Checkout Type

The Checkout Type setting determines how the checkout process occurs within your multi-store network. It affects how payments are collected when customers make purchases across different shops in your network.

• Single Checkout:

  With Single Checkout, customers can complete the checkout process for all cart items independently from where each product originates. This means that all products in the cart will be processed together, and the payment will be collected in full on the checkout site.

• Each Store Checkout:
  Selecting the Each Store checkout type triggers the system to create individual checkout sessions in the shops from where the cart products belong. Each shop will retrieve payment separately for their own products, allowing for more independent transactions.

Cart Checkout Location

The Cart Checkout Location setting becomes relevant when the Checkout Type is set as Single Checkout. It determines where users will be redirected to complete their orders or whether they can proceed to any site within the network.

• Specific Site: Users will be redirected to a specific site designated by this setting to complete their orders when using Single Checkout.
• Any Site: Users have the flexibility to proceed to any site within the network to complete their checkout when using Single Checkout.

Enable Products Synchronization Interface

The Enable Products Synchronization Interface setting is crucial when you’re utilizing the Products Synchronization feature. Enabling this option reveals a new tab within the Product Data interface, providing tools and options to facilitate product replication across your network, including one or more shops.

Replace the Cart Products with Local Version

This feature simplifies the shopping experience for customers. If a product in the shopping cart is also available in the current store, it will be substituted with the local product. This replacement is based on a match identified by comparing the product SKU attribute. It’s important to note that this substitution occurs exclusively for products of the same type.

Synchronization Type

The Synchronization Type setting governs how data is processed across selected shops during the synchronization procedure. This procedure ensures that data is consistent and updated across your multi-store network, particularly in the context of global cart operations.

There are two types of synchronization procedures available:

• Screen (Default):
  • Screen synchronization is the default and easiest to set up. It is compatible with all types of environments.
• Headers:
  • Headers synchronization is a more complex procedure that works through HTTP headers. It operates in the background and is less noticeable to users. However, it may not be compatible with environments that heavily rely on caching systems like Varnish.

The Network Server instance settings in WP Global Cart offer powerful tools for managing and controlling all aspects of your multi-store e-commerce network. These settings determine how the checkout process operates, where users are redirected during checkout, whether product synchronization is enabled, how data is synchronized across shops and so on.

Understanding and configuring these settings effectively is crucial for optimizing the user experience, ensuring consistency across your network, and simplifying the management of multiple WooCommerce shops within your WordPress environment.

The “Replace the Cart Products with Local Version” feature is a game-changing addition to WP Global Cart’s arsenal of tools for managing multi-store e-commerce. This feature is designed to enhance the user experience by seamlessly substituting products in the shopping cart with their local shop counterparts.

Here’s how it works:

Identification by SKU Attribute

The feature operates by comparing the SKU attribute of products in the cart with the products available in the current store. The SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is a unique identifier for each product. If a match is found between a product in the cart and a product in the current store based on SKU, the substitution process is initiated.

Substitution for Same-Type Products

It’s important to note that the substitution occurs only for products of the same type. This ensures that the replacement is both relevant and accurate.

How the “Replace the Cart Products with Local Version” can improve my customer’s experience

Let’s explore why this feature is a game-changer for both store owners and customers:

1. Enhanced User Experience:

Seamless Shopping: Customers can shop across multiple stores without the hassle of managing separate carts for each store. This streamlines the shopping experience, saving time and reducing friction.

2. Consistency and Relevance:

Localized Shopping: When customers switch between stores, the feature ensures that the products in their cart are always aligned with the current store’s offerings. This maintains consistency and relevance, reducing confusion.

3. Increased Conversion Rates:

Optimized Checkout: By presenting customers with the most relevant local products in their cart, the checkout process becomes more streamlined and appealing. This optimization can lead to increased conversion rates and higher sales.

4. Simplified Cart Management:

No Manual Adjustments: Customers no longer need to manually remove or replace products when switching between stores. The feature automates this process, making it effortless for customers.

5. International and Multilingual Shopping:

Support for Different Languages: The feature shines in multi-store environments where each store may operate in a different language. When a user switches stores with a different language, the products in the cart are replaced with their localized versions, ensuring a seamless experience.

