Sales channel

The sales channels offer you the possibility to connect different sales channels via a shop system. This can be the classic storefront on the one hand. But it is also possible to transfer data to comparison portals (e.g. billiger.de or Google Shopping) or to integrate social shopping (e.g. Instagram).

Overview

In the menu of the Shopware Administration you will find the item Sales Channel. You can click on the plus symbol to create a new sales channel. Already created sales channels are displayed below the point Sales Channels and can be edited by clicking on them.

Add a sales channel

To create a new sales channel, click the plus symbol next to the menu point Sales Channel.

In the pop-up window, you can choose whether you want to create a new Sales Channel with HTML storefront or a headless sales channel that only provides an API interface. You can also create a product comparison here. This is used to export your products to comparison portals and marketplaces. Further information about this function is available here.

General settings
 

Name (1): This is the name of the sales channel. It is used internally at all places where you can store settings for this sales channel.
Entry point main navigation (2): This is where the main navigation begins. In the standard Responsive Theme, the main categories correspond to the level below the category selected here.
Navigation Levels (3): Enter the number of levels to be displayed below the currently selected level in the main navigation. The maximum possible number of levels depends on the theme used.
Entry point footer Navigation (4): Enter the start category for the Footer Navigation here. In the Standard Responsive Theme, the level below this selected category contains the footer navigation items and the level below contains the clickable menu items. 
Entry point service Navigation (5): Here you specify the level at which the Service Navigation should start. In the standard Responsive Theme this category is displayed in the upper right corner. 
Customer group (6): Enter the standard customer group of your sales channel here. New customers and unannounced visitors are assigned to this customer group. 
Countries (7): Indicate which countries should be available in your sales channel and select a default country. 
Languages (8): Indicate here which languages should be available in your sales channel and select a default language.

Payment and shipping

Payment methods (1): Specify here which payment methods should be available in your sales channel and select a default payment method. You can edit the available payment methods under Settings > Payment methods.
Shipping methods (2): Specify here which shipping methods should be available in your sales channel and choose a default shipping method. You can edit the available shipping methods under Settings > Shipping methods.
Currencies (3): Specify which currencies should be available in your sales channel and select a default currency. You can edit the available currencies under Settings > currencies.
Tax calculation (4): Establish how taxes should be calculated for orders in this sales channel.
An example to illustrate the different calculations:

• Line by line (horizontal) calculation
  Net

  Quantity	VAT rate	Net	Gross	Net total	plus vat	Gross total
  5	7	1,49	-	5*1,49	plus vat	7,45+0,52
  				7,45	0,52	7,97

  
  Gross

  Quantity	VAT rate	Net	Gross	Net total	plus vat	Gross total
  5	7	-	1,59	7,95/1,07	7,95-7,43	5*1,59
  				7,43	0,52	7,95

• Column by column (vertical) calculation
  Net

  Quantity	VAT rate	Net	Gross	plus vat	Net total	plus vat	Gross total
  5	7	1,49	1,59	0,10	5*1,49	5*0,10	7,45+0,50
  					7,45	0,50	7,95

  
  Gross

  Quantity	VAT rate	Net	Gross	plus vat	Net total	incl. vat	Gross total
  5	7	1,49	1,59	0,10	7,95-0,50	5*0,10	5*1,59
  					7,45	0,50	7,95

Hreflang

The Hreflang metatag is important if there are several language versions of your shop. The tag is used to clearly assign the content to the respective language. It prevents Google from classifying multiple language versions of your shop as duplicate content.

After you have activated the option, all your domains are displayed in the drop-down menu. Then select the default domain here, which will serve as a fallback for all languages.
 

Domain

Please note that a self-hosted version differs from a cloud version in the domain settings.

Self-hosted instance

Under the item Domain you can create several domains for your sales channel, each with its own virtual URL, language, currency and snippet set.
This is necessary if  way you can create multiple language shops for one shop. 

You can open the window for creating an additional URL by clicking the button Add Domain (1).

