Coupons In VirtueMart

Transcription

1 Coupons In VirtueMart A Coupon is a type of sales promotion tool, mainly used in the consumer market and is primarily offered either in print or electronic form. It provides price savings or other incentives when presented at the time of purchase. In electronic form Coupon codes are provided as the coupon. Coupon codes are simply a reference code such as 4FF678 or VALDAY08 that is entered into a coupon text box on a merchant s website to receive a special offer, discount, free shipping or other consideration. This tutorial, explains how exactly coupons are implemented in VirtueMart. To set up coupons in VirtueMart, login to Joomla as administrator, by simply entering the url_of_your_website/administrator in your Browser. Enter the appropriate username and password {which was provided while installing Joomla} and then click on Login as shown in Diagram 1. Diagram 1 After logging in as Joomla Admin, a Control Panel page opens as shown in Diagram 2. The Control Panel provides access to different Joomla functions and features. Diagram 2 1

2 In the top menu, locate the link Components. Click on Components, from the drop down menu that appears click on VirtueMart as shown in Diagram 3. Diagram 3 The VirtueMart Control Panel is displayed as shown in Diagram 4. Diagram 4 Click on the Coupon menu under Administration panel located on the left hand side of VirtueMart Control Panel. When you click on Coupon menu, it expands and displays other related options as shown in Diagram 5. 2

3 Diagram 5 In order to view or edit a coupon, click on its link in the Coupon List as shown in Diagram 6. The VirtueMart, Coupon List page displays links to all the Coupons created by the sample data installed while installing VirtueMart and any coupons that the VirtueMart Admin may have created. Diagram 6 To create a new coupon click on the link New Coupon option under Coupon menu as shown in Diagram 7. 3

4 Diagram 7 While creating a new coupon provide a unique coupon code in the Coupon Code Field. This coupon code will be used by customers to avail of its benefit while making any purchase. After providing a coupon code, select the type of discount: Percent or Total. For a new sign-up coupon, a fixed discount amount will be fine. For regular or priority customers it is good to give a percent discount. Then, select the Coupon Type. There are two coupon types available with VirtueMart, Gift coupon and Permanent coupon, which is selectable via the drop down list box, named Coupon Type, in the New Coupon, data entry screen. A Gift Coupon code can be passed to single registered customer of the web site. Whenever the customer visits your site to shop for a product or service they are free to use this coupon code to obtain a discount on the price of the product or service. Once it is redeemed by the customer, it cannot be used again. On the other hand, Permanent Coupon remains forever, and customers can use this discount again and again. 4

5 Creating Gift Coupons: Enter a unique coupon code in the Coupon Code Field. This coupon code will be used by customers to avail of its benefit while making any purchase. Select the radio button of Percent from the field Percent or Total. After selecting the type of discount select Gift Coupon from the drop down list from Coupon Type field. Enter the percentage discount value for this coupon in the field Value, in this case it is 20 percent. Now you're done. Just click on Save/Apply, to make sure the changes are stored as shown in Diagram 8. Diagram 8 The new coupon would be successfully added to the coupon list as shown in Diagram 9. You ve just created a Gift Coupon for 20 percent, for one time use by any one. The coupon code must be delivered to a single customer for its use. Most often this is done by delivering this coupon code to a customer via . Do remember, that a Gift coupon can only be used once. Once a customer logs into VirtueMart and keys in the Gift coupon code for any purchase transaction, VirtueMart immediately deletes the gift coupon code internally thus ensuring that the same coupon code cannot be used a second time. Diagram 9 Gift coupon codes, like any other coupon code are entered into the VirtueMart, Shopping cart appropriately. 5

