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Setting up an eCommerce website

IMPORTANT: Ektron has discontinued new development on its eCommerce module. If you have a license to eCommerce, you will continue to receive support, but if you need to upgrade, contact your account manager for options.

This section describes how to set up a basic eCommerce website. This walkthrough explains everything you need to set in the web.config file and the Workarea. The section includes a list of needed templates and describes how to set up Ektron’s eCommerce server controlA server control uses API language to interact with the CMS and Framework UI to display the output. A server control can be dragged and dropped onto a Web form and then modified.s on them.

Required templates

To create a basic eCommerce site, you need the following templates.

Step 1. Set keys in web.config

WARNING! Do not change the settings for the default currency or measurement system after the site is live.

In the website’s web.config file, set the following keys:

Step 2. Select inventory system

Decide whether you want to use Ektron’s inventory system or an existing inventory system. To use an existing system, add the custom provider between the web.config file's <providers> tags and enter the name of your custom inventory provider. For example:

<inventoryProvider defaultProvider=”MyCustomInventoryProvider”>

See also: Customizing the inventory provider.

Step 3. Select a default payment gateway

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Configuration > Payment Gateway.
  2. Click a payment gateway’s name.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. Add your User ID, password and any needed custom values.
  5. Click the Default check box to make that selection the default.
  6. Click Save.

NOTE: If you decide to use PayPal instead of one of the default payment options, see Using PayPal with Ektron eCommerce.

If you are not using a gateway, create a custom payment provider and add it to the web.config file’s EktronPaymentGateway element. Add the custom provider between the EktronPaymentGateway’s <providers> tags. When added, the option should appear in the Workarea’s Payment Gateway screen.

If you want to override the Workarea settings, change the default provider in the web.config file from “Automatic” to the name of the desired payment gateway. For example:

<EktronPaymentGateway defaultProvider=”AuthorizeNet”>

See also: Configuring payment options.

Step 4. Set up a shipping provider

If you are not using the default flat rate shipping provider, open the shipment.config file and set the default provider set in <shipmentProvider defaultProvider=”FlatRateShipmentProvider”> to either “FedExShipmentProvider” or “UPSShipmentProvider”. If you are using either of these shipping methods, complete the following information in the <providers> tags. This information is provided by FedEx and UPS.

You can also add additional providers.

See also: Configuring eCommerce shipping screens.

Step 5. Enable countries

Enabling a country where your website will sell its products:

NOTE: The United States is enabled by default.

To enable a country:

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Configuration > Countries.
  2. Click a country’s name.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. Click the Enabled check box.
  5. Click Save.

See also: Configuring countries.

Step 6. Add and enable regions

Add and enable regions for each country your eCommerce site will service.

NOTE: All US states are enabled by default.

Regions can represent states, provinces, territories, and so on and further define areas of a country. Adding and enabling a region:

To add and enable regions:

Prerequisite

The region’s country is defined in the Countries screen.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Configuration > Regions.
  2. Click New > Region.
  3. Enter a name.
  4. Click the Enabled check box.
  5. In the Code box, enter an abbreviation for this region.
  6. Select this region’s country from the pull down list.
  7. Click Save.

See also: Configuring regions.

Step 7. Enable currencies

If your website is selling products in another country and you want to display prices in its currency, enable it in the Workarea:

NOTE: By default, U.S. dollar, Euro, and Australian dollar are enabled.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Configuration > Currencies.
  2. Click a currency.
  3. Click Enable.
  4. Set the Exchange Rate. The default currency (set in the web.config file) is the base reference currency when setting an exchange rate.
  5. Click Save.

See also: Configuring countries.

Step 8. Select credit cards

Decide which credit cards your eCommerce site will accept.

Credit cards are used during the checkout process, by the Checkout server control, during the submit phase. During this phase, all enabled credit cards appear in a drop-down, which customers use to select their choice.

Add credit card types in the Workarea.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Configuration > Credit Card.
  2. Choose New > Credit Card Type.
  3. Enter the credit card’s name; for example, Visa.
  4. Check the Accepted check box.
  5. Add an image.
  6. Add a Regex Expression to validate the credit card number.
  7. Click Save.

