Is it possible to replace the 'Add to cart' with 'ask for an estimate' button in Magento? - magento

I'm trying to build an ecommerce website based on Magento but having a regular shop behaviour, instead of showing product prices, i want visitors to ask for an estimate for a single or several products (by adding them to a cart and then asking for a global estimate).
As a store manager, I should get these estimate requests by email along with customer information (name, email, phone, company, address .. )
Is this achievable with Magento?
If not, which cms/platform would be best suitable for such a project?

Not without some customization. You could put all your products in with a price of $0 and then change your theme so all the buttons say "request a quote" and the price isn't displayed anywhere. Then the checkout page might not ask for credit card info, but I'm not certain about that. If it did you would have to remove that part of the checkout module. Once a user finished checking out you would get an email with all their information. I don't think this is the best way to go about getting what you want though.
I don't know if other ecommerce platforms have what you are looking for. I'm not very familiar with them beyond Magento. But you could certainly use something like drupal or wordpress to build a site and have a request a quote form on it. This would only be managable with a small number of products though.

there is many extension available for this type features.link 1
link 2

Thank you guys,
This extension : link does precisely what i was looking for.

Related

Different checkout pages based on product category in Magento

I am new to Magento .So please forgive me if I am asking something silly.
I am working on a Magento shop where I have a requirement that when I select some product in certain category say X, then I am redirected to one page checkout where I have default shipping method and do not want any payment method. i.e. Skip shipping and payment method step in chekout.
Whereas if I click some other categories then I get redirected to onepage checkout with shipping and payment option.
So basically what I need in form of code is -
if(category==X)
then Checkout without Shipping and payment method
else
Checkout with Shipping and Payment options.
As far as I have explored the magento structure , it is far too complex then other CMS. I am not able to even find files where i have to make changes in code. Anybody out there who can guide me for right approach toward the solution? Or is there any extension which fulfills such requirement?
Thanks in advance.
First, create the new payment method for the category (and shipping method if you need that too).
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/5_-_modules_and_development/payment/create-payment-method-module
http://www.magentocommerce.com/wiki/5_-_modules_and_development/shipping/create-shipping-method-module
Then I would probably extend the controller, though you probably could also use an observer.
Extend magento core controller (Checkout/OnepageController)
Keep in mind that the customer may have products from another category in their cart, and what to do in that case.

Magento Hooks - Will Magento allow me to do this?

I'm going to be starting a E-Commerce project and the client is interested in using Magento. In this project, when a customer adds something to the cart, I'll need to pull them out of the flow, where they'll proceed through a custom wizard-esque area.
They basically design a document using a drag and drop interface. After they finish, that document will be saved as a PDF, and I want them redirected to checkout
So my questions are
Does Magento have hooks available for after an item is added to the
cart ?
If I pull them away to this other section of the site (Wizard
portion), changes they make will potentially add costs to
their cart. Would I still have access to products, prices, and the
cart so that I can continue to modify their cart until they return
to checkout ?
Magento users Event-Observer pattern, where you can hook into virtually any action which is performed and execute your custom code,
Refer to below links,
http://inchoo.net/category/ecommerce/magento/events-observers/
https://gist.github.com/peterjaap/6973324
http://huztechbuzz.wordpress.com/2014/04/26/complete-list-of-all-events-in-magento/
http://www.nicksays.co.uk/magento-events-cheat-sheet-1-7/
So you have to figure out which event you can use and plugin your custom code.
As long as i remember all the cart info ( products/prices ) is stored in the $_SESSION. So you can get all the information from there you need, modify it via your so-called wizzard and udpate the session information after that!
Cheers! :)

Display product name on sendfriend page

I need to pull in the product name and display it at the top of the send to a friend page template.
So, when a user clicks on send to a friend from a product page it (the product name) is at the top of the send to a friend page, above the form itself. Not in the email template (although that is useful - I have seen answers on this elsewhere).
I am very new to Magento and have been asked to do a few modifications and tidy up a few things, but am really a front end dev and have no Magento experience. Any pointers in the right direction would be great help to me.
Also, could anyone recommend a decent Magento Developer book that a Front End Developer with good HTML, CSS & JavaScript (but not so great PHP) would find useful?
Copy the sendfriend template in app/design/frontend/base/default/template/sendfriend/send.phtml
to your theme. Then you can modify it. You shouldn't modify magento core files.
You can print the product name wih echo Mage::registry('product')->getName(); The product is added to the registry in Mage_Sendfriend_ProductController.

