Getting Started
Starting with Enstore is easy. Use this getting started guide to get up to speed quick.
Setting up Checkout
Create an Enstore account for your web store
- First thing you'll need is an Enstore account, which you can acquire by signing up. Basically, Enstore is free until you sell something, signing up is free and without risk.
- You can already choose a plan on the sign up form, but we recommend starting with the free plan.
- Don't forget to check the terms and conditions box, and click signup. Upon success Enstore will send an email to the specified address. In this mail you find a link which you have to click to verify you email address. If you didn't receive an email, please check you spam box or try again.
- Remember your storehandle and password. You need them to sign in later.
Now if you visit your store address (http://www.enstore.com/[your-store-handle]) you will see an empty store with your name on it. Looks a bit desolated, but we're going to change that soon.
Connect Checkout with your Enstore account
Enstore works by syncing its database with your Checkout database. Products are set up and managed in Checkout, orders and clients are received from Enstore upon sync and will show up in the Checkout's order list. To be able to make this sync, Checkout needs to be linked to your Enstore account. Let's do that now.
- Open Checkout and login to your Checkout store.
- Open the manager window. (You'll need manager privileges)
- Click the Web Store toolbar icon.
- Enter your storehandle and password.
- Click link to web store.
If successful, the web store tab will change appearance and will give you a couple of options, one of which is Sync Now. Before we click that we'll need to be sure we have a couple of products setup.
Linked web store manager window.
Setup your products
Basically, Enstore will show all products synced with Checkout, provided they have the Show in Web Store box checked. Before we do our first sync, let's take a look at the products.
Go to Checkout's product manager in the manager window. If you haven't already made some products, let's do so know. Click New Product, fill in the fields and click OK. Most of the options are pretty straight forward, but if you would like to know more about the product options, please refer to the Checkout documentation.
What we're especially interested in is the Web Store tab IN the product manager on the bottom of the window.
The product web store tab
By checking the box Show in Web Store the selected product will be present in the web store after sync.
The tags field is lets you tag your products with words which can be used to find this particular product on the web store, using the tag menu. Tagging is a bit of tricky concept, but if used correctly very powerful. You'll want to tag your product with words that describe metadata of the product. Here's a thorough explanation on tagging.
The value specified in the weight field is used by Enstore to calculate shipping cost. If you don't enter this, Enstore will try to fall back to a default weight. If that also isn't set, your shipping options will show an error on the Enstore checkout page.
Images can be dragged to the image field. There's no limit to the amount of images you can have per (sub)product, but images can't be bigger then 1MB. Images will be shown on the web store in the same order as you put them in this field. So the first image here will also be the image shown on the browse page on Enstore.
The product general tab
It's important you give your products nice names. Preferably not too long. It's better to use the description field to describe specifics about the product. Always supply a good description of your product, your customers will appreciate the extra information and it just looks better on the web store. Specifying a brand also adds to the aesthetics of your web store.
If the box for sell stop is checked, Enstore won't show this product on your web store.
Variations
Checkout and Enstore have matrix products. This means you can have products in multiple sizes, colors, etc. Per variation you can specify different images, prices and other information.
Synchronize your store
By syncing your Checkout store with your Enstore web store, you upload all the products you want to have on your web store and all their images. Syncing also checks for new orders, made since the last time you synced. We recommend syncing regularly. Make sure you only sync from one work station.
- Click the Web Store toolbar icon in the manager window to go to the web store manager.
- If you didn't already, link Checkout to your Enstore account.
- Hit the Synchronize Now button.
Setting up AccountEdge
Create an Enstore account for your web store
You'll need an Enstore account, which you get by just signing up. Enstore is free in beta and after that it's free until you sell something; signing up is cost- and risk-free. When you sign up, you can select the plan that will suit your needs, starting with the free plan.
Record your Store Handle and password. You'll need them to sign in later.
After successful enrollment, you'll receive an email verifying the email address. If you didn't receive the email, check your spam box or try again.
Connect AccountEdge with your Enstore account
In AccountEdge, select Web Store from the Setup dropdown menu. Then select Set Up Web Store. Enter your Store Handle and password. Link your Web Store. Once you link your company file to a Web Store, you'll be able to configure the store as well as visit it as a customer. (You can also update your password, and unlink the store from this file.) You set your Store and Selling Details, your Tax account, and your Sync Options here.
See the video: Web Store Setup in AccountEdge
Making Items available for your web store
When you Sync your items from AccountEdge Inventory, they will be available on the Web Store, provided they are configured to be sold on the Web Store. This is done by check marking I sell this item in my Web Store, in the Selling Details window of the item. (This can also be done in the Selling Details, see above.) You also indicate the Web Store selling price in this window.
In the Item Details window, you can:
- Enter a Description for the Item
- Indicate the Item's weight, which is used to determine shipping costs. If this field isn't set, the default weight will be used. If the default weight isn't set, the shipping options will show an error on the Web Store checkout page.
- Brands and Tags are characteristics that will help web shoppers with searching for, and filtering the display of, items on the Web Store.
- The images you set in this window will be available on the Web Store. There is a 1 Mb file size limit on image files.
In the Sales Command Center, select Process Web Orders to download and process all Web Store orders.
See the videos:
Setting up Items to be sold in your Web Store
AccountEdge - Web Store Integration (walk through)
Accessing the Enstore Admin
- All Web Store specific details can be managed online.
- You can reach the admin by clicking the Configure Web Store Online button from AccountEdge.
- You can also access the admin from the web: http://www.enstore.com/[your-store-handle]/admin
Setting up Enstore
Accessing the Enstore Admin
All Enstore specific details can be managed online via our online admin tool. You use this tool to manage the pages of your web store, which template you choose, what the menu looks like. It's also used to configure payment and shipment services.
You can reach the admin, by clicking the Configure Web Store Online button in the web store manager in the manager window.
You can also access the admin by going to this URL
http://www.enstore.com/[your-store-handle]/admin
The Enstore Admin
The whole admin is explained in detail in this documentation. Please refer to the section store administration.