mobile phone or USB fob. When you combine it with password and username, you get a robust layer of security. Two-Factor authentication makes it hard for scammers to access your online clothing store.
Firewall Usage
Firewall is used to protect the traffic that goes throughout your network. Firewall thoroughly examines the traffic to block any unauthorized access to online data from the organization. Other than protection Firewall has additional features which can neutralize any scammer’s ability to use stolen personal details to hack your online clothing store.
A firewall has the power to sieve internet transmissions to allow the only traffic that belongs to the organization. Firewall is an outstanding security feature which has significantly evolved to curb hacking.
Privacy and Cookie Policy
Any online clothing store requires privacy because of the sensitivity of the data at hand. So the rights and privacy of any site must be respected. If any personal information is collected, it’s only supposed to be used for the intended purpose. You should never be afraid to enter personal data in a reliable site.
Cookies are data files placed on your device when you are surfing. They cannot affect your device because they are standard across all sites. The purpose of the cookies is to provide information to the bearer of the website making it efficient. They also help monitor the number of people who visit your site. With cookies, you define traffic flow which helps make vital decisions in your business.
Various Payment Methods
Online clothing stores were the fastest to embrace new online methods of payment. With the latest technology, money is transferred automatically to your client’s bank account without delay unlike long ago. Here are various payment features used by different clothing stores.
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Payment with Checks
The process begins when you provide checking account details such as routing numbers to a business. With the particulars, the attendant pulls out funds from your bank account electronically. You can provide these details by typing it online. You can also write your check on paper, scan it and have it converted into electronic checks. Some companies have check reading machines to process your payment.
You proceed to upload the check information for processing. The amount reflects later in the service provider’s account within a day or two. You use the same procedure for a mailed check. Remember to give back the check.
Online Clothing Stores That Accept Checks Online
The following online stores allow you to pay directly from your account electronically. You begin by placing your order online and then send a paper check to the company for processing. Once all the requirement have been approved, your attire is shipped to you. Here is a list of the clothing stores that accept online checks in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Europe, North and South America.
The process is simple. A customer can perform paying with a check by simply choosing PayPal payment.
He or she will be redirected to their user account. PayPal allows the user to link check account to the PayPal. This is the most widespread payment gateway for the online store. However, a customer can pay by scanning the check and sending it directly via email or use another payment gateway to link check account to it.
How to Facilitate PayPal Payment
Shopping online is quick and hustle free. It’s secure from unauthorized users. Almost everybody can send and receive money through a PayPal account if you have an email account.
Step 1. Once you open the site type in the search pack to get a list of matching attires from the retailers.
Step 2. After selecting the attire, add it to the card and choose PayPal as your payment mode. To confirm whether the site is secure ensure that it starts with “https.”
Step 3. Finally, log in your account and choose to pay from your credit card or bank account linked to your PayPal account. When you complete the process, you receive a receipt in your email that you can print for the future reference.
Online Clothing Stores That Accept PayPal
Here are examples of the online clothing store that you can link, order and pay via PayPal.
- Adidas
- Calvin Klein
- Victoria’s Secrets
Payment with Credit Card
There are lots of online clothing stores which accept credit card. The process of credit card payment for the customer looks the following: If you are shopping for sneakers, for instance, key in “add cart” in your shopping cart. Select the type of attire you want to buy and click check out button; after that review your cart to rest assured that you added the right shape, size, and colors of your choice.
To complete the payment enter your shipping address.
Enter the credit card information; security code, number and the date of expiry.
To finalize the purchase process enter the billing address for your credit card. The transaction can’t go through unless you enter the correct billing address. As you can see, the payment process should be simple and smooth. That will lead the customer to place the order and stay satisfied with the store.
Now, most of the stores have a debit/credit card payment option. Also, check payment and PayPal payment are the most common payment methods for any kind of online store.
