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Choosing the Right Online Shopping Cart
Are you a website owner or a web designer/developer? If either applies, I would venture to say that eventually you'll need an online shopping cart for one of your websites. In fact, almost all new websites today need some sort of ecommerce built-in, for the purpose of selling goods and services in the online marketplace. The greatest challenge is to find the perfect ecommerce shopping cart solution for yourself and/or your client. This task can be very overwhelming, considering, if you type 'shopping cart' into Google.com, this search alone returns over 14.4 million hits! Most of us don't have the time to sift through more than a few pages of a search engine to find what we're looking for. For the last 3 months, much of my time has been devoted to researching as much shopping cart technology as I could get my hands on. In general, shopping cart software ranges in price from free to over $2000 for a single license and web hosted carts range from $5 to hundreds of dollars per month. The studied carts cover the spectrum of all web programming languages (ASP, ASP.NET, Cold Fusion, Flash, Java, JavaScript & Perl shopping carts) and provide limitless features as a whole. The problem is that locating YOUR perfect cart with YOUR specific features can be a big task. But no fear, just follow this guaranteed step-by-step guide to locate it: The Top 10 Steps to Finding the Best Online Shopping Cart Cost How much money do you have to spend on an internet shopping cart? The nice advantage is that there are shopping carts with hundreds of features and they don't cost you a dime. They are generally open source products. The only problem is that these same "free shopping carts" can take hours of installation time and be fairly difficult to configure. For a monthly fee, web hosting shopping carts are made for users with little programming experience and allows them to have an online storefront presence in no time. Hosting vs. Software There are two options in selecting your overall shopping cart solution. Either you get shopping cart software, download it, install it on your web server, then configure the shopping cart OR you get an online storefront (aka a hosted shopping cart) where the configuration is very basic and the required setup time is minimal. If you have some programming skills, I recommend buying a script and installing it on your own. The nice thing is that you pay a one-time fee for shopping cart software and the license is good for a lifetime. It's approximately the same price to have a hosted solution for a year compared to most one time shopping cart license fees. Supported Gateways What do I mean by gateways? Gateways give shopping carts the ability to connect and securely process credit card orders in real-time. Not all shopping carts are created equal. Make sure that your client's merchant account is supported by the cart you select. I have found that almost all carts support the larger online payment processing companies, such as Authorize.net, PayPal and Verisign. Shipping Options Will you be shipping physical products? If so, there are shopping carts that have built-in real-time shipping options through DHL, UPS And USPS. Often times, the cart gives the user the ability to view tracking orders and order status all from within your secure shopping cart web interface. Also, there are shopping carts with options to ship digital goods as well (files, programs, pictures, music and others). Technical Support What kind of technical support does your shopping cart offer? If you choose to purchase a script, be sure to also subscribe to the shopping cart creator's newsletter, so that you can stay on top of future updates to the software. Be aware that technical support is generally available on a pay-per-incident basis, as a yearly fee or in the rare case, free. Be sure to know what kind of customer support guarantee the shopping cart comes with. Security Please, only buy a shopping cart if it supports SSL (secure socket layer), with 128-bit encryption. As an online storefront, remember that you are responsible for the safe transfer of sensitive information (credit card and bank account information) that is processed through your store. If any of the sensitive information is accessible (stolen) from your website, you could be liable. Be sure that you're purchasing a secure shopping cart solution. Ask the creator's of the shopping cart what they do specifically to protect the secure transfer of sensitive information. Style Compatibility Can you customize your shopping cart to look like your website? There needs to be a seamless transition between your website and your shopping storefront or your customers might get hesitant in purchasing your products. There should be similar colors and style layout to look professional and believable. Extra Features I just wanted to mention some of the other features that I have discovered, which might be a critical point in determining the shopping cart you want. Affiliate Program - Offer your own customized affiliate program through your shopping cart software. Quickbooks Integration - Many carts allow direct integration with Quickbooks. Newsletter & Mailing Letter Managers - The ability to stay in touch with your current customers and keep them returning to your online store. Custom Taxing Options - Create taxable or tax-free products and have the ability to add various global tax options at checkout. World Languages & Currencies - Shopping cart language translation and support for world currency might be a necessary feature for your cart. Error Free You mean shopping carts can have errors? Of course. A private UK-based web testing firm found the following, after studying a large group of UK online shopping carts for a period of one month (24/7):"The majority of UK web sites are guilty of leaving e-consumers stranded at the checkout empty handed, once they have already spent valuable time browsing and selecting goods to purchase. This is due to erratic functionality within shopping carts, at a critical step in the online purchasing process." "E-consumers are prevented from making purchases on UK web sites for 9 hours and 30 minutes a month on average, (115 hours a year)." "80 per cent of web sites perform inconsistently with widely varying response times, timeouts and errors - leaving consumers at best wondering what to do next and at worst unable to complete their purchase successfully. This is potentially costing e-retailers millions in lost sales from consumer frustrations." (http://www.scivisum.co.uk/report/ecommerce/) Be sure to see what other users are saying about a shopping cart that you might be interested in purchasing. Any shopping cart errors could cost you thousands of dollars in sales. Get a stable and secure cart. Shopping Cart Directory The following is a link containing a directory of shopping carts that are categorized according to each of the above-stated steps. Make shopping for shopping carts a breeze! Shopping Cart Directory If you have any questions or comments about this article, please contact the author. About The Author Evan Stevens (http://www.evanstevens.com) is a professional web developer. This article reviews ecommerce online shopping carts.
