Reading Time: 4 minutes

Shopware 6 offers you the possibility to expand the range of functions. To do this, go to Extensions > My Extensions and manage the extensions already available for your store. You can purchase new extensions in the store.

MyExtensions

The My Extensions area is divided into several subsections.

  • Apps (1): Shows an overview of the apps available in the store and in your account.
  • Theme (2): Shows an overview of the themes available in the store and in your account.
  • Recommendations (3): Here you will receive recommendations for extensions, divided into regions and categories.
  • Shopware Account (4): Here you can link your shop to your Shopware account.
  • Upload Extension (5): If you have an extension as a zip file, you can upload it here.

But let’s see the sections in detail.

App

The apps section gives you an overview of all apps added to your store.

Apps

The App section is divided into several columns

  • App overview (1): Here you can see an overview of all apps and the most important information about each app.
  • Hide Inactive Extensions (2) – Use this button to hide all currently not activated apps to get a better overview of active apps.
  • Sorting (3): Here you can specify the criterion by which the overview is to be sorted.
  • Active button (4): with this button you can activate or deactivate installed apps. Unlike uninstalling, deactivation has the advantage of not losing the settings made in the app.
  • Install App (5): If you upload an app or have purchased one in your Shopware account, it is not yet installed in your store. You can install the app using this button. Please note that the app is initially deactivated after installation. If you want to use it right away, you need to activate it right away.
  • Button “  ” (6): Here you can call up the shortcut menu for the respective apps. Various functions are then available in the menu, depending on the status of the app.
  • Uninstall : Uninstalls the app but does not completely remove it from the system so that it remains in the overview. This option is available if the app is installed.
  • Remove – Removes the app from the system. This option is available if the app is not installed yet or has been uninstalled.
  • Configuration : opens the configuration menu. This option is available for apps that use their own configuration menu (e.g. the PayPal app).
  • Upload extension (7): Here you can manually add an extension to the store. For example, you can download the zip file you need in the extension manager of your Shopware account.

Theme

The Themes section gives you an overview of all the themes added to your store.

Temi

The section is divided into several columns

  • Theme overview (1): Here you can see an overview of all themes and the most important information on each theme.
  • Hide Inactive Extensions (2): Use this button to hide all currently not activated themes to get a better overview of active themes.
  • Sorting (3): Here you can specify the criterion by which the overview is to be sorted.
  • Active button (4): With this button you can activate or deactivate the installed themes. Unlike uninstallation, deactivation has the advantage of not losing the settings made in the theme. Themes that are active here are not automatically assigned to a sales channel. The assignment takes place only in the sales channel.
  • Open app (5): this link takes you directly to the theme configuration page. “…”
  • “…” Key (6): Here you can call up the context menu for the respective theme. You can uninstall installed themes here. You can completely remove the themes already uninstalled by the administration here.

Recommendations

The Recommendations section gives you extension recommendations for certain areas of your store.

raccomandazioni

  • select the region and category for which you would like to receive advice. These are then displayed under the categories.
  • Click the Install button to add the app directly to the app overview and install it.

Shopware Account

Here you can connect to your Shopware account to access your purchases.

Installing extensions

If the extension you want isn’t listed in apps or themes yet, you need to add it first. This is possible in two ways.

  1. You can connect to your Shopware account in Account. After logging in, all extensions already obtained for the store domain are available in apps and themes. There you can install the desired extension.
  2. Alternatively, you can load the extensions manually. You can download the necessary zip file in your Shopware account in the shop operator area.

Now that the extension is available in apps or themes, you can install it. To do this, open the context menu by clicking on the “…” button. Click Install in the menu. You can then activate the extension using the button in the Status column.

Configure extensions

Some active extensions have their own menu item in Settings> Extensions , which you can use to open the extension configuration. Information on the function and configuration of the individual extensions can be found in the respective extension documentation.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

In this guide you will find all the instructions that will explain what you need to consider before installing Shopware 6 and will guide you through the installation process.

Before installation

Before installing Shopware, you should pay attention to some requirements. Let’s see together what they are what they are.