WEB4PRO’s Key Results of 2018
First of all, we want to thank all our clients and site visitors for their activity and support over the past year. We strive every day to provide value and assistance in growing your brands online.
The motivation behind our goals did not change when December changed to January. We still aim to provide high-quality and efficient technical solutions for our clients’ business growth.
Below, you can read about the key results of our work together in 2018.
WEB4PRO Brand Growth
Last year, we took several important steps to establish our brand and share its values. One of these steps was creating a better user experience on our website. We simplified navigation and added more useful information to several pages, making it easier for visitors to find what they need.
We believe that a website is a tool that shrinks distances between continents, countries, cities, and people. Websites get people the help they need and give them access to the products and services that make them happier and make their businesses more successful. Websites can improve someone’s life or even save millions of lives. High-quality sites are a means for sustainable brands to communicate their values and help make the world a better place. We consider your business to be among these positive brands, and we are happy to be helping you achieve your goals.
They say that if you want to change the world, you should start with yourself first. We took that advice to heart and started by improving our website.
Website UX Improvements
Adding additional sections—such as How to, Privacy and Cookie Policies (GDPR Compliance), Playbook, Dedicated team—has made it easier for users to find all the insights and solutions they need. Our main goal was to provide a comfortable user experience for people browsing our site. Please feel free to send us feedback if you find features that you think need improvement. There’s nothing more valuable to us than your fair opinion.
New Useful Articles
Expert content is our priority. On our site, you can find 96 articles, technical guides, and tips for keeping your business the best it can be. Our blog provides quick solutions to issues and tasks that business owners and developers commonly face.
The more awesome websites appear on the market, the more brands there are sharing their values and supporting social-responsibility programs across the world. As a result, there are more opportunities for people to access the goods and services they need to live their lives to the fullest. We want to be a part of this movement. The first contribution we can make is what we have been dedicated to since 2013: we can help create advanced and smart solutions for responsible brands. Beyond that, we share our knowledge with others by posting useful content.
The quality of content on a site is one of the key factors that determine whether or not it appears at the top of Google search results. Here are some articles and complete guides that are ranked at the TOP of Google search results:
- OpenCart vs Magento: What to Choose in 2018 (Updated)
- Magento 2: How to Add a Custom Attribute to The Customer’s Address
- Best Magento Instagram Free Extension for Your Store
- Guide on How to Save Related Models in Yii2
- SAP Hybris vs Magento 2 for B2B: Let’s Compare the Titans
- Ubercart vs Drupal Commerce
- How to Clear Magento Cache from Command Line
- How to Write a Request for Proposal to Get a Clear Quote?
GDPR Compliance
Our company is GDPR compliant. Guaranteeing security for our clients, partners, and employees are of the utmost importance to us. We want to give the people we work with peace of mind.
We have taken various measures to ensure data protection at our company:
- We added the necessary security features to our site
- We reviewed and updated our Privacy Policy
- We informed all employees and clients about the GDPR
If you’d like to explore the main provisions of the law, we wrote an article you can read about it.
When the GDPR came into force in spring 2018, we prepared all the documentation we needed and made security changes to ensure that we were compliant. You can check the full documentation in our Privacy Policy section.
Contribution to the Magento® Community
We researched how to boost our skills and improve work processes to provide you with the best solutions possible.
As emphasized above, security is a priority for our company, as well as our clients’ companies. Data protection is a vital need for website users. Magento takes care of all security tasks, and that’s why we can confidently choose and recommend this platform. It allows businesses to expand, and it gives them the flexibility to modify or improve their websites in the future. Contributing to the Magento community is one of the steps we take to provide value to businesses and software engineers. This is how we did it.
The Magento Marketplace
In 2018, a few of our extensions for Magento Stores made it into the Magento Marketplace. This was possible thanks to our clients’ feedback and our software engineers’ hard work. If you need an extension for Magento 1.x, check the Marketplace or find ours in Our Products. Our extensions are free to use, and they all include comprehensive user guides.