Can Magento be used as a CMS to build a product catalog(not a store currently but maybe in the future)

I have to build a website for a mobile store. They want to list their products but don't want to start selling yet. I have done a lot of website with Joomla and Virtuemart.
This time I want to use Magento as they use Lightspeed a POS that offers integration with Magento community edition.
My question is can I simply use Magento as a CMS to only display products and a few static pages like about us etc. I went through stackoverflow and found that some members have recommended some good blog integrations for magento so that part is solved(Thanks :-) ).
I know I can use wordpress as a blog with magento.
I rephrase....Can I use it to simply display products!
If Yes then please let me know if I am doing it for the right reason.
the reason are:
Adding products and product information becomes very easy in a
shopping cart(But in a CMS like Joomla each page has to be literally "designed" or I will have to use CCK editor. It still
becomes difficult for the client to update products IMO)
It comes with built in plugins to show related/featured products
etc. with a click on a button or options in the backend while client
simply puts the appropriate tags(With a CMS have to use a plugin or
module in Joomla that has to be set to show in the particular pages)
Automatic display of images etc is easier in Magento in comparison
to a CMS like Joomla where I will have to use a plugin or a gallery
that is set to show inside an article
The buy/add to cart button can easily be disabled and a "more info"
button can be added that will send an email to the client. They get
the exact product code the customer is asking for(Doing that in
Joomla would require a lot of extra stuff like adding codes or use
an advanced contact form with a tag to be entered for each page)
Last but not the least when client is ready to go online it can
easily be converted
Does Magento have two display? One is simply a catalog and the other a store. I have seen that in some stores online(not necessarily using magento) I am assuming either they created a website with the products pages first and then added a store later.
But in many cases it looks like a part of the Shopping application.(i just can't seem to remember which one they were using now).
If Magento allows that then I think my problem is solved. I simply use the "catalog option" and when the client is ready for the store I simply pull the products using a extension from their POS software.
Thank you for taking the time to read/answer.
Using Magento as a catalog only without selling the items is pretty straightforward. The easiest thing to do is just to use the catalog category lists to list the products and just make sure the "order" button is not visible.
You can do this simply by removing it from the product detail template (and the list/grid template in case they have it).
Or you could (I think) set all products to 'out of stock' this will automatically remove the 'order' button.
If you want to be thorough you should edit the cartControllers's addAction to disable adding products to the cart.
If you are going to combine Magento with Wordpress, Fishpig has developed a plugin with which you can use shortcode within Wordpress blogposts or/and pages to display products.
More info about that can be found here: http://fishpig.co.uk/wordpress-integration/docs/shortcodes.html
System > Configuration > Advanced > Advanced
Disable the modules you don't want to use.
For example, if you wanted to use Magento as catalog only then disable sales module.
Hope this works for you!

Magento: adding product from frontend form

I have magento demo shop and for example i want registered user to be available to post a product from frontend? Can anyone hook me up with some code showing how to make it? Is it even possible in magento?
It's certainly possible. It actually shouldn't be all that difficult. You're going to create a module, programmatically create an order, and link this page from somewhere. You should be able to hack one together with the following resources:
Programmatically Creating Orders - Inchoo
Creating a Custom Module part 1-8
yes dear it is possible, you have to create a module for that and i think you give to link/tab in customer account page in front side.in account page you provide form of add new product.you have also provide all option like in magento back end. but some customization are required

Resources