How to integrate with existing site?

[andreyman]

Hi,

I just installed Zen Cart because I want to give multiple payment options (paypal, Gogole checkout, Amazon, etc.) where only PayPal is currently available on my site.

My goal is to have the "buy now" button on my site add the corresponding product to the shopping cart, take the user to view their cart, and present them with the checkout options.

I am having a hard time understanding how to do this. I would appreciate some guidance or a nod in the direction of documentation. Or am I misunderstanding Zen Cart?

Thank you!

Andrey

[dbltoe]

Sorry Audrey, it doesn't work that way.
You haven't mentioned just what your site is, but you would need to make Zen Cart look like your site and keep all transactions inside the Zen Cart engine.
Like a car's engine, you find the same style engine in many cars that look totally different. But, most all of them have the steering wheel and gas pedal in the same spot (even if on the left or right). You're idea is somewhat like putting the steering wheel in the trunk.

[schoolboy]

Zencart is not a "simple shopping basket and payment system" program.

It is a sophisticated eCommerce platform, designed to be your ENTIRE website. You don't fold zencart into an existing site...

You "abandon" your existing site (or certainly its architecture), and you create everything inside zencart.

Zencart (like all eComm programs) has literally hundreds of functions and features that all tie in with each other to some degree or other, and you can't easily "unpick" the software to just apply one or two of these features.

If you think that zencart is not capable of handling complicated and detailed sites, see what we are doing HERE... This is a site built on zencart, but there is NO eCommerce on it at all...

... But as the client MIGHT want eComm in the future, making it eComm will be very simple - just a few switches in the admin panel, and it becomes fully eCommerce...

[lcsci]

Hi schoolboy

I guess I'm a bit surprised reading your explanation, because I thought that by linking ZenCart to our PayPal account, we could just have a PayPal button on our existing catalogue web pages that would redirect to a shopping cart. Do we actually have to rebuild our entire website to be "on" ZenCart? We don't have any developers here, so that would be impossible. Is there a function of ZC that would just allow it to be linked to our site, rather than "be" our site?

Thanks very much. I seem to have really misinterpreted the instructions from ZC and PayPal...

~BG

[schoolboy]

Proper eCommerce is sophisticated stuff, and while zencart is very "user-friendly", it does require a fair degree of "webmaster" knowledge and ability to design and configure it.

ALL eCommerce platforms are like this... People who are not computer-savvy (in the webmaster sense), either take the time to learn the ropes, or they hire professionals to do the webmastering for them.

There are quite a few "hosted eCommerce" organisations that charge monthly subscription fees for reasonable eComm sites.

This may be a viable option for you.

[afo]

Just to throw my 2 cents in: Take a stab at using Zen Cart. You'll encounter the learning curve, but when you're done, you'll find you have a site that's easier to maintain.

Complex? Yes. Impossible? No.

[RescoCCC]

Just to throw my 2 cents in: Take a stab at using Zen Cart. You'll encounter the learning curve, but when you're done, you'll find you have a site that's easier to maintain.

Complex? Yes. Impossible? No.

I would add two things. One is that once you've done it, there's a tremendous degree of satisfaction. The other is that should you decide to use the services of a professional in the future, you'll have a much better grasp on web site concepts and be less likely to get hosed.

[schoolboy]

There is a LOT of value in taking time to learn the ropes... but in our experience (and we have built well over 500 sites in the last 17 years), most people (particularly those interested in online retail) want to get on with the business of retail... not web management.

When we suggest to clients that they take a more proactive interest in the technical side, by far the majority tell us that they are more than happy for US to look after the technical stuff, while they get on with the business of SELLING STUFF to customers.

Of course I do realise that there are huge numbers of people out there who have no choice but to assume both roles (budget constraints), but there is no denying that every hour you spend tinkering with code, databases, servers... is an hour you're not spending looking after your marketing and your sales.

We have had people come to us who have been trying for DAYS to get some desired alteration or behaviour done, and we have managed to sort it in minutes... But there you are... 17 years' experience in site building (7 in eCommerce alone) have given us the background and the knowledge.

Put a cost (including lost opportunity cost) to people's time, and there's a big difference between DAYS of effort and 10 minutes of effort.

I will say however, that this forum is one of the most valuable repositories of excellent advice and information, and it will provide even the most "green" of novices just about everything they need to set up and competently manage a zencart site.

So YES... install ZC and try it out...

[Jimenezl]

Hello, new Zenner here. I've been reading replies to this question now for a while and everyone recommends you 'abandon' you existing site in favor of zen cart. I love the program and am implementing it on a new site, but what about an old site, already indexed in Google? If you move to ZC, how do you preserve your page(s) ranking?

Thanks,

Luis

[Kim]

Moderator's note - several posts re: SEO URL re-writes have been removed for NOT answering the poster question.

I love the program and am implementing it on a new site, but what about an old site, already indexed in Google? If you move to ZC, how do you preserve your page(s) ranking?

Reproduce those static pages using Zen Cart's EZ pages for information and the product pages for your merchandise. Then use 301 redirects from the old pages to your new pages.