Creating an online store in Bitrix24.Websites

Creating an Online Store in Bitrix24.Sites

Bitrix24.Sites — a built-in constructor that allows launching an online store without separate hosting, without CMS installation, and without hiring a developer. Sounds attractive. In practice it's more complex: the constructor has clear boundaries of applicability, and understanding these boundaries saves months and budget.

Bitrix24.Sites vs 1C-Bitrix CMS: Fundamental Differences

These are two different products with different architecture, although both are released by the same company.

The main difference is the degree of control. CMS provides full server, file system, and database access. Constructor works in a cloud sandbox.

CRM Store: How It Works

Store in Bitrix24.Sites runs on the CRM catalog. Products are created in CRM → Products and Services section. Each product is a CRM entity with fields: name, description, price, images, variants, unit of measure.

Purchase process:

1. Customer selects a product on the site
2. A CRM deal is created with attached product items
3. Customer receives a payment link or pays on the site via widget
4. After payment, deal automatically moves to the next pipeline stage
5. Manager sees the order in CRM and processes it

The entire process is tied to a CRM pipeline. This is both an advantage and a limitation. Advantage — manager works in the familiar CRM interface, sees communication history with the customer, can use pipeline automation (robots, triggers). Limitation — no classic "cart → checkout → payment → delivery" with delivery method selection, cost calculation, and coupon application.

Payment via Bitrix24.Cash

Bitrix24.Cash — built-in payment reception mechanism. Supports connecting:

• Yandex.Kassa (formerly Yandex.Checkout) — bank cards, e-wallets, SBP
• CloudPayments — cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay
• PayPal — for international sales
• Invoice payment — for B2B, PDF invoice is generated

Setup takes 15-20 minutes: connect payment system in CRM → Settings → Payment Methods, enter API keys, configure fiscal registration (54-ФЗ).

Payment link is generated automatically and sent to customer via SMS, email, or messenger directly from the deal card. Or customer pays on the site via the built-in widget.

Integration with CRM Pipeline

The power of "store + CRM" connection is in automation. Typical scenario:

Pipeline robots for store:

• On deal creation → send customer order confirmation
• On payment → send receipt, notify warehouse
• 3 days after delivery → request review
• On cancellation → start return process

Triggers:

• Customer opened payment link but didn't pay → reminder after 2 hours
• Customer hasn't bought in 30 days → move to reactivation pipeline

All this is configured without code through Bitrix24's visual robot and business process builder.

When Constructor Is Sufficient

Bitrix24.Sites works for:

• Small catalog — up to 500-1000 products without complex filtering
• Services — consulting, training, service, where lead form matters more than cart
• B2B with custom terms — when price is negotiated, not fixed on site
• MVP / niche testing — quick launch to test demand
• CRM addition — company already works in Bitrix24 and wants to add storefront

Characteristic sign: business process revolves around manager, and site is an entry point for lead.

Deep-Dive: Constructor Limitations and When to Migrate to CMS

Constructor limitations appear gradually as the store grows. Let's examine by category.

Catalog and filtering. Constructor has no smart filter (bitrix:catalog.smart.filter). Products are displayed in list or tile with minimal sorting. No faceted indexes, no filtering by product properties, no multi-region support. For a clothing store where customer selects by size, color, material, and brand — this is critical.

SEO. Constructor provides basic settings: title, description, URL alias for pages. But no canonical URL management for pagination, no automatic sitemap.xml generation with products, no Product/Offer schema markup for Google Merchant Center, no hreflang configuration for multi-language. For a store where organic traffic is the main channel, this is a serious obstacle.

Discounts and coupons. In CRM store there's no cart rules mechanism from the sale module. No conditions like "3+ units — 10% discount", no cumulative discounts, no coupons with usage limit restrictions. You can change price manually in deal — but this doesn't scale.

Delivery. No integration with delivery services (CDEK, Boxberry, Russian Post) with automatic cost calculation. No pickup point selection on map. Delivery cost is either fixed or calculated manually by manager.

Performance and scale. Constructor runs in Bitrix24 cloud, and load speed depends on current platform load. No CDN configuration for images, no server cache optimization, no Composite caching option. With 5000+ products, catalog performance starts degrading.

Signs to migrate to CMS:

• Catalog exceeds 1000-2000 products with filtering needs
• SEO becomes a priority traffic channel
• Complex discount rules and coupons needed
• Integration with warehouse, 1C, delivery services required
• Conversion is limited by UX that can't be changed in constructor
• Business needs multi-region or multi-language support

Migration strategy. Moving from Bitrix24.Sites to 1C-Bitrix CMS is not a disaster, but not file copying either. Products are exported from CRM as CSV and imported to CMS trade catalog. Customer base is transferred via REST API. CRM integration is preserved — crm module in 1C-Bitrix supports synchronization with Bitrix24 via connector.

Page content will need to be re-marked up — constructor blocks don't convert to CMS templates. This is manual work, and you should be prepared for it.

Work Order When Creating Store in Bitrix24.Sites

Bitrix24.Sites is a working tool for quick start. The main thing is to objectively assess the task scope before starting and not try to get from the constructor what it's not designed for.