You can typically run Shopware on a self-hosted server.

Htaccess adjustments

The htaccess file is a configuration file of your web server. Among other things, it specifies which users have access to the shared files and folders. With an htaccess file you have the option to allow access to your store only to selected users.
During installation you should do without htaccess protection or use the following solution.

AuthType Basic
AuthName "Please login."
AuthUserFile /path/to/.htpasswd

<RequireAny>
    Require expr %{THE_REQUEST} =~ m#.*?\s+\/api.*?#
    Require valid-user
</RequireAny>

System requirements

Before installation, make sure your system meets the system requirements for Shopware 6 .

If you are unsure of any of the requirements, we recommend that you consult the server hoster to make sure these requirements are met.

Routing Setting

Also, I recommend that you change the web server’s routing settings if necessary.
A corresponding Apache-based example is shown below.

Shopware-installazione

Remember to replace _SHOPWARE_DIR and _HOST_NAME_ with your settings.
You will also notice that the document root directory points to the / public folder in the Shopware 6 installation directory.
This is required because the frontend and admin interface are behind it, so you don’t need to refer to the public directory in the URL in the browser to call the frontend or admin interface.

Shopware Download

After making sure that the system requirements for Shopware 6 are met and that your web server’s routing settings are configured correctly, you can download the Shopware 6 installer and unzip it to the desired directory on your system. Also make sure that the unzipped files and directories have write permissions.

Run the installer

After downloading Shopware all you have to do is extract it to the desired directory on your system. Make sure the unzipped files and directories have write access.
To run the installer, simply visit your store URL and you will be greeted by the Shopware 6 installer, which will walk you through the installation step by step.

You can also change the language of the installer. The language can also be changed at any time by using the country abbreviations in the lower right corner of the screen.
By clicking on Next you can continue the installation.

Installazione-pagina-start

 

Check the system requirements

In the second phase of the installation, the system requirements are checked to see if they are met. The arrow buttons list the requirements, the folded menu shows which requirements are not met or which settings can be optimized.

General terms and conditions

In the next step you can read the license under which Shopware is licensed. To continue the installation, you must accept the license terms.

Database configuration

After acceptance of the Shopware license, the login credentials to the Shopware database are entered. You can create an empty database for installation in advance, or the installer can create one for you.

  • To create a new database you need to check the New database box and enter a name for the database.
    If one or more databases already exist, they will be listed in the Database Name field after entering the user and password .
  • Select the database intended for Shopware.

Please note that existing databases must be empty to import the tables needed for Shopware.
If you see advanced settings, you can also specify the database port and (optional) a socket.

database_shopware

 

Database import

In this step the Shopware database is imported. Click Start Installation to start importing the database.

The installation wizard will inform you that the installation is complete. Click Next to proceed with the configuration.

installato-shopware

Configuration

In the last step you specify the basic settings for your shop:

  • The store email address will later be the global email address from which all emails are sent.
  • The default system language specifies which language this installation will use as the default. This affects both the frontend and the admin area.
  • You have the following predefined currencies to choose from: Euros, British Pounds, US Dollars, Polish Zloty, Swiss Francs, Swedish Kroner, Danish Kroner, Norwegian Krone, and Czech Krone. The currency you choose here will be entered by default in the shop with the currency factor 1. You can add multiple currencies directly or add multiple currencies with the corresponding conversion factors later.
  • The area starting from the admin email address field defines the admin user for the Shopware 6 admin interface. Enter your relevant data here. If needed, you can create and manage additional users in the administration interface after installation.

Note that the default language and currency cannot be changed later.

Shopware6-configurazione

Conclusion

The installation is now complete and the installer will automatically redirect you to the admin interface. To log in use the admin user you just created to set up your Shopware 6 store.

Source: Shopware Guide

 

How to choose the most suitable platform for your e-commerce
Reading Time: 3 minutes

When a merchant decides to undertake an E-Commerce business, the first challenge he encounters is to choose a platform.

