Lastly, a quick disclaimer: please note that this guide was first published ahead of Magento 2 General Availability and therefore may be subject to subject amendments.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0<\/strong>Navigating\u00a0the administration<\/a><\/p>\n One of the most significant updates to Magento in its second edition is the administration panel, which has been greatly improved.<\/p>\n The main navigation has been redesigned vertically on the left-hand side and will display a sub-navigation upon click. This new administration system and navigation are touch-friendly and responsive so you can access it on your tablet or mobile device.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve previously used Magento 1.X then the new Magento 2 navigation in the administration may take some time to get used to, but it is a considerable improvement. The\u00a0Configuration<\/strong>\u00a0section within the Magento 2 administration allows you to configure details such as your company information, domain, payment details, and shipping cost. You can find the\u00a0Configuration<\/strong>\u00a0section within\u00a0Store<\/strong>\u00a0under the\u00a0Settings<\/strong>\u00a0section.<\/p>\n At first sight, the panel may seem overwhelming, with a comprehensive set of configurations seemingly required in order to get going with your store. However, only a few of the settings are essential to begin selling your products and\/or services online. In this guide, we\u2019ll concentrate on these settings, and leave the more in-depth configurations for another time. This means that we\u2019ll focus on the General<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Sales<\/strong>\u00a0sections of the\u00a0Configuration<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Configuration<\/strong>\u00a0section within Magento allows you to alter settings on up to 4 levels \u2013 Global, Website, Store, and Store view. For simplicity, we\u2019ll set up a simple transactional website with just one store.<\/p>\n When you first land on the\u00a0Configuration<\/strong> section you\u2019ll see the\u00a0General<\/strong>\u00a0section open, which is where we\u2019ll start.<\/p>\n Under\u00a0Country Options<\/strong>\u00a0set the\u00a0Default Country<\/strong>, e.g. United Kingdom. You can also set the countries from which you will allow purchases under\u00a0Allow Countries<\/strong>. By default, all countries are selected.<\/p>\n In the same section, you\u2019ll find the sub-header Store Information<\/strong>, which is where you should enter your company details.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it, but before we move on remember to click\u00a0Save Config<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Web and URLs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Next, we\u2019ll move onto the Web<\/strong>\u00a0sub-menu on your left, where we\u2019ll look at some basic settings around URLs. Set the\u00a0Base URL<\/strong>, which will be your domain (this may already have been set when you installed Magento).<\/p>\n If you have an SSL certificate for your site (highly recommended), set the\u00a0Secure Base URL<\/strong>, which will be the same as your domain. However, it will have https:\/\/ rather than http:\/\/ (this may already have been set when you installed Magento).<\/p>\n If you have an SSL certificate for your site, set both\u00a0Use Secure URLs on Storefront<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Use Secure URLs<\/strong>\u00a0in Admin to\u00a0Yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget to click\u00a0Save Config<\/strong>\u00a0before you move on.<\/p>\n Design<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Next we\u2019ll look at the\u00a0Design<\/strong>\u00a0sub-menu on your left where you can set your site theme and logo amongst other things. Under\u00a0Design Theme<\/strong>\u00a0you can set your chosen design (e.g. if you\u2019ve got a theme developed or have bought a pre-built theme). Magento 2 offers a native responsive theme, so you can easily get started.<\/p>\n Under\u00a0HTML Head<\/strong>\u00a0you can upload your favicon and set the default title of your store, as well as some default metadata for your site.<\/p>\n SEO<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Under\u00a0Search Engine Robots<\/strong>, ensure the\u00a0Default Robots<\/strong>\u00a0is set to\u00a0Index, Follow<\/em>. This is so that search engines will index your website.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the\u00a0Header<\/strong>\u00a0section you can upload your\u00a0Logo Image<\/strong>\u00a0and set its width and height as well as alt text for the logo.<\/p>\n Under\u00a0Footer<\/strong>\u00a0you can ensure the footer details are tailored to your business. For example:\u00a0Copyright \u00a9 2015 Fantastic T-shirts Ltd. All rights reserved<\/em>.<\/p>\n Finally for\u00a0Design<\/strong>\u00a0you need to make sure you add your\u00a0Logo Image<\/strong>\u00a0again under the\u00a0Emails<\/strong>\u00a0section so that your brand is displayed on transactional emails.<\/p>\n As before, don\u2019t forget to click\u00a0Save Config<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Currency<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Next, let\u2019s look at currency. You can change these settings under\u00a0Currency Setup<\/strong>\u00a0in the sub-menu on the left. For this guide we\u2019ll assume you\u2019ll only sell in one currency, and you\u2019ll therefore only need to configure the following two settings:<\/p>\n Remember to click\u00a0Save Config<\/strong>\u00a0when ready.<\/p>\n Emails<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n In the\u00a0Store Email Addresses<\/strong>\u00a0sub-menu on your left you can set\u00a0Sender Name<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Sender Emails<\/strong>\u00a0which will be used when Magento sends transactional emails to your customers. As a minimum you should set your Sender Name and Sender Emails for the following:<\/p>\n Again, don\u2019t forget to\u00a0Save Config<\/strong>, to ensure your settings are saved.