One of the most powerful and popular capabilities of a Joomla website is the ability to deliver robust ecommerce solutions. While there are a growing number of options for ecommerce in Joomla CMS, the pioneer and still the most popular shopping cart option is the Joomla Virtuemart shopping cart extension. It has been exciting to watch how a great basket of ideas has grown to become one of the most popular engines for ecommerce on the web.
Small businesses like it because it is FREE to download, it is easy to implement and maintain and it is scalable to meet the needs of their business as it grows. Shoppers like it because it looks great, is intuitive to use and is secure for handling their transactions. Developers like it because there are many extensions, accounting systems integrations and it is open source code so they can deliver real world business results and be the hero.
Let’s start with a quick overview of the core features and then I will get to some real exciting stuff that I like about this solution.
Virtuemart release 1.1.4
Brief General Features
1 : Capable of using Secure Sockets Layer (https) Encryption (128-bit)
2 : Flexible Tax Models
3 : Shoppers can manage their User Accounts (registration required)
Brief Product Catalogue Features
1 : Powerful Web-Administration Interface
2 : Manages an unlimited Number of Products and Categories
3 : Can be used as a Shop or just as an Online-Catalogue
Administration Features
1 : Multiple Images and Files (like Spec Sheets and Flyers) per Product
2 : Product Attributes (like Size or Color) can be added to Product
3 : Product Types for Classification (like "Car", "Motorbike" or "Music Album")
Payment Modules
1 : capable of live Credit Card Processing
2 : pre-defined Payment Gateways like authorize.net®, PayPal, 2Checkout, eWay, Worldpay, PayMate and NoChex
3 : extend your Shop with other Payment Modules using the Payment Module API!
Virtuemart Extensions:
In addition to the many core features there are many folks that have taken initiatives to build add-on’s and themes to enhance this Joomla extension with an even more rounded collection of capabilities for both look and feel of the shopping experience and functionality to serve niche markets.
Templates:
Virtuemart has been around for a while, has a pretty nice user interface and is overall very flexible for delivering a comfortable and astatically pleasing customer experience. However, I happen to like the surge of interest in developing template options for Virtuemart.
I think one of the reasons many of the template design vendors have not jumped on board with template designs for Virtuemart has been that unless you deliver Virtuemart as part of the installation it can be difficult for the average non-technical user to install. I think this will only get better over time and since it has grown in popularity there is now a stronger business case for vendors to invest in this.
Payment Gateways:
One of the biggies for setting up ecommerce is having a connection between your shopping cart and a payment gateway. Something I especially like is that connecting to PayPal with Virtuemart is a real no brainer. Just enter an email address for your PayPal accounting and you are mostly “DONE”. While Authorize.net is another popular gateway there are several others supported and since the Virtuemart framework is open source, well, you can build your own if needed.
Small Business Management Solutions – Real world value
The real power and value for your small business with the Joomla Website Design and Virtuemart combination is the ability to integrate Joomla and Virtemart with other accounting and Customer Relationship Management systems.
Synchronize with QuickBooks and CRM
The key integration that I am particularly interested in is the Info@hand Customer Relationship Business Management platform, where there is a bridge between the users in a Joomla/Virtuemart experience and the contacts and accounts in info@hand CRM. With this solution you actually manage your products inside of the CRM (info@hand) and then synchronize this with your Virtuemart extension in Joomla. Then to make this even more interesting, when a customer makes a purchase an ecommerce invoice is passed to info@hand and associated with the account so you can then manage all of your accounts from a centralized dashboard in info@hand... And then to make this even more exciting you can synchronize info@hand with QuickBooks Accounting software so that you have a full transaction life cycle management solution.
Why we feel Joomla and Virtuemart are the best solution for small business ecommerce:
As a Joomla Developer we have implemented sites for customer ranging from selling a single product to working with companies with huge databases of products. In this experience we have found the Joomla and Virtuemart solution to be very easy for our customers to configure and manage. It offers most of the functionality out of the box and if you use PayPal for your payment gateway it is about a easy as eating pumpkin pie to set up.
We hope this overview is helpful and if you ever need configuration support custom coding or training on the Joomla Website Development or Virtuemart solution we would be happy to talk with you.
For more information on Joomla Website Development and Design services please visit http://www.joomladesignservices.com
We shall be happy to demonstrate our expertise with Joomla.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
JomSocial for Joomla CMS Perfect Companion for Social Communities
JomSocial is a perfect tool of Joomla Website Design for meeting the demands of the marketplace and our overall shift in cultural interaction notably called socialeconomics. The idea was to build conversations around topics that can help folks better understand not only what is at stake but perhaps where they can contribute their ideas and creativity in a way that can have impact on the end game. This www.givetoed.org community allows folks to interact with most of the popular social networking and community collaboration tools in a way that remains personal yet captures the spirit of teamwork.
1 : Platform for communication, collaboration and education
The GiveToEd.org platform leveraged all of the key features found in the JomSocial Community suite for Joomla CMS and has the intention of centralizing conversational information that can increase awareness about targeted topical categories. The ability for anyone to contribute blog articles, calendar events and comments around these topics seems like a perfect application of these tools. Since the JomSocial components are useful for expanding the user profile fields in Joomla CMS it is a huge compliment for a variety of web applications that want extended user profiles and registration form processing. I was an avid user and big fan of another such tool for several years now called Community Builder components. These were the first for the Joomla platform and are still a great choice for Social Networking sites and extending user profiles. However the overall architecture of the JomSocial suite of community tools is a little more user intuitive for a facebook style niche social community.