Technical Solutions
Our blog includes more than 20 technical case studies, detailing problems solved by our software engineers. Thanks to the collaboration of our clients and team, we are growing as professionals and providing more value and expert solutions. If you need help, please feel free to use these solutions, share them with your colleagues, or consult our team. Our shared goal is co-creation, and we want to engineer powerful and effective products for eCommerce.
Magento Community Insider Status
This year ended with WEB4PRO establishing official associate relations with Magento Company. Now we are an official Magento Community Insider, as part of the Community Insider Program. You can find us in the Community Insider Directory.
Meet Magento UK 2018
In October 2018, our team traveled to the UK to attend one of the biggest Meet Magento conferences. By learning from technology and market experts, we gained a lot of new information and met some great people. Now all of us are inspired to help more brands that create useful products and services for the world. We are committed to projects that drive this kind of progress. As always, our team is at your service and ready to tackle the most challenging tasks. Your mission is always possible.
Competency Provement
Our goal is to connect brands with their clients by helping them share values and making their goods accessible around the globe. That’s why our team is dedicated to contributing to the development of the eCommerce system.
Sharing Experiences
We wrote an article called How to Choose the Best E-Commerce Platforms for the Clutch.co blog, which helps business owners choose the best eCommerce platform for their businesses. This article compares the five most popular platforms for small and mid-sized businesses, as well as five other platforms for enterprise needs. The information in our article helps owners of eCommerce businesses make informed decisions about different platforms based on costs, features, and flexibility.
Our CEO, Marat Mingazov, gave an interview on Magento Development Trends in Ukraine for Cloudways to share his experience in eCommerce, Magento development, and business in Ukraine. As a company, we stand for transparency and business agility, and we were thrilled to have the chance to tell the world more about ourselves.
Clutch.co Acknowledgement
Reliable sources are acknowledging our expertise. Clutch is a great research & review platform that shares fair reviews and knowledge in each professional field. This year we were included in Clutch’s list of the Top 500 B2B Service Providers in Ukraine and Poland in 2018, and we held the 27th position among 625 Magento Agencies. This is all thanks to our clients’ honest reviews.
There’s always another year on the horizon, and we’ve started 2019 by setting some new goals. One of our goals is creating a strong eCommerce community where people can learn, network, and grow their businesses.
We should mention one final source of inspiration for us. There’s something—and someone—driving us to move forward and work hard every day. Something is a desire to create and care about useful projects. The someone is YOU! You are our hero. A hero is a person who has a good idea and a strong belief in its success. Heroes are people who struggle for a better future and work hard for progress in the world, people whose work is powered by a positive mission and bold values. Heroes support those who need help. They care about the world and the environment. But sometimes they need support—a team of followers who can multiply their strengths and help them create amazing things. We are ready to be your team.
Let’s co-create!
If you’d like to see more, take a look at our presentation on SlideShare:
How to Add Product in Magento and Edit It from the Admin Panel
Products or services are the items you sell in your store. For a user, it is important to get not only clear but detailed information about the product, shipping, and delivery. This guide will help you to get through the questions on how to work with products from the admin and programmatically.
How to Add New Product in Magento Admin Panel
Step 1: Log-in to the Magento Admin panel.
Step 2: Click “Catalog” option on the top menu. A drop-down list will appear.
Step 3: Click “Products” in the drop-down list. A new window will be displayed.
Step 4: Click the “Add Product” button on the top-right of the page, also, you can immediately choose a type for your product. You will be directed to a new window.
Step 5: Here, you will notice a header with “New Product” with 2 buttons “Add attribute,” “Save,” and many fields, you must fill them. Initially the field “Attribute Type” shows “Default” in the text box next to it. And “Product Type” field shows “Simple Product.”
