bShop – Multivendor eCommerce Shopping Platform

Introduction to bShop - Multivendor eCommerce Shopping Platform

Congratulations on choosing bShop as your multivendor e-commerce shopping platform! In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the basics of setting up and customizing your bShop installation. Whether you're looking to create a new store or migrate from an existing platform, this tutorial will get you started with confidence. By the end of this tutorial, you'll know how to set up users, products, and suppliers, as well as manage payments, orders, and settings.

Getting Started

Before we dive into the tutorial, make sure you have the following:

• A bShop installation setup on your server or in a local environment (We recommend using a PHP environment with MySQL database)
• A basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and PHP
• A web browser and its developer tools (optional, but recommended for debugging and testing)

Step 1: Setting up Basic Configuration

1. Start by accessing your bShop installation's admin dashboard: http://your_store_url/admin
2. Log in with the provided admin credentials (username, password, and email). If you haven't changed them, you can modify them in the includes/config.php file or through the admin dashboard Settings > Users > Admin.

3. Click on Settings > Website and fill in basic information about your store:

   • Store Title: Your store's title (e.g., bShop Demo Store)
   • Store Description: A brief description of your store
   • Store URL: The website URL where your store can be accessed
   • Currency: The base currency for your store transactions
   • Zone: The time zone applicable to your store

Press Save to record your changes.

Step 2: Setting up Users and Roles

Next, let's create your first user and define a role for them. Later, you can add new users and assign roles depending on their responsibilities.

Creating a User

1. Click on Users > Create user and fill in user details:

   • Username: A unique ID for the user
   • Email: An email address for the user
   • Pass: A password for the user (or let you generate a random one automatically)
   • Confirmation: Re-enter the chosen password for confirmation
2. Click Create User to create the account.

Assigning User Roles

1. Roles determine the user's administrative privileges. Click on Roles > Configure roles to manage these settings.
2. Find the Default User role and click on Edit. You can rename and modify the role's descriptions.
3. To enable a role, checkmark the box next to Role Name. You can change the role's settings independently.

Step 3: Setting up Products, Categories, and Suppliers

Now, let's build your store's foundation! We'll create a default product, category, and supplier.

Creating a Supplier

1. Click Suppliers > Create supplier and input supplier details:

   • Supplier Name: Choose a name for your store (e.g., Jane Doe)
   • Supplier Email: Enter email address for the supplier's contact
   • Supplier Phone: Provide any additional contact information
2. Click Create supplier to save the entity.

Creating a Default Product

1. Now, let's create the first product. Click on Products > Create product:

   • Product Name: Enter a name for this product (e.g., "Test Product")
   • Product Description: Briefly describe the test product
   • Product Price: Set this product's price
   • Product Quantity: Set the quantity value for this product
   • Click Create product to save the new inventory item.

Creating the Default Category

1. Click on Categories > Create category, and fill in category attributes:

   • Parent Category: Choose a blank category (or the built-in "Root" category)
   • Category name: Enter a name (e.g., "Category 1")
   • Category description: This is optional, but write a brief description if requested
2. Click on Create category. This will create the basis for your store's item hierarchy.

Step 4: Setting up Modules and Extensions

Now let's explore the modules: these are the components adding functionality to your store beyond the core features. Click the Modules tab

Enabling and Adding Modules

1. Filter the list by category types (e.g., General, Payment, Shipping):

   • General: A set of modules to further customize your store's operations
   • Payment: Modules for managing money transactions
   • Shipping: Modules for parcel delivery and handling

Filter the list by categories on the left side to reach the desired module. Example: Payment > Installments (or one of the other payment methods such as PayPal, etc..)

1. To enable a module, it is necessary to activate/ install it by running the installation script within any PHP environment. Click at the top of the desired module and then "activate" the module to download the module files. We will cover more modules/ extensions in the following sub-steps.

To be continued...

There are many more modules we can explore, including content management, payment processing modules, shipping integrations etc.