Up and running with the advanced B2B direct starter store

This topic provides step-by-step instructions to publish and configure the advanced B2B direct starter store. The advanced B2B direct starter store supports direct selling to other businesses. This store highlights the tasks that a buyer can perform at a seller's e-commerce site. Some of the features included in this starter store are:

Logon page (shopping that is restricted to registered customers)

Buyer registration and approvals
Buyer organization registration and approvals

Guest catalog browsing
Guest shopping (configurable)

Multiple account shopping
Entitlement-based catalog browsing
Contract-based purchasing
Contract-based pricing
Contract-based available shipping addresses
Contract-based available shipping providers and charge types
Contract-based payment methods

Backorders
Current order
Saved orders
Future orders
Expedite orders
Order history or order status
Order approvals
Scheduled orders
Quick order
Requisition lists
Express checkout flow
Support for large shopping carts using multiple pages
Multiple payments per order
Partial or complete releases

Available-to-promise inventory
RFQ requests

Shipping charge carrier number
Single or multiple shipping methods
Single or multiple shipping addresses

Weight-based shipping
Shipping charges
Shipping instructions

Taxes

Account-based marketing campaigns
e-Marketing Spots
Promotions

Product search capability (simple and advanced search)
Categories
Products, items, bundles, or kits
Defining attributes
Tiered pricing display
Merchandising associations

Portlet-like Configurable Store Display elements

Customer care

Attribute Dictionary
New e-Marketing engine

The following diagram shows the steps that are required to set up your store:

Up and running with the B2B store diagram

Depending on how the advanced B2B store is deployed, you may have to perform the steps that are shown in the diagram on one or more machines.

You use several tools to publish and set up your store, all these tools can be accessed from a browser. When you use these tools, the changes that you make are immediately reflected on your site.

Administration Console: Control your site or store by completing administrative operations and configuration task through the Administration Console. If you are a Site Administrator, you select the store and language with which you want to work when you log on to the Administration Console. The tasks that you are authorized to perform display on the Administration Console home page through various menus. These tasks are based on the user group names (roles) and authority levels.
WebSphere Commerce Accelerator: Maintain online stores and catalogs by completing various store operations with the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator. You can manage the look and feel of your store, create and maintain orders, and track store activities. If you are authorized to work with multiple stores, when you log on to the WebSphere Commerce Accelerator, you select the store and language you want to work. If you are authorized to work with a single store, the store name is preselected during logon. Additionally, if the store supports more than one language, you can select the language with which you want to work.
Organization Administration Console: Set up users at your site with the Organization Administration Console. This tool is used both to set up administrators and to register customers to the site.

The advanced B2B starter store provides all the pages and features necessary for a functioning B2B direct online store. It is packaged with WebSphere Commerce as a store archive.

Since store creation in WebSphere Commerce is based on selecting a starter store archive and modifying it, the advanced B2B starter store is designed to act as the basis for your store. It is based on a typical shopping flow. The starter store pages can be customized. All advanced B2B starter store pages are JavaServer Page pages. These pages include HTML, Java, and JavaScript. The JSP pages can be cached.