In fact, there are many possibilities: MagentoPrestaShop, WoocommerceShopware etc, all have their positive and negative sides. But above all, each one has its specificities, which may or may not adapt to your needs.

As with many other products, it is not as easy as searching on Google for “the best e-commerce platform”. There are many factors that should be taken into consideration before making this choice.

For example, you should consider the costs related to opening your online business, costs that are not only related to the price of the platform itself. Any additional functionality you may need will typically be provided by paid apps/extensions or by custom development. And this fact also requires an additional budget.

This is why it becomes essential to make the right considerations. You will find some key elements you should look into before jumping into a new ecosystem below.

Understanding your business and its characteristics

First, we must understand that all E-Commerce platforms provide more or less the same basic functionality. However, the various business models are unique and have specific needs.

This is why the requirements for an E-Commerce platform must cover more than just basic functionality.

So you need to understand what makes your business unique and how you intend to engage your customers.
One way, for example, may be to provide discounts for different goods, according to predefined rules. As a result, customers with a matching set of products in their cart should receive a discount. The discount system should include many factors that play a role in generating the final price.

In some rare cases, maybe only one thing is required in addition to the basic functionality provided by most platforms. In other cases, there are at least a couple of other extra features that are a must for a merchant’s business.

Define the right e-commerce structure

Another example is related to site search. In general, we can outline two main categories of the E-Commerce store structure:

  • The first has as the main idea to “guide” customers through the catalog, use different configurators/wizards to create a correct set of products in the cart.
  • The second is the research-oriented approach. An excellent example of the latter is a market like Amazon.

So, if your store is going to use the second search-oriented model, you’ll need a well-organized search on your website. In this case, well-organized means support synonyms, stopwords, filters, suggestions, etc.

Also, it would be great to have AI-based research.

With these two elements of your business model, you can check the capabilities of the different platforms on the market. The main goal is to find a platform that covers the scenarios mentioned.

Stay one step ahead …

In addition to the functionality we were talking about above, it also makes sense to think about perspective. Most likely, if you are aware enough, you will not put everything in the very first version of your store.

This means that in choosing the platform, you will have to take one that is scalable. In this case, it makes sense to check the capabilities of the different platforms, considering the features planned for the future.

At some point in time, you will face the situation where no platform covers your particular business needs. So, you need a third party solution or developer team that will bring the missing features.

Therefore, you must take this aspect into consideration. If you see that you may need a lot of custom development in the future, it is good to check the price attached to this type of business for the different platforms available.

Consider the size of your catalog

Another thing you should consider is the size of your catalog and visitor base. If you have a million SKUs and more, it may not be easy for some platforms to manage this amount of data.

Or, if your business model will use flash sales with hundreds of orders per minute, it could be overkill for most platforms as well.

In this case, you must therefore consider the characteristics of the various platforms, whether or not they can support a large number of products, but not only.

In fact, you must also define a hosting and its characteristics, especially if you have a lot of products and a lot of traffic. The choice of hosting also leads you to additional costs to consider.

If you are interested in a quotation, contact us and we will find the right hosting for your needs!

Choose the right solution for you

To sum up, when choosing an E-Commerce platform, you must first think about the following factors:

  • Functionality that the platform provides outside the box.
  • Features that can be easily added to basic functionality.
  • How many “unique” business cases do you have and how expensive it will be to reflect them in the e-commerce store now and in the future.
  • The size of your catalog now and in the near future.
  • Number of customers you expect now and in the future.
  • What is the ROI in terms of maintaining and improving your store.

There are many other factors to consider, but in this guide we have described the most common ones, then it is up to you to decide according to your needs.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Shopware is a German, open source E-Commerce platform that, especially in this last period, is gaining more and more market shares in Europe.

But why is Shopware so popular for E-Commerce?

What is Shopware?

First, let’s discover this platform in detail.

Shopware, as I told you, is a German open source platform founded in 2000 and which currently boasts more than 80,000 satisfied customers.

The interesting thing about Shopware is that the software is developed by the very people who use it. For this reason, the software has therefore been designed precisely on the needs of those who use it, both in terms of design and technology.

