Beginners Guide – How to Setup Magento Store (Installation & Configuration)

Magento is one of the most popular platforms of eCommerce. Big businesses love it because it is powerful and they have also got the deep pockets to pay the yearly fees for Premium Enterprise subscription. Magento is perfect for the global brands who have got the best budget for Magento Enterprise and also to hire Magento developers to put together the eCommerce store that totally fit their needs.

Leading and famous brands use Magento to power their online needs. Magento Go is the Magento’s way of catering to the small business market. With the Magento Go, you get the ability to access the Magento Connect App store without paying the expenses.

Let’s start from the beginning.

Sign up on Magento Go

• Check out the Magento: Head over to the website of Magento and look around. There are so many things to consider like the success stories, company details, and in-depth tutorials. Much of them is written for the developers. It’s a good idea to check the Magento Showcase, where you can check the websites of favorite brands that use Magento. Going through these sites will give you a feel of what’s possible using the robust platform.
• Head over to Magento: If you like what you see, then you are ready to sign up to Magento Go. On the website, click GO on the top menu bar. This will take you to the Magento Go homepage. The Magento gives you a thirty day free trial period. You don’t need to provide your credit card details to take advantage of the free trial. During this time, you’ll have a fully functioning store.
• Give the name to your store: Do not stress in finding a perfect name as you can also change it later. Enter your e-mail address, and then click Let’s Go.
• Fill your business details: You’ll be asked about all your details that include name, username, password, location, and telephone number. You’ll also be having the option to enter your industry and experience. Fill out the form and click create my store. When you click this, you are accepting its terms of service. You can easily read them by scrolling down the Magento homepage and click Terms of service.
• Wait for e-mail: It will take Magento couple of minutes to set up the store. They’ll send you an email that says “Take a look at your store by clicking the URL link”.
• Head over to the admin: The e-mail includes a link to the store admin page. This will take you to the warehouse dashboard.

Choose the design of your store

• Head the design interface: In your store, place your mouse over the map menu that is the third item in the list. In the submenu, click select & customize your design. This will open a small window explaining that how the Magento themes work. Click on continue, and go to the Theme Editor.
• Browse the themes: There are over thirty to forty items to choose. Browse them and find the one that you like. Select the Preview button to take a close look.
• Choose the theme: When you have found your item, click customize. You’ll be asked to give a name to your theme. You can also add the item description and the thumbnail. Click save.
• Save & Apply: To fully install the theme, click Save & Apply in the top menu. Visit your store to see your item.
• Add your logo: Return to the Magento store. In the design menu, set your store logo. You’ll be taken there where you can upload your logo. Choose your logo image and then submit.

Add products

• Open the page of the products: Return to the wizard. Under the menu of the products, create new products. Read it if you like, and then continue.
• Choose the type: You’ll be asked for the set, and whether you want to use complex product types. Leave the set as default. The complex product type lets you choose the virtual products, gift cards, and grouped products. Click continue.
• Complete the details of the product: These include the product name, description, delivery details, and weight. For the story you can turn on the What you see is what you get an editor. It will enable the word processing options. When done with this, click save and continue edit.
• Add images and price: Click price on the left-hand menu to add the price. Complete the required fields, then click save and continue edit. To add images, click pictures in the left menu. Select browse files to insert the image. Upload files. Click save and continue editing.
• Add the meta information: Click meta information on the left-hand menu. Choose the title and the description that will show up in search engines, also add keywords. Click save.

Payments and Shipping

Before launching, you need to set up payment & shipping options. Do this in the wizard which you access by clicking the Start my store button in the top left.

Launch your store

You have created a store now you are ready to go live. Go to the wizard, and in the Get Going menu, select Launch your store. In the dialog box, click Go.

Now you are ready with your Magento store.

How to configure Magento storefronts?

Once you have created your store, you can choose from two different methods:

• Separate the directories for each store using secondary domains that work for all the versions of Magento.
• Share the list for all stores using pointer fields that work for the higher versions.

A Magento storefront is a customer facing view of Magento e-Commerce website. The site consists of many storefronts. They manage products, categories, and functionality.

Creating a storefront

The first step in setting up the multi-store functionality is to build the new store in the Magento application. Follow these steps to create the store:

• Log in to the Magento panel.
• In the top menu, go to Catalog and manage the categories.
• Click Add root class.
• In the field of the name, enter the name of your store.
• Under ‘is active,’ select yes.
• Under the display settings is an anchor, select yes, and select save category.
• Go to the system and manage stores.
• Click on create a website.
• In the field of the name, enter your new store name.
• In the area of the code, enter the string that is unique without spaces and click save website. Write the code anywhere so that you may use it later.
• Click on create a store.
• In the field of the website, select the website you just created.
• In the area of the name, type a name of your store.
• In the root category, select the category that you created above or use the default group, Click save.
• Click create, store view.
• In the field of the warehouse, select the store that you just created. In the name field, give your name a view.
• In the code field, enter a string. Change the status to enabled. Click Save.
• Go to System » Configuration.
• In the current configuration drop-down list, and select the website that you just created.
• Choose the option of web menu, and click to expand secure and unsecured options, respectively.
• For each section, specific use default, the checkbox next to the base URL and also type the URL for your store. Click save the configuration.
• You have set up a Magento store successfully.

Using the directories for store using secondary domains

• Verify your domain name to the server.
• Follow the steps in how to create a secondary area to create one for your new store.
• Using either FTP or SSH, copy access and index PHP files from the Magento installation to the document root of the new domain.
• Open the index file that you just copied and edit the last line as follows: Change new store to the code that you just wrote down when you created the new website above.
• Finally using SSH, create the symbolic links in the document root of the new domain, and replace the path to the root of Magento installation.

Using the directories for stores using pointer domains

• Ensure that the desired domain name is pointed to the server.
• Follow the instructions provided to create a server pointer field for the new store. The tip domain will be pointed at the Magento installation.
• Edit the access file in the document root of the Magento installation and enter.
• Replace the new store with the domain name keeping the dots and the stars.
• Ensure that the code matches the code that you wrote down when you created the new website. New store specifies the domain name of the new warehouse, and the site code specifies the code that is stored in Magento.
• You have successfully set up the pointers area to work with the Magento. You may now load your new domain in the browser and begin developing the new store.