new store install to work under the root

[mrmd2001]

Hi, I have someone that wants to keep the current site they have, but they want to sell items. My thought was to have an "our online store" button link to ZenCart. ZenCart would be installed in a sub folder for that domain, use Paypal. And on the main page of Zen I would have a "go back to our main site" link.

Can ZenCart work within a sub folder if you link to the Index.html in that folder from the root index.html? Do you foresee any issues?

I have built one complete site using ZenCart so far. The site this person wants to keep is a wordpress site. The person who built it tried to add a cart plugin but there are several things wrong with it. I have some WP knowledge but think using zen like I am thinking, if it can work like that, is the best solution.

Thanks

[afo]

If the customer leaves the Zen Cart part and goes back to the "main site", his/her session will likely be lost along with any unpurchased items in the cart, so if he/she decides to return to the cart, he/she will probably have to log in again and reselect the items. This could lose customers.

[stevesh]

Yes, that's done all the time. Just install Zencart in the subdirectory and link to it from the main site. You'll want to be a little careful linking back to the main site, so you don't confuse visitors. Some change the 'Home' link in Zencart to link to the main site, which I think is a mistake - better to add a link, as you suggested.

The sessions thing afo mentioned can be a problem, but it depends on the likelyhood of visitors switching back and forth during a session. If all the information they need to make a purchase is available on the Zencart part, it would help.

[mrmd2001]

Thanks, I thought it would work. I understand about the sessions, don't think that will be an issue. The current site's wordpress cart is set up bad, shipping is a total mess and just the setup of where the products are is bad, not easy to find the items for sale. He likes the site other than the cart, so that is why we are trying to keep it.

[afo]

If you get the Zen Cart portion up and running (and making money), you may be able to add the other content later and replace the WP site. Of course, you'll have to sell that to the site owner.

[schoolboy]

If I remember correctly the session will expire after 23 or 24 minutes of being out of the site.

But as far as ZC's capacity to "absorb" an existing non-eComm site... YES... it can do both generic sites and eComm under the same URI.

I am having a lot of fun creating NON-eCommerce sites with zencart ...: using it more as a CMS. And I must say... it can be impressive as a generic CMS!

The power of this software continues to amaze me after nearly 6 years of working with it.

Example 1 Look at how I get the header logos to swop!
Examples 2, 3 and 4
Example 5

[ramjammer]

The session should only be a problem if the visitor or customer leaves the zencart area for more than 10-15 minutes. I've never had a problem with a setup like this. Normally you can create a cart go off browsing somewhere else on the web, return to that zc site within a few minutes and have your visitors cart still in tact. This may not always be true but it has worked this way for me in all of my testing.