Whilst online shopping is still a rapidly growing sector, it’s not right for every business.

A client who came to us last year for an e-shop have since decided that whilst having the products online drive sales, actual orders come from direct enquiries. They deal with plumbing supplies, and so their online catalogue is vital for giving customers details of what they offer and how, but when it comes to actually buying the goods, people prefer to discuss their exact needs with the merchant.

For that reason, they’ve just asked me to go through their shop and whilst keeping all the products browsable, take out any links to the checkout, remove signs of the shopping basket and get rid of any “buy” buttons. The shop was built using oscommerce, so incase any of you have the same need arise I thought I’d jot down the main pages/files for you to look at when doing it. Everything was commented out rather than deleted so if the client’s needs change again in the future, it can simply be added back in.

Note: Line numbers are for reference, but this wasn’t a clean install of oscommerce (I’ve added various contributions) so line numbers may be different for you. This was on an installation of osCommerce Online Merchant v2.2 RC2a.

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index.php

Commented out line 153:  /*’PRODUCT_LIST_BUY_NOW’ => PRODUCT_LIST_BUY_NOW);*/

Added line 305:  <p class=”notices”><u><b>For more information on any of our products or to order, please call [PHONE NUMBER] or <a href=”contact_us.php”>email us</a>.</b></u></p></td>

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product_info.php (note: class notices is styled in stylesheet.css)

Added in line 131:  <p class=”notices”><b>To order this item, please call 01543 276680 or <a href=”http://www.foxfittings.co.uk/contact_us.php”>email us</a>.</b></p>

Commented out line 224:  <!–<td class=”main” align=”right”><?php echo tep_draw_hidden_field(‘products_id’, $product_info[‘products_id’]) . tep_image_submit(‘button_in_cart.gif’, IMAGE_BUTTON_IN_CART); ?></td>–>

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includes/column_right.php

Commented out line 13:  /*require(DIR_WS_BOXES . ‘shopping_cart.php’);*/

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includes/header.php

Update menu accordingly – remove links to checkout and cart contents, but leave my account/log off if people are still going to be able to write reviews, manage their email preferences etc.

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includes/languages/english.php

Change text how you see fit:#

Commented out line 285: //define(‘TEXT_GREETING_PERSONAL’, ‘Welcome back <span class=”greetUser”>%s!</span> Would you like to see which <a href=”%s”><u>new products</u></a> are available to purchase?’);

Added line 286:  define(‘TEXT_GREETING_PERSONAL’, ‘Welcome back <span class=”greetUser”>%s!</span> Please browse our site and call us when you are ready to order.’);

Commented out line 288:  //define(‘TEXT_GREETING_GUEST’, ‘Welcome <span class=”greetUser”>Guest!</span> Would you like to <a href=”%s”><u>log yourself in</u></a>? Or would you prefer to <a href=”%s”><u>create an account</u></a>?’);

Added line 289:  define(‘TEXT_GREETING_GUEST’, ‘Welcome <span class=”greetUser”>Guest!</span> Please browse our catalogue and call us when you’re ready to place your order.’);

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includes/languages/english/index.php

Update any other text you’ve got on your home page about ordering online.

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includes/languages/english/conditions.php

Update your t&cs. You might also want to update shipping.php and privacy.php….

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includes/boxes/information.php

…personally I just removed them from showing in the information box.

Commented our lines 24 and 25.

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includes/footer.php

If you have a footer menu, check that’s up to date.

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includes/languages/english/login.php

I decided people could still register/have an account, but it’s just for emails/contact info/reviews now.

Commented out line 18:  //define(‘TEXT_NEW_CUSTOMER_INTRODUCTION’, ‘By creating an account at ‘ . STORE_NAME . ‘ you will be able to shop faster, be up to date on an orders status, and keep track of the orders you have previously made.’);

Added line 19:  define(‘TEXT_NEW_CUSTOMER_INTRODUCTION’, ‘By creating an account at ‘ . STORE_NAME . ‘ you will be to leave reviews and receive newsletters.’);

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account.php

I didn’t want the account to show past orders any more.

Commented out lines 175 – 200

Starting with:

<tr>

<td><table border=”0″ width=”100%” cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”2″>

<tr>

<td class=”main”><b><?php echo MY_ORDERS_TITLE; ?></b></td>

ending with:

<td width=”10″ align=”right”><?php echo tep_draw_separator(‘pixel_trans.gif’, ’10’, ‘1’); ?></td>

</tr>

</table></td>

</tr>

</table></td>

</tr>

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includes/languages/english/logoff.php

Commented out line 15: //define(‘TEXT_MAIN’, ‘You have been logged off your account. It is now safe to leave the computer.<br><br>Your shopping cart has been saved, the items inside it will be restored whenever you log back into your account.’);

Added line 16 define(‘TEXT_MAIN’, ‘You have been logged off your account.’);