How to Start an Online Store

Video Transcript

"Hello. My name is Luis Estrada, and I am a software developer. In this video, I'll show you how to start an online store. In one of the previous videos we took a look at the Joomla application. One of the great features of Joomla is that there are hundreds of available extensions that add all sorts of functionalities to the application. One of the great extensions that you can use to create an online store in your existing Joomla installation is VirtueMart, available at VirtueMart dot net. This extension provides shopping cart functionalities to your website. Best of all the extension is completely free. You can try the demo application to see if it fits your needs. There is a link for the shopper demo and another one for the administrator. First we'll explore the shopper experience. On the left side of the front page you have links to the product categories and a link for all the products. For each product there is a title, a price, a description and an image that you can click on. If you click on the products detail link you see a full description of the product. If there are additional custom characteristics for the product, like the color or size, there will be menus presented next to the add to cart button. Your users can select the quantity of products to purchase and press on the button to go to the checkout window. If you want to take a look at the administration side of the virtual store, log in using the demo account provided. From the menu you can manage your products, categories, orders, payment methods, vendors, customers, etcetera. If you click on the products link, the application will list all available products on your store. You can create, modify and delete any. Another great feature is the ability to generate reports for the products sold. The total orders and the revenue generated. From the orders menu you will be able to ship the necessary products sold and send custom notification to your users about the status of their shipment. The front end graphical interface of the store can be customized to your needs. Here's an example of an online store selling computer equipment. You will be able to change the front and language too. The easiest way for your customers to pay using your VirtueMart extension, is using the PayPal system. In the next video we will talk about this payment system that has revolutionized the way people transfer money online. I'm Luis Estrada and I've just showed you how to make money with one of your websites."