Setting up an online shopping cart, is a necessary part of setting up your online store. If you plan on opening an online business, you’re going to need to figure out what shopping cart is the best for your business. And if you’re a first-time ecommerce merchant, things may seem a little intimidating at first, but do not worry you’ve already experienced a shopping cart when making an online purchase.

At some point you went to an online store and selected a few products; you reviewed and modified your products; and eventually entered your credit card delivery information and a few days later, “voila”, your items arrived at your doorstep. Guess what? You just used an online shopping cart. 

An online shopping cart behind the scenes does a lot more than display products and allow sales. A great shopping cart allows you to streamline the shopping experience for your customer and the administrative part for you as a merchant. In this article we will breakdown the types of shopping carts available, the features that make up a good shopping cart and how to select a shopping cart that is good for your business.

From accepting payments, to organizing distribution of data to all parties (customer, merchant processor, merchant, etc.). It’s an extremely important tool that must be selectively chosen in order to bridge the gap between shopping and buying for all customers.

 

TYPES OF ONLINE SHOPPING CARTS

The first thing you need to know is that you will most likely need to choose from a hosted or self-hosted shopping cart. There are a few types of online shopping carts, but these are the most common. 

 

Hosted Shopping Carts

These are ready-to-go solutions managed by the company who created them, meaning that all you need to do is to sign up with your chosen host and you’re all set.   

These are as straightforward as using pre-made website templates to set up a completely new store or simply add purchase buttons to your existing website and start selling immediately. Hosted shopping carts are often recommended for those who are just starting their business because they require less technical expertise.

 

Samples of hosted shopping carts:

• Volusion
• Shopify
• Big Commerce

 

Licensed Shopping Carts or Self-Hosted

These are 100% customizable solutions that you can host, build and customize to your specific businessneeds. There is much greater flexibility in changing features and functionality, as well as adding third-partytools if needed.  However, the upfront costs are often higher and require more hands-on expertise for troubleshootingissues and technical support.

 

Samples of licensed shopping carts:

• WooCommerce
• Magento 
• OpenCart

 

WHAT MAKES A GOOD SHOPPING CART?

A really good shopping cart truly depends on your business needs and your knowledge of software. Will you be able to maintain the software and add plugins? Will you need to hire someone to help you? Whatever you decide, you can start by considering these standard features:   

 

Security

In order to protect your customers from identity and information theft, it’s always important to look for a secure software that contains the latest certifications and compliances. For example, an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate that verifies that all information passing through your website is safe.     

 

User-friendly

User-friendly navigation and simple functional design are vital for online shopping carts. The more complicated the navigation process for the checkout, the fewer people will want to finish the transaction. This also contributes to the entire user experience of the website, since it’ll make it easier forcustomers to shop.

Some shopping carts offer Abandoned Cart Recovery which saves your customers information when they do not finish checking out and even send them a reminder email to come back and finish purchasing their items.  

 

Easy Administration

Ideally, your shopping cart will have an excellent administration panel where you can store items, updatedata, set different permissions and be able to make checkout fast and efficient. Also, consider selecting a shopping cart software that offers 24/7 customer support if you think that is what you will need. Some shopping carts do not offer support for their most basic plans.  

 

Automatic Calculation of Miscellaneous & Extra Fees

It’s very important that your software has the ability to calculate and display all the fees associated tothe customer purchase, as well as the taxes based on his location and the shipping fees if applicable.

 

HOW TO SELECT THE BEST SHOPPING CART FOR YOU? 

Like previously mentioned, an online shopping cart is a piece of software that facilitates the purchase of a product or service. However, different shopping carts software offer different features. An online shopping cart allows you to manage inventory, ship orders, and manages the distribution of information to the merchant payment processor and other relevant parties.  

When deciding what shopping cart to choose for your business make sure you have considered these questions: 

• Is this software scalable for when your business grows? 
• Does it integrate with your specific payment gateway? 
• Does it integrate with your other software, like a CRM? 
• Do you need technical support? 
• Do you need a website with your shopping cart? 
• Would you like to have search engine optimization? 
• Do you want to sell on social media or just on your website? 

 

 

Before you choose your online shopping cart, remember that most shopping cart softwares offer a free trial period and you should really try taking advantage of that. If this is your first setting up your online store, we recommend that you set everything up with the same company. It might be a little more expensive, but in the end it’s worth avoiding the headaches that may come from dealing with different parties.

 

To get started, call or email us at: (866) 444-8585, info@tcbpay.com.