Selling Online with Drupal e-Commerce

Drupal is a free and open-source modular web application framework and content management system (CMS) written in PHP that can run in many environments, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and FreeBSD. Drupal e-Commerce is a free, open-source, feature-rich, flexible package of modules that seamlessly adds full e-Store capabilities to Drupal. Drupal e-Commerce is the combination of Drupal, the award-winning Drupal 5 content management system, and the e-Commerce package of modules that can be plugged into it, bringing a wealth of e-commerce functionality to the software. In this book you will learn how to use the Drupal content management system along with its e-Commerce modules to set up and manage an online shop. We will install the software, have a look at its features, plan our shop, create our shop, look at customer management, create a design for our shop, and cover security, taxes, shipping, and even marketing our business! If you're new to Drupal and want to set up a powerful e-commerce system, this book is for you. If you've some experience of working with Drupal and want to understand how its e-commerce options can be used to power an online shop, this book will also prove invaluable. What you will learn from this book * Why to choose Drupal for e-commerce * Installing and configuring Drupal and its e-Commerce module * How Drupal and its e-Commerce module work * Creating and managing content * Creating and managing user accounts, roles, and permissions * Things to think about when planning to sell online * Structuring your site, your product catalogue, and framing a shopping process for users * Framing business policies to handle legal and professional issues * Branding your site by customizing default themes * Installing new themes and creating a custom theme * Customizing the checkout process for processing orders * Creating a better selling experience * Attracting customers with discounts, coupons, auctions, donations, flexicharges * Working with taxes and shipping rules in Drupal e-Commerce * Drupal e-Commerce's shipping API modules * Securing and maintaining your site (deploy, backup, restore) * Creating and managing invoices using the Invoices module * Integrating CiviCRM to manage appointments and log phone calls * Improving traffic with Search Engine Optimization * Advertising programmes, newsletters, and viral marketing campaigns Approach The book starts with the basics of Drupal and then steps you through the creation of an online shop, exploring Drupal further as needed. Only the features of Drupal relevant to the e-commerce application will be covered. Written in a straightforward, easy-to-understand manner, the book provides the essentials of getting your e-commerce website up and running with Drupal. Who this book is written for This book is for people who want to start selling online as quickly as possible, and want to see how to use the proven Drupal platform to achieve this. The book is ideal for use in a small business with only basic in-house technical skills. It will also be useful for developers who not only want to create an e-commerce site, but also want a CMS platform for expanding the site in the future. No prior knowledge of Drupal is required. No PHP experience is expected, although it will be useful. Basic knowledge of e-commerce will also be useful, although the main concepts are introduced and covered as required.