It is recommended that the domain be deposited with only one internet communication protocol (https:// or http://), otherwise duplicate content may be created.

Cloud Instance

In a cloud instance, a URL is already stored in the standard system. This is generated automatically when the instance is created.
If you want to use your own, individual domain, you can do this by clicking the button Add domain (1).
The prerequisite for this is that you have already added your own domain under Settings > System > Domains. Alternatively, you can reach the corresponding menu by clicking on the link Set up individual domain (2).

Information on how to set up your own domain can be found here
 

A server-side forwarding ensures that the connection is always established via https://.

To assign a domain to the sales channel it is necessary to define some settings:

1. URL: In the selection field for the URL you will be offered all domains that are stored under Settings > System > Domains. If the desired domain is not listed here, please check if the domain was added correctly.
2. Path (optional): In addition to the URL you can add a path. This gives you the possibility to display your sales channel in different languages. Conceivable here are e.g. the path "de" for the shop in German and "en" for the English translation.
3. Language: Define here in which language the shop should be called using this URL. Here you can choose from all languages that have been assigned to the sales channel in the basic settings above.
4. Currency:Define which currency should be used when calling the shop using this URL. The currencies available under Settings > Shop > Currencies are available for selection.
5. Snippet set: With the snippet set you define which snippets are to be used. You can choose from the snippets found under Settings > Shop > Snippets.
6. Hreflang localization: Here you can define how the localization for the hreflang attribute should be done. This allows you to send the correct translations to e.g. Google when using multiple languages in your shop. We distinguish between localization by ISO standard or purely by the browser used language. Localization by ISO is useful, for example, if you use different (country-specific) language variants that may use their own country-specific terms (e.g. in English or French)

API access

Here you can generate an API Access ID for this sales channel. For more information on how to use your own API accesses, please refer to our developer documentation.
 

Status

Here you can temporarily disable the sales channel. It is then temporarily inaccessible for visitors and the API. In addition you can activate the maintenance mode here. The frontend will then only display the maintenance page layout. You can grant access using the whitelist for selected IP addresses.

be mindful when using a proxy server
In order for the IP whitelisting to work correctly when using an additional proxy server, it is necessary to store the IP address of the proxy in the .env configuration file (in the Shopware main directory) as a trusted proxy. This is possible via the entry TRUSTED_PROXIES=IP_of_the_proxy".

Alternatively this is also possible using the PHP settings. More information on how to do this in PHP can be found at https://symfony.com/doc/current/deployment/proxies.html#solution-settrustedproxies

Delete Sales Channel

If you delete the product comparison using this button, it will be irrevocably removed. You should only do this if the sales channel is no longer needed.

Theme

In the Theme tab you can assign a theme to your sales channel.

First of all you will see the theme that is currently assigned to the sales channel. If you click on the preview image of the theme or on Change theme, you can assign one of the installed themes. Click on Edit themes to go directly to the theme configuration.

 

Analytics

In the Analytics tab you have the possibility to connect a Google Analytics account by integrating a tracking code. This allows Google Analytics to run a continuous analysis and statistical evaluation of your store. You can get more detailed information about Google Analytics under the following link:
Einführung in Google Analytics 

 

Tracking ID (1): After logging into your Google Analytics account you will receive a tracking ID. Enter this ID here to connect your Google Analytics account with your store. To find your Tracking ID click on Administration in the lower left corner of your Google Analytics account and click on Tracking Information > Tracking Code in the middle column.

Activate Google Analytics (2): Activate this option to use Google Analytics to analyze your store.

Track orders (3): If you activate this option, orders from your store will be included in the analyses of Google Analytics.

Anonymise IP (4): If you activate this option, the last two groups of digits of the customer IP addresses are zeroed.  Ex. 94.31.0.0. This means that visitors are no longer clearly identifiable by IP.

In some countries, such as the EU, there are legal regulations that prohibit the storage of the complete IP address of customers. If in doubt you should activate this option.