Step 7: Now to modify the options in the text box of the field “Product Type,” click the “drop-down arrow” at the end of the text box to view the multiple drop-down options like Simple Product, Grouped Product, Configurable Product, Virtual Product, Bundle Product, and Downloadable Product. Select the one you wish to add. For instance, say “Simple Product” selected.
Step 8: Click “Continue” button. A new product page with default attribute opens up.
You’ll find a header “General” below which different fields like Name, Description, Short Description, SKU, Weight, Set Product as New From Date, Set Product as New To Date, Status, URL Key, Visibility, Country of Manufacture, In Feed, and Featured Product with their empty fields will appear.
Step 10: Now, enter the name of the product in the “Name” field. Say XYZ.
Step 11: Click “Save and Continue Edit” button on the top-right corner of the page to save the details automatically. Now continue entering the details in rest of the fields.
Step 12: Select the option “Enabled” in the drop-down of the field “Status.”
Step 13: Ensure whether the visibility field is filled in with “Visibility, Search” option.
Step 14: Now click the “Search Engine Optimization” on the LHS of the panel.
Step 15: Add Meta titles, descriptions, and keywords in the necessary fields respectively.
Step 16: Click “Images And Videos ” option on the LHS of the panel to add images for the product.
Step 17: Click “Advanced Inventory” option on the LHS of the panel. A new page will be opened.
Step 18: Modify the “Qty” with the number of products in-stock, say 200 or 300 and set the “Availability” option at the bottom of the page as “in-stock.”
Step 20: Click “Prices” on the LHS of the main panel; set the necessary price-related details in the relevant fields.
Step 21: Use this section in Magento to add configurable product. The new page contains advanced settings.
That’s all you are done with adding a product to your website! All it takes just a few minutes to add a compelling product to the Magento store to raise the performance of your business. Next, we will consider how to do the same task programmatically.
How to Add Product to Cart in Magento Programmatically?
Add Product to cart by observing an event checkout_cart_product_add_after
<your_magento_directory>/app/code/JD/Floatcart/Observer/AddproductToCart.php : namespace JD\Floatcart\Observer; class AddproductToCart implements \Magento\Framework\Event\ObserverInterface{ protected $_productRepository; protected $_cart; protected $formKey; public function __construct(\Magento\Catalog\Model\ProductRepository $productRepository, \Magento\Checkout\Model\Cart $cart, \Magento\Framework\Data\Form\FormKey $formKey) { $this->_productRepository = $productRepository; $this->_cart = $cart; $this->formKey = $formKey; } public function execute(\Magento\Framework\Event\Observer $observer) { $item = $observer->getEvent()->getData('quote_item'); $product = $observer->getEvent()->getData('product'); $item = ($item->getParentItem() ? $item->getParentItem() : $item); //id product that you want add to cart $product_id=1023; if($product->getId() != $product_id){ $params = array( 'product' => $product_id, 'qty' => $product->getQty() ); $_product = $this->_productRepository->getById($product_id); $this->_cart->addProduct($_product,$params); $this->_cart->save(); } } }
To <your_magento_directory>/app/code/JD/Floatcart/etc/events.xml you need add code as this:
<event name="checkout_cart_product_add_after"> <observer name="addproduct_tocart" instance="JD\Floatcart\Observer\AddproductToCart"/> </event>
That’s how in Magento you add item to cart programmatically. Next useful skill is to learn how to create products from the admin.
How to Create Simple Products in Magento 2
Step 1: Choose the Product Type.
- On the Admin sidebar, click Products. Then under Inventory, select Catalog.
- In the upper-right corner on the Add Product menu, select Simple Product.
Step 2: Choose the Product Template (Optional).
To choose the product template, do one of the following:
- In the Search box, enter the name of the template.
- In the list, choose the template that you will use. The form is updated to reflect the template.
Step 3: Complete the Required Fields.
In the Product Details section do the following:
- Enter the Product Name.
- You can either use the default SKU that is based on the product name or enter another.
