Most of the web shops that are built on top of Joomla CMS use the Virtuemart shop extension. In recent years several other Joomla eCommerce extensions were developed but Virtuemart is still the most popular one. There is quite some documentation available around the Virtuemart extension which explains how to setup and configure your Joomla shop. You can also use Virtuemart plugins to enhance functionality of your shop and bring in some additional features.
This article explains how you can customize Virtuemart templates. Virtuemart has developed quite compared to previous versions and the customization approach has changed as well.
Virtuemart Template Overrides
In early Virtuemart versions (up to version 1.9) there was a themes folder inside the com_virtuemart folder that contained the templates that were used in the shop. By adjusting the php files in the themes folder you were able to change the look and feel of the Virtuemart order process. However, starting with Virtuemart 2.0 this changed and customization of templates was possible through default Joomla template overrides.
If you wish to use template overrieds for your Virtuemart shop you simply need to copy the files from the html folder in com_virtuemart into your_template/html/com_virtuemart/. You can then modify those files independent from the core files.
Adjusting Virtuemart Order Emails
The email that are sent by Virtuemart are also handled as templates. Hence they can be adjusted in a similar way as the shop or checkout templates that are displayed in the browser.
You can also modify both, the wording of the Virtuemart email as well as the layout in case you use HTML for styling. With such adjustments of the email templates you can customize the emails that are sent by the Virtuemart shop.
Custom Shopping Cart Plugins
Instead of modifying Virtuemart yourself you might also use existing plugins to add certain functionality to your shop. There are plenty of virtuemart plugins available that you can use. One example is a customized price calculation depending on user input such as size or quantities.
Please do not hesitate to contact us in case you need assistance with Virtuemart customization.