LiteCommerce:User Account Types

Several levels of access to LiteCommerce-based stores are ensured by use of predefined administrator and customer account types. Additional account types can be created by add-on modules for special purposes. Account types grant the corresponding sets of privileges to the software users. Customer account bearers have access to the Customer Zone only, partners have access to the Customer or Partner Zones, and the store administrator can access all zones.

The following sub-sections describe account types in more detail.

Administrator Account

Administrator account type is assigned to users who perform administrative tasks at the store. The number of users bearing administrator privileges is unlimited and thus several administrator accounts can be present in the system.

A user must hold administrative privileges in order to perform all store management operations, including:

• catalog management (adding/removing categories and products, setting prices and more);
• user management (adding/removing users, modifying user profiles, granting access levels and memberships);
• configuring shipping settings (defining methods, rates and destinations);
• configuring payment settings (defining and configuring payment methods);
• order management (reviewing and processing orders);
• design and layout customization;
• store maintenance, backup and overall configuring.

Note: The full range of store setup and management tasks that the user holding administrative privileges can perform through the Administrator Zone of LiteCommerce-based online store is described in the sections "Setting up Your Online Store" and "Maintaining Your Online Store" of this manual. Details on store operation and daily maintenance procedures are provided in the section "Operating LiteCommerce-based Online Store".

Customer Account

This type of account grants the basic set of privileges to a store customer. These privileges are sufficient for managing the customer's own profile settings and reviewing his order history in the Customer Zone of the store.

Note: Making purchases does not require a customer to register an account with your store, unregistered customers can also place orders.

Detailed description of functions and features available to LiteCommerce store customers is provided in the section "Registering and Managing Customer Accounts" of this manual.

Other Account Types

Other account types can be introduced to your LiteCommerce shopping cart system by add-on modules that require account types with specific sets of privileges.

For example, the partner account type is added by the Affiliate System add-on module. Once installed and activated, the module allows your store customers to become your partners and sign up for partnership (affiliate) programs. Partner registrations can be moderated or non-moderated.

Once a customer is granted partner privileges, he gains access to certain store data that otherwise would only be available to the store administrator. A partner can review the list of his affiliates and referred sales statistics, and manage his banners through the Partner Zone of the online store.

Note: For further details on the functionality introduced by the Affiliate System module see Affiliate System module reference manual, which can be downloaded from LiteCommerce website at: http://www.litecommerce.com/manuals.html.