Working with the Product Store(s)
Contents
Introduction to Stores
The Virtual Store Characteristics
An opentaps Virtual Store can mirror a physical store, and/or an associated WebSite Store, or an internal (or a dummy) store operation. It represents a collection of Products, grouped by Catalog(s) and then within Catalogs there are Categories. Stores are configured with their own policies, such as:
- Store can sell under it's own set of shipping, fulfillment, payment processing, taxation, and other Store policies
- Stores can be set up with individualized accounting configurations for maximum transparency
- Stores can have many different Catalogs, and
- Each Store can have its own Promotions, Notification, Surveys, and special Customer Relationship policies
- A Store can be localized with language, currency, and taxation configurations
- The system supports as many stores as you need, functioning in Groups, or as individual units.
The Integrated Web Store Characteristics
An opentaps integrated WebSite contains all the information for turning an opentaps Virtual Store into an E-Commerce website. For example, the WebSite(s) define(s):
- URLs and ports for standard http, and secured https protocols,
- Localization (language, currency, taxation)
- The web site is in turn mounted on a web application which is very customizable.
Configuring Multiples of Stores and WebSites
An opentaps Virtual Store can be associated with several different websites, allowing the same products to be sold on multiple hosted sites or domains so long as the underlying Store policies are the same.
Alternatively, multiple Stores, each with their own WebSite, can be set up to provide different policies, such as pricing and fulfillment procedures for different countries, or to target products to different market segments such as wholesale versus retail.
For More Detailed Guidance
In the following sections, we will discuss configuring the opentaps Virtual Store in it's basic definition, and in it's various policy details. Then in a later section we will discuss the configuration of the WebSite Store as a separate topic.
