Strategic Alternatives for Virtual Stores

The building of virtual stores and the performing of related ecommerce activities are governed by complex mechanisms that generates strict development and implementation rules for certain platforms or applications.

A virtual store can be built from the ground, by using a stand-alone e-commerce application or by installing third-party modules or components in a given server side application. In most of the cases, considering the alternatives for website re-design and for content migration, the integration of e-commerce capabilities into a content management system will be a good choice for any webmaster.

There are many content management systems that provides support for inclusion of components which will implement the necessary features to deploy a virtual store or to conduct other types of e-commerce activities. Drupal CMS could be one of the proper choices due to its advanced search engine, friendly structure and functionality, increased security and content general publishing options and presentation. The complexity of e-commerce systems that could be integrated with Drupal platform ranges from simple shopping carts to full featured e-commerce suites.

Among the e-commerce modules created for Drupal, the most popular are Ubercart and E-Commerce modules (packages) due to their multiple features, tight integration within Drupal structure, respectively flexibility in usage and implementation. Both of these two modules provide shopping cart systems, multiple payment methods, the possibility of customization of products appearance (by modifying the default theme), intuitive administration panel and more.

The modules installation does not require complex procedures: it takes place like in the case of any other regular Drupal
modules installation, mentioning that Ubercart and E-Commerce require the presence of others Drupal modules. For example the E-commerce package requires Token module to be installed first.

You cannot install in the same time both Ubercart and E-commerce packages because this procedure will determine the generation of errors in general Drupal functionality. For example, if you have installed E-commerce and you want to change it with Ubercart, it is also recommended to clear the cache after uninstalling it, in order to avoid errors. By testing both of these modules, you can select the one that provides all necessary functionalities for your virtual store.




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