See also: Configuring credit card types.

Step 9. Add or edit notification messages

Email notifications are sent to your customers after their order has been received, canceled, shipped or completed. Ektron provides 4 predefined messages, 1 for each event. For messages to be sent, content notifications must be enabled and the customer must enter a valid email address.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Configuration > Messages.
  2. Click the title of the message.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. Change the properties and fields as necessary.
  5. Change the text as needed.

See also: Configuring countries.

Step 10. Create tax classes (optional)

If you are collecting taxes for transactions on your eCommerce site, create a Tax Class for each taxable category of products. For example, if your eCommerce site sells alcohol and tobacco, set up a tax class for each type. Ektron provides 4 default tax classes:

Tax classes are applied to Postal, Regional and Country Tax Tables. In those tables, you define a separate rate for each Tax Class.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Tax > Tax Classes.
  2. Choose New > Tax Class.
  3. Enter a name; for example, Food.
  4. Click Save .

See also: Cataloging entries that can be taxed.

Step 11. Set tax rates

When your Tax Classes are set up, set a tax rate for each class in the Postal, Regional, or Country Tax Tables.

Ektron checks these tables in the following order: Postal, Regional, then Country. When it finds a tax, it stops. Therefore, if a postal zone has several taxes (for example, a local tax and a regional tax), build the combined percentage into the postal code tax. So, if New York City has a 4% tax, and New York state has a 3% tax, enter 7% into all Postal Tax Tables within New York City.

While you need to create each Postal Tax Table, Regional and Country Tax Tables are automatically generated when a country or region is added to Ektron. However, no tax rates are defined in these tables.

To create a new Postal Tax Table:

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Tax > Postal Tax Tables.
  2. Choose New > Postal Code.
  3. Enter a Postal Code.
  4. Select the Country and Region.
  5. Enter a tax rate for each Tax Class as needed.
  6. Click Save.

To edit a Region’s or Country’s Tax Table:

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Tax > Regional Tax Tables or Country Tax Tables.
  2. Click the Id or Code of the Region or Country.
  3. Click Edit.
  4. Change the information as needed.
  5. Click Save.

See also: Applying local taxes, Configuring regional tax tables, and Configuring country tax tables.

Step 12. Select shipping methods

When you set up a shipping provider, define your customers' shipping options. For example, if you use UPS, define whether to allow Next Day, 2nd Day, 3rd Day, Ground, World Wide Standard, and so on. When enabled, a Shipping Method appears in the Shipping Method phase of the Checkout server control.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Shipping > Methods.
  2. Choose New > Shipping Method.
  3. Enter a Name. This name represents the option in the Shipping Method phase of the checkout server control.
  4. Click the Active check box to enable this method.
  5. Click View Options.
  6. From the Provider Service drop-down, select a shipping method.
  7. Click Save.
  8. Repeat these steps for all shipping methods.

See also: Configuring shipping methods.

Step 13. Add a warehouse

Add a warehouse from which your products will be shipped. This does not have to be the actual shipping address for the products. Ektron uses this information to determine the “from” address when calculating shipping cost.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Shipping > Warehouses.
  2. Choose New > Warehouse.
  3. Complete the address information fields. Only countries and regions that have been enabled for eCommerce appear in the drop-down lists.
  4. Click the Default Warehouse check box if you want this to be the default warehouse. Only the default warehouse is used in the checkout process.
  5. Click Save.

See also: Using a warehouse.

Step 14. Define package sizes

Define each package size your shipping department uses to ship your products. Tangible products have size and weight dimensions. Ektron’s shipping calculator uses this information to fit the order into the smallest-sized and fewest packages. It then passes packaging information (number, sizes and weight) to the shipping provider, which returns the order’s shipping costs.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Shipping > Packages.
  2. Choose New > Package.
  3. Enter a Name, Length, Height, Width and Maximum Weight a package can handle.
  4. Click Save.
  5. Repeat these steps for all package sizes your company uses.

See also: Configuring packages.

Step 15. Create product type definitions

NOTE: The remaining steps in this example are based on selecting a Product for the Product Type Class.

