Settings - E-commerce

You can configure the Xperience E-commerce Solution settings that determine the behavior of your on-line store in the Store configuration, Multistore configuration and Settings applications.

To find out the purpose and the specifics of the mentioned applications and generally the difference between store and multistore configuration, see Choosing site or global e-commerce configuration.

General settings

The general settings are located in:

  • Store configuration -> Store settings -> General
  • Multistore configuration -> Store settings -> General
  • Settings -> E-commerce

Currencies

Main currency

Specifies the currency used for expressing prices. Learn more about currencies in Configuring currencies.

Restrictions: Only users with the Global administrator privilege level can change this setting. The setting is not available in the Settings application.

Products UI

Display tree of product sections

Specifies whether the system displays the tree of product sections in the Products application. If the sections tree is hidden, you can create only stand-alone SKUs. Otherwise, you can create a complete product, i.e. an SKU with its page representation in the sections tree. Learn more about the product tree in Configuring product structure.

Products starting path

Specifies a path within the content tree of pages where the subtree of product sections starts, e.g.: /Products. The system displays this subtree in the administration interface when maintaining or selecting products. Learn more about product structure in Configuring product structure.

Restrictions: The setting has no effect if the section tree is hidden (when the Display tree of product sections field is cleared).

Display products in sections tree

Specifies if the system displays products in the product sections tree. Learn more about product structure in Configuring product structure.

Restrictions: The setting has no effect if the section tree is hidden (when the Display tree of product sections field is cleared).

Allow stand-alone SKUs

Indicates whether the users can create stand-alone SKUs (i.e. SKUs without their page representations). If so, the system displays the stand-alone SKUs node above the product section tree in the administration interface. Learn more about stand-alone SKUs in Managing stand-alone SKUs and Configuring products.

Restrictions: The setting has no effect if the section tree is hidden (when the Display tree of product sections field is cleared).

Products properties

Related products relationship name

Specifies the name of the relationship used when defining related products. If you leave the default option, i.e. (all), the users can select from all relationships existing on the current site while adding related products. This gives them the possibility to use more than one type of relationship among products. Learn more about product relationships in Working with page relationships. Learn more about setting up products in Configuring products.

Products are ‘new’ for

Specifies the number of days for which recently added products are considered as new products in your on-line store. The system counts the days based on the products’ In store from property. Learn more about products in Configuring products.

Public status for ‘new products’

Specifies a product public status that the system automatically assigns to new products. Type the Code name value of the given public status.

Products are marked with the given status based on the Products are ‘new’ for setting and the In store from property of individual products. If you enter a value for this setting, the system automatically assigns this public status to the product status indicator of new products regardless of the product-specific public status configuration. Learn more about products in Configuring products.

Default product image URL

Specifies the default product image URL (virtual path). The system uses this image if no image is specified for a given product. Learn more about the default product image in Configuring products.

It is recommended to enter the default product image.

If you do not enter any default product image URL, products in product listings could be displayed incorrectly.

Keep the advertised price of the products according to their cheapest product variant

If selected and a product’s variant has a lower price than the product itself, the system assigns the variant’s price to the product. Therefore, the lower price is displayed on the product’s detail page on the live site. Learn more about the setting in Configuring products.

Restrictions: The setting does not apply for products under workflow. Changing the setting does not affect already existing products (you need to resave all of the existing products).

Taxes

Default country

Specifies the default country (typically, select your country or the country where you sell the most). The system applies all taxes based on their values as set for the default country, unless the customer specifies a different country (or state) during the checkout process. Learn more about taxes in Configuring taxes.

Apply taxes based on

Specifies whether the system applies taxes based on the shipping address or the billing address. Taxes related to orders with no shipping address specified are calculated based on the billing address regardless of this setting. Learn more about taxes in Configuring taxes.

Prices include tax

Determines how the system handles taxes for the prices of products, product options and variants, shipping costs, etc.

  • If disabled, store managers enter prices without tax. The system calculates and adds the tax to the price total during the checkout process.
  • if enabled, store managers enter prices with tax already included. The system does not change prices when calculating taxes, only shows the tax portion of the price.

In both cases, prices appear in product catalogs on the live site based on the entered price value (with or without taxes).

Notes:

  • Changing the setting value does not automatically recalculate existing product prices and orders.
  • If your instance runs multiple stores (e-commerce sites), the global value of this setting must be the same as the site value for all sites that offer both site and global products. Other scenarios are not supported, for example having a single store display prices with tax for site-specific products and without tax for global products.

Shopping cart

Mark shopping cart as abandoned after (hours)

Specifies after how many hours the system marks customers’ shopping carts as abandoned. This setting is then used by a scheduled task that uses the CMS.Ecommerce.MarkCartAbandoned class, which you can use for a marketing automation process that sends your customers a reminder that they left your website with their shopping cart with products in it. See more information about this process in Walkthrough - Sending an automated reminder of an abandoned shopping cart.

Clear content of old shopping cart after (days)

Specifies after how many days the system selects shopping carts stored in the database to be removed. This setting is then used by a scheduled task that uses the CMS.Ecommerce.ShoppingCartCleaner class, which you can use for automatic removing of shopping carts stored in the database. See more information about this process in Deleting expired shopping carts from the database.

Rounding options

Price rounding

Specifies how the system rounds numbers for price values when calculating taxes or discounts, converting currencies, etc.

The number of decimal places where rounding is applied depends on the configuration of individual currencies.

