10.7. Spotlight: The Ordering Process

We now have an online store that can be populated with the entire Sweet Tees inventory. However, at the moment customers can only browse the catalog and see information about the products. Most e-commerce sites are concerned with actually selling something, and that means getting into the ordering process.

Figure 10-21 depicts the typical workflow for a store such as our client’s. It begins when a customer adds products to her online shopping cart and clicks the “Checkout” button. The customer is presented with a form in which to fill out basic customer information, such as billing and shipping address, credit card information, and preferred shipping method. The customer then has a chance to review the order, including its total price, with taxes and shipping calculated based on the information provided earlier. Once the order is submitted, a payment gateway validates the entered billing information to determine if the credit card is legitimate. If all goes well, the order is placed and the store fulfills its end of the bargain by packing the products up and shipping them where they need to go.