Category: Sale

Magento 2 Shopping Assistant (Part 3): Create An Order

In the last blogs, we’ve provided you the instructions to create and update a customer account through the Magento 2 backend. In this blog, we’ll continue with the tool to help you create an order for your registered customers.

create-new-order

To help your customer create a new order via Magento 2 backend, do the followings:

  1. Log in with your admin account. Choose Customers on the admin sidebar.
  2. Next, select All customers.
  3. All your customers’ brief information are listed in the grid. Click the Edit link in the Action column that match the customer’s name. You can use the Filters or the Search box to find your customer if necessary.
  4. In the header of the working space, click Create Order.
  5. A summary of your customer acivities are shown on the left panel. If the intended item(s) is available in the wishlists or other fields in the left panel, you just need to mark the checkbox under the arrow icon.
  6. If there is no record for the product that your customer order, move your mouse to the upper-right corner and click the Add Products button.add-product-from-wishlist
  7. A list of available products in your Magento 2 store is displayed in a grid including basic information such as ID, Name, Price, and so on. Mark the checkbox in the Select column of the product that your customer want to buy. Enter a  value to the Quantity column of the item(s) to be purchased. It would be more quickly if you use the Filters or the Search box to find the intended item(s).select-from-catalog
  8. In case you choose a product with custom options, a new sub-tab will be opened for you to select the features and quantity that fit your customer’s requirement. When finish choosing, tap OK to continue.
  9. After selecting all the required products, click Add Selected Product(s) to Order. A summary of the purchase is then displayed for your review. You can change the quantity, custom options and even the price of selected items right on this summary table. Click Update Items and Quantities to save the changes.
  10. Complete other information if necessary.
  • Apply Coupon Codes
  • Address
  • Payment Method
  • Shipping Method
  1. When complete, tap Submit Order. A mail including the order details is then sent to the customer for his/her confirmation.

Now let’s log in your admin account and practice yourself with the interesting Magento 2 Assistance tools.

Magento 2 Shopping Assistance (Part 1): Create New Customer Account

Customers on your Magento 2 store sometimes may need help with their purchase process. For instance, some customers like to shop online, but then they prefer placing the order by phone. In that case, you can offer immediate assistance by using Magento 2 Shopping Assistance tools in the backend. The service is available for both guests (customers that haven’t signed up for an account yet) and registered buyers. With the Magento Shopping Assistance tools, you can help your customers with the following tasks:

  • Create a customer account
  • Update a customer account
  • Create an order
  • Update an order

In this article, we will provide instructions to create a new customer account through the Magento 2 backend. There are 7 steps you need to follow to do the work:

  1. First of all, sign in with your admin account. On the Admin sidebar, click Customers. Then choose All Customers.
  2. Next, tap the Add New Customer button on the upper-right corner.
  3. In the Account Information section, you need to fill all the required fields:

Customer-Account-Information

    • Associate to Website: Choose a specific store view to link the customer to.
  • Customer Group: Put your customer to one of the three customer groups that are available in the dropdown box: General, Retailer, or Wholesale.
  • Disable Automatic Group Change Based on VAT ID: mark the checkbox if you don’t want the VAT ID Validation process to run automatically.
  • Next, type your customer name on the First Name and Last Name fields.
  • Email: Fill in with your customer’s email.
  • After completing all the required fields, complete the optional fields as needed:
    • Middle Name/Initial
    • Prefix
    • Suffix
    • Date Of Birth
    • Tax/VAT Number
    • Gender
    • Send Welcome Email From
  1. Next, come to the Addresses section. Click Add New Address to create a new address for your customer.

Address-information

5. There are two types of address in the left box: Default Billing Address and Default Shipping Address. Set the check-boxes to your preferences to define the type of the new address.

6. Fill in the First Name and Last Name fields. If the name fields are left blank, the customer’s name will be automatically used for the address.

7. Next, complete others fields as needed.

  • Company
  • Street Address
  • City
  • Country
  • State/Province
  • Zip/Postal Code
  • Phone number
  • VAT Number
  • Fax

8. When complete, click Save Customer to save all the changes.

Those are 7 steps that you can use to help your customers to create a new account through Magento backend. Follow our next bogs to receive more information about other Magento 2 Shopping Assistance tools.

How to Configure Persistent Cart in Magento 2

In the last blogs, we’ve provided you a general view of Persistent Cart and the way it works in stores using Magento 2 platform. Accordingly, this article will give you information about how to configure persistent cart through the backend. During the setup process, admins can choose to activate the persistent cart or not, set up the time due for the sessions and other options for the Persistent Cart.