<\/p>\n Sales<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Once all the above settings have been set or amended, you can move onto the\u00a0Sales\u00a0<\/strong>section, which will look at the specifics that allow your customers to purchase from your website. We\u2019ll leave the tax settings for the moment and address that in one of the following chapters of this guide titled\u00a0Tax Management<\/strong>.<\/p>\n So the first sub-menu we\u2019ll look at is Shipping Settings. Here you need to set the origin as your warehouse or the location from which your products are shipped.<\/p>\n Magento enables the user to manage the sale of each order. This can be done manually with native Magento functionality. In this section, we will discuss how to configure the shipping methods and default payment gateways, and what is required to get them up and running to take payment for your first order.<\/p>\n Shipping<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Next we\u2019ll look at the\u00a0Shipping Methods<\/strong>\u00a0sub-menu where you can give your customers some delivery options. In this guide we\u2019ll show you how to set up a\u00a0Flat Rate<\/strong>\u00a0shipping method and a\u00a0Free Shipping<\/strong> option if your customers spend above a certain amount (see\u00a0Minimum Order Amount<\/strong> below). More advanced configuration is available, such as\u00a0Table Rates<\/strong>\u00a0and direct integration with couriers such as DHL and DPD. However, this will be addressed in a future guide.<\/p>\n First we\u2019ll look at\u00a0Free Shipping<\/strong>. This is a great way of enticing your customers to spend a bit extra by offering free shipping if they spend over a specified amount, e.g. \u00a3100. To activate this:<\/p>\n That\u2019s all you need to do to set up a\u00a0Free Shipping<\/strong>\u00a0option for your customers. Now let\u2019s move onto the\u00a0Flat<\/strong>\u00a0Rate<\/strong>\u00a0option, which will give you the opportunity to set a fixed shipping price per item or order. This is straightforward to set-up:<\/p>\n That\u2019s all you need to do to provide your customers with essential delivery methods.<\/p>\n Payments<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n So with shipping configured, let\u2019s look at payments, and the sub-header\u00a0Payment <\/strong>Methods<\/strong>. As this is just an introductory guide, we\u2019ve only provided simple instructions to get started with configuring\u00a0PayPal Express Checkout<\/strong>. Other payment gateways such as\u00a0Braintree<\/strong>\u00a0are also provided natively with Magento 2, and we\u2019ll provide more information in a later guide should you require this.<\/p>\n First of all you should set the\u00a0Merchant<\/strong>\u00a0Location<\/strong>\u00a0to the country where you as a merchant are based. This should pick up the\u00a0Default<\/strong>\u00a0Country<\/strong>\u00a0you set in the\u00a0General<\/strong>\u00a0configuration earlier in this guide, however, you can change it if needed.<\/p>\n Next, we\u2019ll look at the PayPal set-up under the\u00a0PayPal Express Checkout<\/strong>\u00a0section. Expand the accordion and you will see a Configure button, click this and it will display both\u00a0Required PayPal Settings<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Basic Settings \u2013 PayPal Express Checkout<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Required PayPal Settings<\/strong>\u00a0is all we need to look at. Simply enter your email associated with your PayPal Merchant account and click\u00a0Get Credentials from PayPal<\/em>.<\/p>\n This will open a separate window where you can login to your PayPal Merchant account. Once logged in you will see the\u00a0API<\/strong>\u00a0Username<\/strong>,\u00a0API<\/strong>\u00a0Password<\/strong>, and\u00a0API<\/strong>\u00a0Signature<\/strong>, which can be copied and pasted into the Magento admin fields.<\/p>\n After you\u2019ve entered this information you need to\u00a0Save<\/strong>\u00a0Config<\/strong>\u00a0before being able to enable PayPal Express as a payment option by changing\u00a0Enable this Solution<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0Yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n Tax management<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n With PayPal Express set-up, you\u2019re getting closer to accepting payments on your site. Before we get into creating your products, we need to make sure you\u2019ve got some basic tax rules in place. How you set this up will depend on a few factors such as:<\/p>\n In some countries there are more considerations. However, for this guide we\u2019ll look at just setting up one basic rule for the UK market, which is a 20% VAT for all products.<\/p>\n First you need to verify a couple of settings in Magento Configuration, by clicking onStores > Configuration > Sales > Tax<\/em>. There are plenty of configuration possibilities here, so double check with your accounts team to ensure everything meets your requirements. For now, we\u2019ll just look at the essentials you need to check \/ change.<\/p>\n Calculation settings<\/p>\n The default setting assumes you add product prices without VAT, and that Magento will add the tax for you.<\/p>\n Default tax destination calculation<\/p>\n Change\/verify that this is set to United Kingdom (or the country you\u2019re selling in).<\/p>\n Price display settings<\/p>\n Set this to Including Tax for\u00a0Display Product Prices in Catalog<\/strong>\u00a0if you\u2019re a B2C company and selling directly to customers.<\/p>\n Shopping cart display settings<\/p>\n If you want to display the prices including tax\/VAT on the cart and checkout, change both\u00a0Display Prices<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Display Subtotal<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0Including Tax<\/em>. If the above is changed you should also set\u00a0Include Tax in Grand Total<\/strong>\u00a0to\u00a0Yes<\/em>.<\/p>\n![\"Magento](\"https:\/\/www.createagile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/stores.png\")
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