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e-Commerce for Joomla! Part Two

Today, there are many choices available that allow site builders to quickly configure products, display small product catalogues and enable customers to easily add products to a shopping cart. In most cases, these solutions hand off payment processing to a service like PayPal or Google Checkout. For many, this limited processing is all that is needed and the simplicity translates to much appreciated ease of use. This month, Team EaSE takes a look at five easy-to-use options that will help you quickly offer eCommerce on your Joomla! web site.

This month, Team EaSE reviews several simple eCommerce solutions that enable Joomla! site builders to quickly add basic shopping cart capabilities. The intended audience of this article are those who need to add a shopping cart for a limited number of products. If your eCommerce needs are more sophisticated, we invite you to read last month’s article which focussed on several fully functional Joomla! eCommerce choices.

Team EaSE looked at two Joomla! Extensions, RokQuickCart and SimpleCaddy, a powerful Web Service called Ecwid and how to integrate PayPal and Google Checkout using widgets. Each of these options are extremely simple. Each offers great capability.

RokQuickCart is offered by RocketTheme and it is useful for those situations where you have no more than 20-30 products. All products are displayed on a single page. The shopping experience couldn’t be easier as customers are able to simply ‘click’ to add products, check out and then interact with PayPal or Google Checkout. It’s not a solution for more than very simple shopping cart needs, but if that describes what you need to do, RokQuickCart could be a good option.

SimpleCaddy by Atlantic Intelligence is also very easy to configure. There are a few additional options, like Categories and Vouchers, that enable more options for your eCommerce needs. Google Checkout is not supported, but PayPal is supported. Because SimpleCaddy uses Plugin code inserted into Articles, products are searchable and Category Blogs can be used to present products. The workflow during checkout could use smoothing out since it was not immediately obvious during testing that we needed to press the “PayPal” button to finish processing.

Ecwid is a hosted Web Service with a very sophisticated Product Catalog, Customer Information and Order Processing environment. The capabilities mirror higher end e-Commerce solutions and the User Interface is well designed. You can sign up for a powerful free environment and take advantage of a rich array of payment processing, including both PayPal and Google Checkout. Higher end functionality can be obtained at a monthly charge. We found the free services quite adequate for most simple and even moderate to advanced solutions. Simple copy-and-paste HTML Widgets are used to embed shopping cart functionality into any Web site, including Joomla!.

PayPal and Google Checkout capabilities can be used without a Joomla! Extension, too. Creating a sophisticated and secure e-commerce Web site can be a daunting task. If you are a business owner or professional in need of a simple e-commerce fix, going right to “the source” may be your best choice. Both PayPal and Google Checkout are online merchant services providers who offer simple solutions for selling goods and services online, without having to know how to code or master a complex e-commerce solution.PayPal and Google Checkout capabilities can be used without a Joomla! Extension too.

Creating a sophisticated and secure e-commerce Web site can be a daunting task. If you are a business owner or professional in need of a simple e-commerce fix, going right to “the source” may be your best choice. Both PayPal and Google Checkout are online merchant services providers who offer simple solutions for selling goods and services online, without having to know how to code or master a complex e-commerce solution.

Check out Issue 5 Comparison Spreadsheet .pdf below

Summary

Warning!

Always use SSL encrypted buttons to sell goods or services over the Internet. Both PayPal and Google provide secure options for checkout and maintaining your merchant account. Unencrypted eCommerce buttons can leave your shop and customers open to security attacks and malicious code. Worse case scenario, Mr. Hack Master the invisible surfer of the web, could redirect your buyer to a faux checkout and take a free vacation on their dime. Beware and take all reasonable precautions to ensure the integrity of the data that is transmitted to your merchant services provider, it will save the integrity of your fledgling e-commerce shop.

Keep it Simple

The benefits of keeping it simple is a good idea as it’s easy to provide adequate security and to implement good functionality. Coupon and discounts, inventory management, email links and invoicing, and shop promotion methods are just a few of the slick services that compliment any e-commerce shop.

Now get going on creating and enhancing your simple Joomla! online shop and the shopping experience of your potential customers and buyers.

December is the Holiday Issue! expect some rather nice presents from Team EaSE.

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