2 : We will see more and more niche social communities moving forward
I think we will see more of these types of niche communities over time since organizations like Linked in are the business networking Chambers of Commerce of the future. Businesses are competing globally now and our personal social circles are also much more diversified and geographically dispersed. As an example I joined facebook a while back but did not find many folks on there just a few early adopters, social media geeks like me. Since leavening the Mpls MN music scene in 2000 after a rewarding 15 year career in the music/entertainment business, I have been longing to connect with many of my old friends and colleagues. A few weeks back I found a few folks that knew a few folks that new a few folks and within a week I was instantly connected with nearly 300 wonderful people that I really missed and appreciate. They and I have been able to passively and personally interact in conversations in the weeks since. It is really neat to see what many of the folks, some I have not seen for 10 years, have been up to. Though I am half way across the country in a different world as a family man a computer geek I am able to connect to a part of me that I could have by no other means.
3 : Relationship management tools will be the norm of tomorrow
The Givetoed.org community we built is hoping to bring our local communities together around a central purpose of improving our public education. Social community and relationship management tools like this play an important role and create a bridge for people to communicate at a level they could not before. For example you can look at this two ways; One, you can get those spontaneous thoughts out with quick short messages that syndicate in real time for instant response to a broad audience quickly or you are able take your time with well articulated content you wish to share that could have a lasting effect on others opinions. These social web tools can help fill the gap of communication and collaboration between where we were not too long ago and where we are now and into the future.
4 : Public Education is just one community that needs social media conversations
If the next generation of schools are going to be effective and affordable we will have to adapt to a world to a world we have yet to understand. Just think, when a 1st grader this year graduates from college it will be 2026 give or take a year. Look back on what happened in the past 16 years and tell me if you could have predicted where you would be today back then. I am thankful that the technologies like JomSocial for Joomla CMS much like Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have evolved to connect people and help us manage these many relationships My hope is that many sites like our www.Givetoed.org social community web portal will bring people together to Collaborate, Communicate and Educate on important areas within our society. We learn more efficiently through interpersonal communication than by any other means. I hope you drop by and have a look around and even better yet leave your comments.
For more information on Joomla Website Development and Design services please visit http://www.joomladesignservices.com
We shall be happy to demonstrate our expertise with Joomla.
1 : Platform for communication, collaboration and education
The GiveToEd.org platform leveraged all of the key features found in the JomSocial Community suite for Joomla CMS and has the intention of centralizing conversational information that can increase awareness about targeted topical categories. The ability for anyone to contribute blog articles, calendar events and comments around these topics seems like a perfect application of these tools. Since the JomSocial components are useful for expanding the user profile fields in Joomla CMS it is a huge compliment for a variety of web applications that want extended user profiles and registration form processing. I was an avid user and big fan of another such tool for several years now called Community Builder components. These were the first for the Joomla platform and are still a great choice for Social Networking sites and extending user profiles. However the overall architecture of the JomSocial suite of community tools is a little more user intuitive for a facebook style niche social community.
2 : We will see more and more niche social communities moving forward
I think we will see more of these types of niche communities over time since organizations like Linked in are the business networking Chambers of Commerce of the future. Businesses are competing globally now and our personal social circles are also much more diversified and geographically dispersed. As an example I joined facebook a while back but did not find many folks on there just a few early adopters, social media geeks like me. Since leavening the Mpls MN music scene in 2000 after a rewarding 15 year career in the music/entertainment business, I have been longing to connect with many of my old friends and colleagues. A few weeks back I found a few folks that knew a few folks that new a few folks and within a week I was instantly connected with nearly 300 wonderful people that I really missed and appreciate. They and I have been able to passively and personally interact in conversations in the weeks since. It is really neat to see what many of the folks, some I have not seen for 10 years, have been up to. Though I am half way across the country in a different world as a family man a computer geek I am able to connect to a part of me that I could have by no other means.
3 : Relationship management tools will be the norm of tomorrow
The Givetoed.org community we built is hoping to bring our local communities together around a central purpose of improving our public education. Social community and relationship management tools like this play an important role and create a bridge for people to communicate at a level they could not before. For example you can look at this two ways; One, you can get those spontaneous thoughts out with quick short messages that syndicate in real time for instant response to a broad audience quickly or you are able take your time with well articulated content you wish to share that could have a lasting effect on others opinions. These social web tools can help fill the gap of communication and collaboration between where we were not too long ago and where we are now and into the future.
4 : Public Education is just one community that needs social media conversations
If the next generation of schools are going to be effective and affordable we will have to adapt to a world to a world we have yet to understand. Just think, when a 1st grader this year graduates from college it will be 2026 give or take a year. Look back on what happened in the past 16 years and tell me if you could have predicted where you would be today back then. I am thankful that the technologies like JomSocial for Joomla CMS much like Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms have evolved to connect people and help us manage these many relationships My hope is that many sites like our www.Givetoed.org social community web portal will bring people together to Collaborate, Communicate and Educate on important areas within our society. We learn more efficiently through interpersonal communication than by any other means. I hope you drop by and have a look around and even better yet leave your comments.
For more information on Joomla Website Development and Design services please visit http://www.joomladesignservices.com
We shall be happy to demonstrate our expertise with Joomla.
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