With the release of Shopware 5.5, the German platform wants to offer merchants the possibility of having an optimal user experience that can satisfy even the customer who visits the site in terms of design in front of competitors.

Shopware is available in the following editions:

  • Community edition
  • Professional edition
  • Professional Plus Edition
  • Enterprise Edition

Now let’s see what are the advantages and disadvantages of this Ecommerce platform, to understand if it is actually valid or not.

What are the advantages of Shopware?

The great success of Shopware is linked to the numerous advantages offered by the platform. Shopware comes standard with some specific features, which we are going to see in detail now.

Content Management (CMS)

The Shopware CMS is called “Shopping Worlds” and with this, you can create content / pages in a very simple way, without having knowledge or technical support.

In fact, the backend is very intuitive and allows you to respond to all the emotional aspects of shopping.

Drag & Drop design

This Drag & Drop feature is very interesting because it allows you to easily set up and manage complex components such as products, banners, content and product blocks and much more.

Scalable

With built-in tools, it’s easy for developers to increase performance and scalability.

In this way you will be able to easily customize your store and make it perfectly tailored to your needs.

Extensive marketing features

However, we can create a perfect, functional E-Commerce, but if we don’t convince the public to buy, we will never be successful.

For this reason it is important to have effective marketing tools. There are many additional marketing features in Shopware.

For example, there is an option to segment customers based on their interests or the shopping behavior shown above.

You can also create beautiful banners which you can provide with buttons and text for the call to action.

Another nice marketing tool is the loyalty program. Thanks to this, customers can accumulate points with each purchase and take advantage of special rewards or discounts. This is definitely an element that builds customer loyalty and brings them back to buy in your store.

Shopware is also multi-store

We already know Magento, which with its great potential also offers the possibility of having more shops “under one roof”. The same thing is offered by Shopware.

The management of the product and the catalog is very simple.

The fact that you can create so-called product flows is also a nice feature. Product flows respond to the visitor’s shopping behavior and provide a personalized experience.

You can create product groups by filtering by brand, price, manufacturer and reviews. When visitors select the right filters, they can see a customized product flow.

SEO optimization

Shopware is SEO optimized and offers a whole host of possibilities to make your site SEO friendly. For example, it allows you to create SEO-friendly URLs, adapt meta titles and descriptions, use Rich Snippet, has a built-in sitemap, and you can easily work with redirects and canonicals.

What are the disadvantages of Shopware?

So far we’ve seen the benefits of Shopware, but each platform has both pros and cons. So let’s see now the disadvantages.

Long development times

The development of a Shopware store takes much longer than, for example, a WooCommerce store. This is because Shopware is much more extensive and therefore involves greater complexity in the configuration phase.

Limitations for the international market

For such an important player and in the current moment in which more and more online stores are going international, it is surprising that Shopware still does not have everything in order. In fact, this platform does not yet have ready-made settings for these rules and indeed you have to configure them yourself.

The main competitor Magento, for example, did a lot better in this regard.

High server requirements

Thanks to Shopware’s flexibility and high performance, you will need more than just a hosting plan. Shopware requires serious server power, and you need to keep in mind that this is an investment too.

Limited offer of plugins / extensions

Although Shopware offers enough ready-to-use features, Magento has multiple plugins available. This therefore has a very strong impact on what can be the customizations and functionalities of an E-Commerce, created with this platform.

As always, also in this case, the competitor Magento, offers instead a rather wide choice in this sense. Even if this can affect development costs.

How much does Shopware cost?

Shopware is free to download. The license costs depend on the chosen edition.

  • Community Edition – Free
  • Professional – € 1,295.00
  • Professional Plus – € 5,995.00
  • Enterprise – On request

In addition to these fixed costs, you also have to contend with Shopware hosting costs, but also, for example, the costs of additional plugins.

But also keep in mind the following:

The costs of developing a good Shopware online store. This is undoubtedly the largest cost item.

So as you see, this is a platform that has advantages and disadvantages. You will therefore have to understand if its characteristics are close to your business idea or not.

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