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Shopping Cart Overview
The AlaCart Shopping Cart option is an easy-to-use e-commerce utility
you can install on your site. It allows you to sell merchandise on your site and gives your customers a user-friendly way to quickly find and
purchase merchandise. Additionally, new features for the AlaCart Shopping Cart are being developed which will further enhance the capabilities of this resourceful tool.
How To Install the AlaCart Shopping Cart:
From the Command Center, select the Shopping Cart icon. The AlaCart Manager displays.
Select the Install AlaCart button. A message displays indicating that AlaCart will be installed within approximately ten minutes.
Configuring the Shopping Cart
Once you have installed the AlaCart Shopping Cart, you will need to configure it for your site before you are able to administer and use it.
How To Configure the AlaCart Shopping Cart:
From the Command Center, select the Shopping Cart icon. The AlaCart Manager displays.
Near the bottom of the screen select the Setup AlaCart Configuration link. The AlaCart Shopping Cart Program displays at the
Start Screen page.
Enter your AlaCart user name in the User Name field. This can be a
new user name; it does not have to be the same as your account user name. Enter a password for that user name in the New Password
field. Re-enter the password, typed exactly the same way, in the Enter New Password Again field. If you make a mistake, select the Reset
button to clear all fields, then re-enter the information.
Select the Update Password button. The Change Paths portion of the Start Page displays.Enter your domain name in the
Your Domain Name field.
Warning: Remember that your domain name does not include “www”. I.e., enter mycompany.com as opposed to www.mycompany.com.
The Path to Shopping Cart field defaults to s-cart. This is the
directory location of the shopping cart program and all of its associated files on your site. Leave the default value as is unless you have a specific directory you would rather use.
If you make a mistake, click on the Reset button to clear all fields, then re-enter the information. When completed, click on the
Update Path button. A Thank You message appears indicating the configuration was successful.
Note: This document interchanges the phrases “Administer the Shopping Cart” and “Set up the Shopping Cart” to reflect the text seen in
the Shopping Cart program.
How To Administer the AlaCart Shopping Cart:
Follow the link provided in the final step of the previous procedure (located underneath the statement To setup the Shopping Cart, go to:
). The link will contain the text: s-cart/admin/index.phtml. The AlaCart Administration Suite page displays.
There are six tools available in the Administration Suite. The links
across the top of the page link to the tools. The links in the table are help references for the use of these tools. Each of these tools is shown
below. To make use of any of these administration tools, single-click the tool and follow the on-screen instructions.
Note: Help is provided in the reference links in the Shopping Cart. For
detailed information on any topic, consult that tool’s help reference.
The “Look and Feel” Tool:
The “Look and Feel” Tool allows you to control colors, text and images that appear on your Shopping Cart.
Click on the Submit button to apply the changes you have made. Click on the Reset
button to restore all of the settings to their default values. Single-click on the Help link for more information on using this tool.
The Categories Tool:
The Categories Tool contains five main sections all shown in this section. These sections allow you to create, delete and edit the product
categories within your Shopping Cart.
Single-click on the Help link (available from all of the pages within the Category Tool for more information on using different features).
The Products Tool:
The Products Tool works similarly to the Category Tool, allowing you to enter products that to offer for sale in your Shopping Cart.
The remaining options: Edit, Delete and List are all shown on the following page and work identically to their counterpart options in the
Category Tool.
The Edit a Product Tool allows you to change information about an existing item already in your Shopping Cart.
The List of Products Tool shows you the products that are contained
within your Shopping Cart. (Note: only one item appears in the screen below.)
The Delete a Product Tool allows you to remove items from your cart one at a time.
The Shipping Tool:
The Shipping tool allows you to set levels of shipping charges to apply to orders, as well as determine the method by which shipping charges
will be calculated.
The Tax Tool:
The Tax Charges tool allows you to set taxes by name and amount. Tax charges are to be added to orders placed via your Shopping Cart.
The Order Options Tool:
The Orders Options tool is an important one. It lets you specify which
credit cards your Shopping Cart will accept. Typically, you mustsupply an e-mail address and a secure server URL. If you do not provide an
e-mail address here, you will not receive orders. Using a Secure URL protects your customer’s credit card number.
Running the Shopping Cart
Once your site has been configured and administered, you can run the Shopping Cart. You may wish to do this periodically while setting up
your site to verify that the setup is operating successfully.
How To Run the Shopping Cart:
Follow the link provided in the final step of the Configuration procedure located under the statement: To run the Shopping Cart, go to:
. The link will likely contain the text: s-cart/index.phtml. The Your Shopping Cart’s Shop Entrance page displays.
The AlaCart Shopping Cart is similar to many e-commerce utilities now in use on the web. Essentially, your customer either browses the
catalog or searches for an item until he/she finds the desired item. Once the item is found, your customer adds it to his/her “shopping basket”.
When ready to checkout, the customer confirms the items in the basket, and provides the method of payment.
To view products in various categories and sub-categories in your catalog, click on the Browse Catalog
link. The catalog displays at the top category level. You can drill down into the various sub-categories.
Once you reach a level beyond which there are no further sub-categories, the list of products in the last selected sub-category is displayed.
How To Remove the AlaCart Shopping Cart:
The following procedure can only be used if the AlaCart Shopping Cart has already been installed on your site. From the Command Center,
select the Shopping Cart icon. The AlaCart Manager displays.
Select the Remove AlaCart button. A message appears indicating that AlaCart will be removed from your site within approximately ten
minutes.
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