MORE RESOURCES: Shopify Acquires Peel Insights to Boost E-Commerce Analytics Business Insider What do Europeans, Americans and Australians have in common? Scammed $50M by fake e-stores The Register Shopify Stock: Shopify Earnings Top Views. E-Commerce Giant Plunges On Outlook Investor's Business Daily Latam E-Commerce Giant Mercado Libre Holds $40 Million in Crypto – News Bytes Bitcoin News Bitcoin.com News ARTO Owner on Generational Businesses Practical Ecommerce Ecommerce earnings recap: What you missed from Aritzia, Peloton and more Digital Commerce 360 Holy Ecommerce! WB Invites Shoppers into the Luxurious World of Bruce Wayne with New 'Retail Storytelling' Experience Retail TouchPoints Speakeasy Co. Unveils 2023 eCommerce Year In Review: Key Insights on Consumer Behavior and BevAlc Trends PR Newswire How to Start an E-Commerce Business in 2024 WebProNews News / Airlines face Q4 capacity 'balancing act' as they weigh up ecommerce potential theloadstar.com Ahold Delhaize ecommerce switch helps Q1 sales in the U.S. Supermarket News How an ecommerce site increased commercial monthly organic traffic from 37K to 210K Search Engine Land Retail ecommerce spending grows in first third of year, Adobe data shows Digital Commerce 360 New Ecommerce Tools: May 7, 2024 Practical Ecommerce From Home Delivery & Store Pickups to AI Integration: The Key to Embracing Ecommerce for Grocery Retailers MarketScale How a TikTok ban could impact ecommerce retailers Digital Commerce 360 Google Revs Ecommerce SERPs Practical Ecommerce Essendant’s new interim CEO looks to fast-track B2B ecommerce Digital Commerce 360 Amazon Business survey finds small firms investing in digital commerce Digital Commerce 360 9 ways eCommerce is shaping healthcare marketing Arizona Big Media Top 28 eCommerce Marketing Agencies to Elevate Your Brand Influencer Marketing Hub Google Shopping May Show How Many Shoppers Purchased On Your E-Commerce Site Search Engine Roundtable Builders FirstSource eyes $1 billion in digital sales by 2026 Digital Commerce 360 Global Access Celebrates 22 Years of Empowering Cross-Border Ecommerce with Revolutionary Technology The Herald Journal Adobe: E-commerce Spend Grows to $331.6B, as Consumers Trade Down to Cheaper Goods Online MESA Website Adobe: 2024 e-commerce spend exceeds $330 billion so far Chain Store Age Data, online delivery and the search for continual e-commerce improvement ComputerWeekly.com US ecommerce sales penetration hits new high in 2023 Digital Commerce 360 Best ecommerce tool of 2024 TechRadar Shopify revenue and GMV grow more than 20% in Q1 Digital Commerce 360 Amazon introduces new shoppable ad formats Digital Commerce 360 Kazakhstan’s E-Commerce Surges by 79% in 2023 Astana Times BigCommerce names a former Accenture executive as president Digital Commerce 360 Common E-Commerce Challenges Businesses Face - businessnewsdaily.com Business News Daily New retailers partner with DoorDash, Instacart for last-mile delivery Digital Commerce 360 B2B buyers want (and use) multiple digital sales channels Digital Commerce 360 TikTok to expand e-commerce business into Mexico, major Western European markets South China Morning Post ACV Auctions posts a strong Q1 Digital Commerce 360 Goodwill opens Wellsboro ecommerce online location | Local | tiogapublishing.com The Wellsboro Gazette Platforms see scorching summer sending ecommerce sales soaring The Economic Times Contentsquare CMO Reveals Why Brands’ Best Acquisition Strategy is a Retention Strategy Retail TouchPoints U.S. ecommerce sales in Q4 2023 hit new high despite slow growth Digital Commerce 360 Alibaba’s flagship shopping site starts biggest revamp in 7 years South China Morning Post Liquidity Services posts mixed Q1 results for its B2B surplus assets marketplace Digital Commerce 360 How to use social media ecommerce effectively in 2024 Sprout Social E-Commerce Bolsters Brick-and-Mortar Business Floor Focus With 14 million ecommerce sites, the US is atop the online world Digital Commerce 360 Ecommerce earnings recap: What you missed from Columbia, Harley-Davidson and more Digital Commerce 360 Expat Google engineering exec Claire Southey heads home to join ecommerce marketer Rokt Startup Daily Descartes’ Annual Ecommerce Analysis Throws Light On Growth Of Online Buying Travel And Tour World Specialty Food News Specialty Food Association Has the Luxury E-Commerce Bubble Burst? The New York Times MerchantPro brings eCommerce leaders to the 2nd edition of dotCommerce Digital Forum on June 11th Romania-Insider.com Legal Business Partner - Ecommerce Law.asia E-Commerce Study Shows Online Buying Grows but Consumers Still Face Delivery Problems Supply and Demand Chain Executive Walmart eCommerce Raises the Bar and Celebrates 2023 Walmart Corporate |
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