To set up for the Persistent Cart in Magento 2, do the following:

  1. Sign in with your admin account. On the Admin Sidebar, click Stores.
  2. Next, select Configuration under Settings.
  3. On the left panel, expand the row named Customers. Choose Persistent Shopping Cart after that.
  4. If the Enable Persistence box is set to “No”, there will be only one section on the working space. In that case, you need to change the box to “Yes” to enable persistent cart and go on further setting options. If the Enable Persistence box is set to “Yes” already, just do the next step as below.

a. Persistence Lifetime (seconds): The lifetime of the persistent cookie. You can enter any number that fit your preference (remember that the unit is “second”). The maximum time allowed for the cookie is 31,536,000 seconds which is equal to one year. This number is also set as the default number of the field.

b. Enable “Remember Me”: There are two options here:

  • Yes: Allow the “Remember me” checkbox to be available on the log-in page so that your customers’ information is saved for the next visit.
  • No: The “Remember me” checkbox is not displayed on the log-in page. Customers have to fill in their information every time they shopping in your store.

c. Remember Me Default Value: Set this to “Yes” to preselect the “Remember me” checkbox.

d. Clear Persistence on Log Out: This box gives options to end/ or continue the persistence on customers’ shopping cart when they log out.

  • If it is set to “Yes”, persistent settings for all entities will be cleared once a registered customer logs out. The entities are: Shopping Cart, Wish List, Recently Ordered Items, Currently Compared Products, Comparison History, Recently Viewed Products, and Customer Group association.
  • In contrast, all the mentioned entities will be retained if the box is set to “No”.

e. Persist Shopping Cart: You can choose one of the following:

  • “Yes”: When a customer logs out, the session cookie expires but , the persistent cookie is still in use. When that customer logs in, the shopping cart is restored.
  • “No”: Not-registered customers’ shopping cart is not preserved after the session cookie expires.

Persistent Cart

  1. When finishing all the settings, tap Save Config to save the changes.

Those are 5 steps to Configure Persistent Cart in Magento 2 you should know to manage your online store. Now, let’s try the configuration and see what it can do for your customers.

How Persistent Cart Works in Magento 2

In Magento 2, the Persistent Shopping Cart does not necessarily follow a solid workflow. In other words, it depends on the value in the backend settings. For each value set to the “Enable Remember Me” and the “Clear Persistence on Logout” fields, the Persistent Cart works in a different way. It also depends on the admin’s decision to select or clear the “Remember Me” checkbox.

When a persistent cookie is activated, a “Not%[the last user’s name]%?” link (Not %John Smith%? for example) will appear in the top of the current page. The function of that link is to give customers options to close the persistent session and start working as a guest or to log in with another account. In addition, the persistent cookie has impact on the workflow of persistent shopping cart. Because it helps to maintain settings for the Shopping Cart, Wish List, Recently Ordered Items, Currently Compared Products, Comparison History, Recently Viewed Products, and Customer Group associations.

The system can also keep tracks of the shopping cart contents, no matter which devices your customers use to shop. For instance, at first, a shopper uses a laptop to add items to her cart. She then can edit the cart contents from a mobile device, and complete the checkout process from a tablet or a desktop computer.

Your store can create and maintain an independent persistent cookie for each browser that is used by a customer to log in or create an account once the persistent shopping cart is applied. Thanks to the persistent cookie, any changes made will be updated to browsers even if the customer use more than one browser for one time shopping on your store.

There are four common effects on the persistent shopping cart workflow, which depends on the settings below:

Situation 1: Enable Remember Me = “No”

Clear Persistence on Log Out = any value

Effects: The Remember Me checkbox is not available when customers on the login and registration pages. The persistent cookie is not applied.

Situation 2: Enable Remember Me = “Yes”

Clear Persistence on Log Out = any value

Remember Me = (not being selected)

Effects: The session cookie is applied as usual; the persistent cookie is not used.

Situation 3: Enable Remember Me = “Yes”

Clear Persistence on Log Out = “Yes”

Remember Me = “Yes”

Effects: Both session and persistent cookies are enabled when customers log in. These two cookies are also terminated when buyers finish shopping and log out. If a customer does not log in, but the session cookie become invalid, the persistent cookie still keep working. If a customer does not log out, the persistent cookie can also be deleted if its lifetime is out of due or if the customer clicks the Not %John Smith% link.

Situation 4: Enable Remember Me = “Yes”

Clear Persistence on Log Out = “No”

Remember Me = “Yes”

Effects: Both cookies are used when customers log in. When shoppers log out, only session cookie is closed. Persistent cookie is deleted only when its lifetime runs out or when the buyer click the Not %John Smith% link.

Clearly understand how Persistent Shopping Cart works with different values set to it will help you a lot in managing your online store. Therefore, come back to the beginning and read again this article if you still confuse about Persistent Shopping Cart workflow. If not, keep follow us to receive more instructions about Persistent Shopping Cart in Magento 2.