Checkout Amazon Style -- Support Thread

[econcepts]

After looking at your thumbnail, I think this is somewhat of an improvement over most Zen cart setups I've seen so far, but it doesn't solve the basic problem that pages like this are still an obstacle to a sell.

The Zensters can argue all they want about how all shopping carts to some effect create a customer "account" at the point of sale. The big difference here (and this is a really big difference) is that absolutely any kind of language that includes words lke "register" "login" "account" appearing immediately after someone clicks the add-to-cart button can and will deter a sale.

Maybe this is not an issue with some websites, like Amazon, where customers return over and over again. But for many, many websites, like the ones I manage, 90 percent of our customers buy once and only once. Making customers "login" before they can buy something is, well, silly.

This is all a sore subject with me now, because I was pretty much ready to set up Zen cart, had already bought the $50 book, lined up payment processing to work with Linux, etc., etc. Now I'm ready to chuck it all and head back to Yahoo store. All because of a clunky little piece of Zen cart that apparently can't be changed. Argh.

Actually, with some adjustments, Zen Cart does very well for selling. In fact extremely well. But you have to customize it to make it happen.

You bring up some good points about "language" to use in order to help users complete a sale. Many of these points and more were already addressed in my 20 Ways book and template pack released a while back (seen in my signature line below).

I have worked with more than a handful of Zen Cart sites, and each is converting very well with the proper testing, marketing and customizations.

I have also worked with Yahoo stores for people, and due to their extreme limited flexibility, they traditionally convert at a much lower rate. Just my two cents from past experience.

[BlessIsaacola]

Does anyone have a url where I can take a look at how this work? Does this work with Google Checkout and Paypal Express Checkout as well?

Thanks!

[CJPinder]

Does anyone have a url where I can take a look at how this work?

I'm in the process of setting up a demonstration store you can try it out with. The URL is...
http://www.glintsystems.co.uk/demoshop/
...the store is a work in progress but the checkout mod is in place.

Does this work with Google Checkout and Paypal Express Checkout as well?

It should work with PPEC but it hasn't been extensively tested with it. I have not done any testing with Google Checkout.

Regards,
Christian.

[Stone10]

Hi

I'm trying to install this checkout on my site but am a little confused with the instructions. I've tried looking everywhere on the forum but can't see this mentioned anywhere - so it must be me being thick.

It appears that the tpl_checkout_account_default.php and tpl_checkout_login_default.php files should be added to ..../template_default/templates folder and not .../CUSTOM/templates. Is that correct? I was under the impression that all amendments should go in the CUSTOM folder.

I've tried installing them in my custom folder, but the cart doesn't appear to be working. I don't have a problem with the other files - I've installed them in the right folders (hopefully)!!

Also, has anyone installed it so that I can see what it looks like please.


Many thanks in advance.

[CJPinder]

It appears that the tpl_checkout_account_default.php and tpl_checkout_login_default.php files should be added to ..../template_default/templates folder and not .../CUSTOM/templates. Is that correct? I was under the impression that all amendments should go in the CUSTOM folder.

The tpl_checkout_account_default.php and tpl_checkout_login_default.php that come in the zip file should be placed in the includes/templates/template_default/templates directory. If you wish to customise them then copy them to your template override directory and modify the copies same as you would any other template file.

Regards,
Christian.

[Stone10]

Thanks Christian - it works just fine now.

The only thing that's niggling me is that none of the files (apart from css) have been put in the custom folders. What will happen to the files when we come to upgrade?

Thanks once again

[CJPinder]

Thanks Christian - it works just fine now.

Cool

The only thing that's niggling me is that none of the files (apart from css) have been put in the custom folders. What will happen to the files when we come to upgrade?

None of the files overwrite any of the Zen Cart core files or make any changes to them so upgrading will not be affected. A couple of files are placed in the template_default folder because two new pages are created, checkout_login and checkout_account. Each page needs a default template file. Without a default template file for these pages the checkout would break if you changed template, e.g. switched to the Classic template to check something.

If you wish to change the layout of either checkout_login or checkout_account then you follow the normal procedure of copying their template files from template_default to your custom folder and making the changes to the copy.

Same thing goes with the language files used by the new pages. A default is supplied in case of template switching and if you wish to change them then copy them to your custom template folder first.

Regards,
Christian.

[hedera]

I've installed the download on my test site, and I have a couple of issues.

The first issue is that the page I see after clicking on the "Check Out" box is blank, except for two unlabeled data entry boxes and a link labeled, "Forgotten your password? Click here." We really can't have the page blank - I'm perfectly willing to make my own field labels, but: which file do I edit to modify this to have some user instructions??

The second issue is that the billing information page still requires a password. I've read this entire thread; I've seen the argument that it's "very low key" and that "most people don't mind" - but nobody here seems to understand our business model. Our site sells alcohol and drug addiction recovery materials. If our process is not as anonymous as it can possibly be (and still get the credit card information right!), we will lose sales, because people buying our materials don't, frankly, want to leave a trail. Any trail. Even a harmless password.

If I can't make the password optional, or better, make the fields go away, we're going to have to consider paying for a commercial shopping cart, because we will lose sales, big time, if we require the password. I strongly hope you can advise me how to make the password requirement go away, because I've put weeks of work into ZenCart; and we're a small non-profit which would rather not have to pay for this.

In fact, if you can't help me with the password issue, there isn't much point in your addressing the blank page issue, because we may not be using ZenCart at all. I'm going back to my business partner in this and ask him about this development, but I'm pretty sure what he'll say.

[CJPinder]

The first issue is that the page I see after clicking on the "Check Out" box is blank, except for two unlabeled data entry boxes and a link labeled, "Forgotten your password? Click here."

The page should not look like that. The most likely cause is that one of the files in the mod has not been uploaded properly.

The second issue is that the billing information page still requires a password.

Yes it does. If you need the ability to checkout without a password then this is not the mod for you. I would suggest uninstalling it (just remove the files you have uploaded) and looking at the Checkout Without Account mod...
http://www.zen-cart.com/forum/showthread.php?t=59189

Regards,
Christian.

[hedera]

Thanks for the link to Checkout Without Account - I went looking for it when you mentioned it in another post, but couldn't find it - the words in the name are too generic for the search engine, I guess. That is in fact exactly what we need, we really can't afford to have that password requirement there. I'll give that a shot. It would be nice if we weren't the 3rd or 4th site to use it but you can't have everything.