How to Activate the Feature

Activating the “Replace the Cart Products with Local Version” feature in WP Global Cart is straightforward. You can enable or disable it through the Server Shop instance, at the options interface. That ensures the option is activated for all shops in the network.

The best part is that there are no code updates required for existing themes and plugins to make it work. The plugin’s core handles all the necessary processes, ensuring compatibility and ease of use.

The “Replace the Cart Products with Local Version” feature is a powerful tool that empowers businesses to provide a seamless and consistent shopping experience for their customers, regardless of how many stores they operate.

This feature simplifies cart management, ensures relevance and consistency, and optimizes the checkout process, all while supporting multilingual shopping. It’s a bost for both store owners and customers, helping businesses thrive in the competitive e-commerce landscape.

Filter being used to acknowledge the plugin engine to proceed with synchronization, usually following a custom AJAX call which is not being recognized as a WooCommerce default. (e.g. wc-ajax=add_to_cart,  wc-ajax=get_refreshed_fragments)

Certain plugins and themes use their own methods to handle the cart operations like add, remove.  To create a compatibility between such code and the WooCommerce Global Cart plugin, at least a POST parameter must be registered through the ‘woogc/sync/on_post_vars’ filter, recommended to be a unique field. The following sample code, inform the plugin engine to trigger a synchronization procedure right after a POST call has completed and included a field action => woocommerce_add_to_cart_variable_rc

Sample Usage

add_filter('woogc/sync/on_post_vars', 'woogc_sync_on_post_vars');
function woogc_sync_on_post_vars( $PostVars )
    {
        $PostVars[] = 'action=add_to_cart';
        $PostVars[] = 'action=woocommerce_add_to_cart_variable_rc';
        $PostVars[] = 'action=product_remove';

        return $PostVars ;
    }

The filter is being used to disable the Global Cart functionality.

    add_filter( 'woogc/disable_global_cart',     'WooGC_Disable_GlobalCart', 10, 2 );
    function  WooGC_Disable_GlobalCart ( $status, $_blog_id = '' )
        {
            
            return TRUE;   
        }

The code should be placed inside a php file on wp-content/mu-plugins folder.

As it connects multiple stand-alone WordPress instances by default, it’s essential to have the WooCommerce plugin active on the respective sites for optimal performance.

Our server requirements are deliberately kept minimal. The code is not only compact but also meticulously organized, ensuring lightning-fast processing without demanding excessive server resources. In fact, it operates with the efficiency of a small plugin, thanks to its highly optimized internal code. This translates to a mere fraction, less than 5%, of the total WooCommerce code execution time. Therefore, rest assured that if your server runs WordPress, this plugin will run harmoniously without taxing your resources.

For compatibility, we have set a minimum WordPress version requirement of 4.4, which is readily available to most existing sites. While it can technically work with lower versions, please be aware that the code hasn’t been rigorously tested for compatibility on such revisions, and it’s not actively maintained for them.

The beauty of our plugin is that it doesn’t necessitate any file changes, provided your setup adheres to the WordPress Codex and follows WooCommerce development practices. We’ve designed all of its features and functionality to be achieved through filters and actions, ensuring maximum compatibility with other code bases.

To install the plugin on your WordPress instance, follow these steps:

• Begin by logging in as the administrator to access the Dashboard interface.
• In the Dashboard, navigate to ‘Plugins’ and then click on ‘Add New.’

• Select ‘Upload Plugin,’ and then click ‘Browse’ to locate the plugin archive that you previously saved on your computer.
• After selecting the plugin archive, click ‘Install’ and proceed to ‘Activate’ it.

Repeat the above procedure for all WordPress instances, which are required to use the provided features.

As an alternative method, you can also upload the plugin to your server through FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Here’s how:

• Connect to your server using your preferred FTP client.
• Navigate to the directory where WordPress is installed on your server.
• Locate the ‘wp-content/plugins’ directory.
• Upload the extracted plugin folder into the ‘plugins’ directory on your server.
• Once the upload is complete, return to your WordPress admin dashboard.
• Activate the plugin for the desired site from the ‘Plugins’ section.

By following these steps, you can seamlessly install and activate the plugin either through the WordPress interface or via FTP, depending on your preference and server setup.