- Enter the product Price.
Because the product is not yet ready to publish, set the Product Online switch to the “Off” position.
Click Save, and continue with the next step. You can save the product settings after complete all the required fields complete.
Step 4: Complete the Remaining Product Details.
Set Tax Class to one of the following:
- None
- Taxable Goods
If you’re ready to add a product image, do one of the following:
- Drag an image from your desktop, and drop it on the camera tile in the Images and Videos.
- In the Images box, click the camera tile, and navigate to the image file on your computer.
Then, select the image, and click Open. A placeholder appears until a product image is uploaded.
Enter the Quantity of the product that is currently in stock.
Enter the product Weight.
To assign the product to a Category, do one of the following:
- Start typing to find a match. Then, choose the Category.
- Click Show List to see the category tree. Then, drill down and click on each category that you want to assign to the product.
- Click New Category. Enter the Category Name and choose the Parent Category to determine its position in the menu structure. Then, click Create Category.
Enter the product Description directly into the text box, and format as needed. Then, click Submit. You can also use the WYSIWYG Editor, for additional control.
Step 5: Publish the Product.
If you are ready to publish the product in the catalog, set the Product Online switch to the “On” position. When complete, on the Save menu, select Save & Close.
Step 6: View the Product in Your Store.
In the upper-right corner on the Admin menu, select Customer View
Things to remember:
- Simple products can be included in a configurable, bundle, and grouped product types.
- A simple product can have custom options with a variety of input controls, which makes it possible to sell many product variations from a single SKU.
How to Import Products in Magento 1.x from CSV?
Step 1: Go to the Magento administrator area and choose System -> Import/Export -> Dataflow – Profiles -> Import All Products. Select the required settings in Profile Wizard tab:
Step 2: Then choose the Upload File tab and browse for the .csv file on your computer.
Save changes:
Step 3: Once you have uploaded it, click Import All Products, then Run Profile, select the .csv file you have just uploaded from the drop-down menu and click Run Profile in Popup:
Step 4: When the import is completed, you will get an export success message.
What Is Magento Bundle Product?
This type of Magento products is somewhat a set of configurable products. It is a stable complex product designed to let customers build the end product required. The configuration options are virtually unlimited.
How to Create Bundle Product in Magento 2?
Step 1: Select the Product Type by selecting Catalog -> Products.
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Next, create Bundle Product.
Step 2. Choose the attribute set as a template.
Fill out the required fields:
- Product Name;
- SKU (default or change the Dynamic SKU to No so that you can assign a unique SKU);
- Dynamic Price (to do the same as with SKU, change Dynamic Price to No, and write your price);
- Choose the Store view where the product should appear;
- Tap Save and continue.
You can also assign a Tax class. If the bundle has Fixed price you have 2 options:
- None
- Taxable Goods
The Quantity is not available as the value is different for each bundled product.
Dynamic weight can be changed according to the options provided for the customer.
- If you choose the Dynamic option, the price may change according to the selected options.
- If you choose Fixed weight, you need to set the weight.
Next, you want to create a Category.
Tap New Category or choose the one that it is already set.
Write the Category Name and assign it to the Parent Category, next click on Create Category.
Add product description and a picture.
Step 3. Set the Bundle Items.
In the Bundle Items section, choose how to Ship Bundle Items: Separately or Together.
Then click on the Add option.
There you will find the Input Type and choose the one among Drop-down, Radio buttons, Checkbox, or Multiple Select.
Then click Add Products to Option and mark all the products that you want to include.
Type the Quantity of each product on the Default Quantity section.
Then press Save.
Step 7. Check the results by clicking to the Admin Icon and choose the Customer View.
Here is the result of the product bundle feature in Magento 2. It is very useful for the stores that want to sell different products together in one kit. In general, we wanted to help you learn how to create products and manage them from the admin panel. If you want to know how to do it, follow the extended instruction below.