Adding to an Exisiting site

I currently alreay have a fully working website, i would like to add the features of a store to my website (add a cart, checkout etc to my product pages) Is this possible?

Yes, this is possible. How you configure it depends on a variety of factors - including what you currently achieve through your existing website, and what you want the "combined" site to achieve.

The e-commerce part should ideally sit in a sub-directory or perhaps a sub-domain, but this is not essential. However, if you put everything in the root directory you will need to adjust the navigation structure because your original site has an INDEX (or default) page and your webshop will also have an INDEX (or default) page.

If your existing site is well-established and attracts lots of visitors, and if it is well-indexed by search engines, it may be an idea to not interfere with it. Either put your e-shop into a sub-directory, or perhaps even a sub-domain.

There is no harm in creating a webshop on an entirely different URL, and directing visitors who come to your original site to that URL.

I have done it two ways.

1. I redid the whole site using Zen Cart
2. I retained my site and added Zen, made it look like my original site, and am going to just add a link to the cart.

Both require a bit of work, but I think the total redo using Zen took a bit more....just to get it to "look right".
One thing to keep in mind...if you retain the original site, you will need a link back to the home page.
I think I prefer using Zen as the whole site, but I just couldn't ditch my original...I like the look way too much, and at this point, I can't duplicate it because I don't quite have the skills yet.

A link to your current site will let us advise how big a job it will be to extend or convert to e-commerce with Zen Cart.

Hey thanks for the help so far... the current site is https://www.therelaxationfactory.com I currently have zen installed in a sub-directory called "cart"

It's a pity you did all that work before thinking about how someone would actually buy something from your site... It's a beautiful site, and could be converted to Zen Cart, though that would take considerable work. Some of the elements you have done like the categories navigation might best be imported mostly whole to replace the standard categories sidebox. The reduction in dynamic flexibility should be offset by the fact that your product lines are not likely to change often.

The work needed to make a Zen Cart template that matches your existing site is substantial enough that I wouldn't see a benefit to maintaining two kinds of sites for one store. Your products are classy enough that Paypal buttons would be right out of place, and likely expensive enough that you need a robust e-commerce system like Zen Cart for security.

gjh42:

It's a pity you did all that work before thinking about how someone would actually buy something from your site... It's a beautiful site, and could be converted to Zen Cart, though that would take considerable work. Some of the elements you have done like the categories navigation might best be imported mostly whole to replace the standard categories sidebox. The reduction in dynamic flexibility should be offset by the fact that your product lines are not likely to change often.

The work needed to make a Zen Cart template that matches your existing site is substantial enough that I wouldn't see a benefit to maintaining two kinds of sites for one store. Your products are classy enough that Paypal buttons would be right out of place, and likely expensive enough that you need a robust e-commerce system like Zen Cart for security.

Thanks a lot for your comments and help, I did not think at first we would be selling items on the web, but now my company has gone down that direction. I'm not trying to get out the "cheap" way, its just my host already had this ready to go, so i figured it would be as easy as adding buttons etc. I'm not eally sure where to go from here.

thanks again.

I understand the "last-minute change of direction from the top" bit... I've worked in plant engineering, and for architects and engineers.

You could strip down the ZC installation and do some minimal styling so it won't clash, and then there is a way to put a given item in your cart using a link - someone posted the information recently. You would need to recreate the product data in Zen Cart, and your current site product ids would become irrelevant (though you can choose the "model number" that ZC uses).

Some work with sessions may allow you to transfer between your current site and your Zen Cart without losing cart contents. That should buy time to restyle a development copy of Zen Cart to your taste, at which time you could update the database with info from your live store and replace the whole site with the new Zen Cart.