6 Creating Permanent Coupons: Create a new coupon by accessing the VirtueMart, Admin tool bar on the left hand side of the page as shown in Diagram 10. Click Coupon -> New Coupon to create a new coupon. This process is common for creating any kind of coupon whether they are Gift or Permanent coupons. Enter a unique coupon code in the Coupon Code Field. This coupon code will be used by customers to avail of its benefit while making any purchase. Select the radio button of Total from the field Percent or Total. After selecting the type of discount select Permanent Coupon from the drop down list from Coupon Type field. To create a Permanent coupon, simply select the Coupon type as a Permanent Coupon from Coupon Type field. Enter the Total discount value for this coupon in the field Value; in this case it is 20 USD. Now you're done. Just click on Save/Apply, to make sure the changes are stored as shown in Diagram 10. NOTE: After being used in any transaction in VirtueMart a permanent coupon will not be removed from the Coupon List. Permanent coupons, as the name suggests, can be reused again and again. Diagram 10 The new coupon would be successfully added to the coupon list as shown in Diagram 11. You ve just created a Permanent Coupon for a total amount of 20USD, for multiple time use by everyone. The coupon code must be delivered to the customer for its use. Most often this is done by delivering this coupon code to a customer via . Do remember, that a Permanent coupon can be used multiple times. Once a customer logs into VirtueMart and keys in the Permanent coupon code for any purchase transaction, VirtueMart do not delete the Permanent coupon code internally thus ensuring that the same coupon code can be used a second time. 6

7 Diagram 11 To try this out, in the frontend of the website, Click on the Shopping Cart link in the Main Menu as shown in Diagram 12. Diagram 12 Various products, segregated by categories, are displayed along with images where available, with a brief description and price. Click on any product link under head Categories as shown in Diagram 13. Diagram 13 The details of the product(s) related to that category will be displayed. Click on a specific Product details link as shown in Diagram 14. 7

8 Diagram 14 The page rendered in your Browser will display all the details for that particular product, such as its description, specifications, shipping details, reviews and more. Select the Size, Material and Quantity according to your requirements from the option provided in the small box as shown in Diagram 15. Add the product into your cart by clicking on Add to Cart button as shown in Diagram 15. Diagram 15 As soon as you click on Add to Cart, a pop up box appears showing that the product has been added to your cart. In order to continue shopping, click on Continue button in the pop box. Else Click on Cart button to proceed to checkout as shown in Diagram 16. 8

9 Diagram 16 For now click the Cart button which will display a summary of product(s) (or Service(s) purchased with their respective price, quantity and the total payable amount so far. It s in this page that a customer can use their coupon code as shown in Diagram 17. Using Gift Coupon Code: Enter the gift coupon code in the textbox and click on Submit as shown in Diagram 17. NOTE: After submitting a coupon code, a customer cannot continue with shopping in VirtueMart but must go on and complete the purchase transaction. Diagram 17 The discount will automatically get deducted from the gross total payable and the current payable amount will be displayed in the shopping cart as shown in Diagram 18. 9

10 In this case, Coupon Discount $ is 20% of total value $ Hence, net payable will be $ for the purchase made. Diagram 18 NOTE: When the customer completes the Checkout process the coupon cannot be used again. The whole Checkout process has been explained in Lesson 9- Connecting VirtueMart to PayPal. Once the Gift Coupon has been used it will automatically get removed from the Coupon List as shown in Diagram 19. Using Permanent Coupon Code: Diagram 19 Enter the permanent coupon code in the textbox and click on Submit as shown in Diagram 20. NOTE: After submitting a coupon code, a customer cannot continue with shopping in VirtueMart but must go on and complete the purchase transaction. 10

11 Diagram 20 The discount will automatically get deducted from the gross total payable and the current payable amount will be displayed in the shopping cart as shown in Diagram 21. In this case Coupon Discount is 20 USD of total value $ Hence, net payable will be $ for the purchase made. Diagram 21 NOTE: When the customer completes the Checkout process the coupon can be used again. The whole Checkout process has been explained in Lesson 9- Connecting VirtueMart to PayPal. Once the Permanent Coupon has been used it will not get removed from the Coupon List as shown in Diagram

12 Diagram 22 This is how, Gift and Permanent Coupon work in VirtueMart. 12