Product types are applied to catalog folders and let you control the way product information is added to a catalog. This is similar to how Smart FormAn Ektron-defined Web page that contains XML (hidden from the end user) to display content, and receive, verify, and save user input. configurations, once applied to content folders, affect the way Smart Forms are created. You can apply multiple product types to a catalog.

  1. Go to Settings > Commerce > Catalog > Product Types.
  2. Choose New > Product Type.
  3. Define the Product Type.
  4. Click Save and move to the next step.

See also: Creating product types.

Step 16. Create content page

After clicking Save from the previous step, a content editor appears and lets you enter XML Smart Form information. A user completes this Smart Form when creating a Catalog Entry (Product).

The information appears on a product’s details page on your website.

You might want to create these fields on your smart form.

After you complete the Smart Form, click Save.

See also: Creating product types and catalogs and Working with Smart Forms.

Step 17. Create a catalog

A catalog folder is an Ektron folder designed to hold eCommerce catalog entries (products). This is similar to the way content folders hold HTML or Smart Form content. By assigning a product type to the folder, you can control the way products are added to the catalog.

  1. Click the Content folder bar to display the list of content folders.
  2. Choose New > Catalog.
  3. Set the catalog’s Properties, Metadata, Web Alerts and Breadcrumb information. (Similar to creating a Content Folder.)
  4. On the Product Types Tab, select a Product Type from the drop-down list.
  5. Click Add.
  6. Click Save.

See also: Creating a catalog folder and Assigning a catalog folder’s product type.

Step 18. Add catalog entries

Catalog Entries are products you offer on your eCommerce website. For example, a catalog entry could be a CD, a subscription-based service, or a computer that a customer can customize and the price adjusts accordingly.

  1. Go to a catalog folder.
  2. Click New and select a product type.
  3. In the Title field, enter a name for the catalog entry.
  4. Fill out the fields in the Smart Form as necessary.
  5. Select the Summary tab and add a summaryA short description that supplements a content item's title on a Web page. Content authors compose a summary when creating or editing content. Server controls and widgets can display a content title and summary to attract readers to the full story. Summaries can include images and text formatting.. (Optional)
  6. Select the Properties tab and enter an SKU and the number of units that equal one purchase.
  7. Select a Tax Class.
  8. If the product is a tangible product, click Expand next to Dimensions, click the Tangible check box and enter the product’s physical dimensions. If you are using Ektron as your inventory system, click Expand next to Inventory and enter the information.
  9. Select the Pricing tab and enter the product’s list and sales price. If you offer a quantity discount, click Add Pricing Tier and add a quantity and a tier price. If you enabled multiple currencies, select a currency from the drop-down and add pricing information as needed.
  10. Select the Attributes tab and fill out or change attributes as needed. (If you did not define attributes in Step 15. Create product type definitions, the Attributes tab does not appear.)
  11. Select the Media tab and click Add Images to associate images with the catalog entry.
  12. The Items tab is used to create a complex product. This lets you offer variants of a product at different price points. For this example, we will skip this tab. See also: Creating a complex product.
  13. Enter information as needed on these tabs: Metadata, taxonomyA content-level categorization system that uses one-to-many relationships (such as Ronald Reagan is to Actor, Governor, and President) to create a scalable organization of content. A taxonomy lets your site visitors go content independent of the folder structure. and Schedule.
  14. Choose Action > Publish.

To add Cross Sell or Up Sell items associated with this catalog entry, click its Title and then click View > Cross Sell or Up Sell. These items appear in the Recommendation server control when it is associated with this catalog entry.

See also: Creating a catalog entry.

Step 19. Create a master page

Create a master page and add the following items to a header area or left side column.

Step 20. Create a landing page

This template should be the first page a customer sees when arriving at your site. It should have a mechanism that lets customers start shopping. Make sure this page has one of the following:

Step 21. Create a product page

This page allows a customer views a product’s details. It contains a Product server control and optionally a Recommendation server control.

Step 22. Create a product search page

This page lets customers search for products on your website.

Step 23. Create a cart page

This template contains a Cart server control.

Step 24. Create a checkout page

WARNING! Use SSL Encryption for this page, because credit card information is entered into the Checkout server control.

Step 25. Create a My Account page

This template contains a MyAccount and an OrderList server control.

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