You can choose between the following types of rounding:

  • Mathematical – standard rounding to the nearest number, with midpoint values rounded up (toward the nearest number that is away from zero).
  • Truncate – all values are rounded down (decimal numbers beyond the allowed limit are discarded).
  • Financial – standard rounding to the nearest number, with midpoint values rounded toward the nearest even number.

For example, the following table shows how the rounding types work for values in a currency that uses 2 decimal places:

Original number

Mathematical

Truncate

Financial

5.125

5.13

5.12

5.12

120.555

120.56

120.55

120.56

9.989

9.99

9.98

9.99

Unregistered customers

Register customer after first checkout

Specifies if the system automatically creates an account for unregistered customers after making their first order. The system uses data that the customer provided during the checkout process. The customer then receives a notification email with their login information, i.e. an email address and a randomly generated password. Learn more about automatic registering after the checkout process in Enabling automatic registration for anonymous customers.

Registration after checkout email template

Specifies the email template the system uses to notify customers that they were registered after their first order (if the Register customer after first checkout setting is enabled). Learn more about email notifications in Configuring e-commerce email notifications.

Invoice

Invoice number pattern

Specifies the pattern used for generating invoice numbers. If left empty, the default pattern {% Order.OrderID %} is used; invoice numbers are then equal to order IDs. Learn more about invoices in Configuring invoices.

Measurement units

Mass unit

Specifies the unit of weight of products. When a store administrator types weight of a product, the weight is of this unit. The unit is then used, for example, for shipping calculation. Learn more about products’ weight in Configuring products.

Restrictions: This setting is only global and applies for all your sites. Therefore, these settings are available only in the Multistore configuration application and the Settings application when (global) is selected in the Site drop-down list.

Mass format string

Specifies the format string used for displaying product weight. The {0} specifier represents the weight number, e.g., if the weight should be displayed as 30 kg, type {0} kg to this field. The appearance can vary for different cultures.

Example

The example weight is 20.5 lb.

Typed format string

Cultures using point as decimal mark

Cultures using comma as decimal mark

Notes

{0} lb

20.5 lb

20,5 lb

Displays as many decimal places as the number has.

{0:F0} lb

20 lb

20 lb

F0 displays 0 decimal places without rounding.

{0:F4} lb

20.5000 lb

20,5000 lb

F4 displays 4 decimal places.

{0:000.000} lb

020.500 lb

020,500 lb

Instead of the F-notation, you can use 0-based notation. 000.000 displays at least three numbers before decimal mark and always three numbers after decimal mark.

For complete information about format strings, see the Standard numeric format strings article.

If you want to apply the format string to a value, use the GetFormattedWeight() macro method.

Pages

Wishlist URL

Specifies the URL of the site’s wishlist page. Enter the value as a relative virtual path, for example: ~/Wishlist

Within email templates and invoices, you can retrieve the matching live URL for a specific site using the WishlistAbsoluteUrl macro method. For example:

{% WishlistAbsoluteUrl(CurrentSite.SiteName) %}

Shopping cart URL

Specifies the URL of the site’s shopping cart page. Enter the value as a relative virtual path, for example: ~/Checkout

Within email templates and invoices, you can retrieve the matching live URL for a specific site using the ShoppingCartAbsoluteUrl macro method. For example:

{% ShoppingCartAbsoluteUrl(CurrentSite.SiteName) %}

Redirect to shopping cart

If enabled, users are redirected to the shopping cart page after adding a product to the cart.

Email settings

The email settings are located in:

  • Store configuration -> Store settings -> Emails
  • Multistore configuration -> Store settings -> Emails
  • Settings -> E-commerce (under the general settings)

Emails

Send e-commerce emails from

Specifies an email address from which e-commerce notification emails are sent. Learn more about email notifications in Configuring e-commerce email notifications.

Send e-commerce emails to

Specifies email addresses to which administration e-commerce notification emails are sent (separated by semicolons). Typically, it is the merchant’s email address. Learn more about email notifications in Configuring e-commerce email notifications.

Send order notification

Specifies if the system sends email notifications after completing and saving orders.

The E-commerce - Order notification to customer email template is used when sending notifications to customers. The E-commerce - Order notification to administratoremail template is used when sending notifications to administrators. Learn more about email notifications in Configuring e-commerce email notifications.

Send payment notification

Specifies if the system sends email notifications after customers complete order payment. The system sends these notifications automatically if the customers paid through payment gateways, or if orders moved to a status with the Mark order as paid property enabled. Store administrators can also manually complete order payment by enabling Order is paid for selected orders.

The E-commerce - Order payment notification to customer email template is used when sending notifications to customers. The E-commerce - Order payment notification to administrator email template is used when sending notifications to administrators. Learn more about email notifications in Configuring e-commerce email notifications.

Send e-products reminder (days)

Specifies how many days prior to e-products expiration the system sends a notification email to the customers.

The E-commerce - E-product expiration notification email template is used. Learn more about email notifications in Configuring e-commerce email notifications.

Use customer’s culture for emails

Specifies if the system sends the customers’ emails in the customers’ shopping cart culture. Learn more about email notifications in Configuring e-commerce email notifications.

Global object settings

The global object settings are located in:

  • Store configuration -> Store settings -> Global objects
  • Multistore configuration -> Store settings -> Global objects
  • Settings -> E-commerce -> Global objects

On this setting page, you can choose which global objects and settings the system uses. See the complete description of the store vs. multistore approach along with the list of objects grouped by their type in Choosing site or global e-commerce configuration.