Shopping cart software on a virtual retail store is software which allows you to purchase a product or service. It facilitates payments of customers and eases distribution of the details to the parties, merchants and payment processor.
Why are shopping carts so important?
Shopping carts narrow down the distance between buying and shopping, thus, installing the right shopping cart software is very important for your site. Maybe those new in the ecommerce field may be unfamiliar with this approach. Usually each one of us has made an online purchase at some or the other point in our life. But do consumers acknowledge the need and ability that shopping carts possess. The three common aspects of a cart include:
- It has details of the product
- It is a gateway to place your order, check catalog and for consumer management.
- It provides product data, different sections and categories and site info for display to consumers.
So, all in all, online shopping cart is somewhat like tangible ones at the market, but it has a lot more feathers in its cap.
What all options do you have?
For those who wish to create an online shopping store or an ecommerce platform route, here are the major kinds of carts you can go for:
Hosted shopping carts:
A third party gives the service of serve backups, upgrades as well as maintenance hosting the solution. The best thing is that it comes for free which means it doesn’t cost a single penny for the third party to allow your site to be functional online. The major shortcoming with this is that consumers are directed to another domain for payment.
Licensed shopping carts:
This permits the business owners to create a cart of their choice and personalize as per their needs. You will have a lot more flexibility in changing the functionality and features of your cart. But, the upfront expenses are higher and need more expertise at times of technical support and troubleshooting.
Open source shopping cart software
Open source software comes with open license which permits the developer to access and customize the source code. It has its own pros and cons. The software is available for free with source codes accessible to the programmers anywhere and everywhere and you get modified versions readily accessible too.
Features of shopping cart software
As per your solutions, you get different plans and feature set. But they do share common functions. Here are the basic specs of shopping cart software:
Easy and quick administrations: Shopping carts come with a remarkable administration panel where you have the facility to store products, update data and personalize different permissions. The panel features a simple layout and quick and easy navigation along with data in logical subfolders and folders to keep all the functionalities at your service.
Functional product displays and catalogs: The online shopping carts strike a visual interaction with the consumers, providing them amazing product photos and detailed description along with different searching controls. They give the user the flexibility to resize, zoom, save a picture or even check animations or videos of the product online.
Product reviews: It is on the shopping cart where your potential buyers read the users experiences and review of the past customers and provide their feedback too. Ratings, testimonials and evaluations are also done here to help the buyers take the right decision.
Selection filters: Easy and faceted navigation is important to any shopping cart installation allowing you to look at a product with right functional search button. Different filters allow the buyers to narrow down their search panel and shortlist the product their want to purchase. Color, size, material, price, shipping are some of the filters needed.
Checkout pack: Shopping carts allow efficient and quick checkout giving the buyers a chance to fulfill your order and pay for the product without availing third-party service. It means that your shopping card should the facility to process credit card payment, sync with other payment gateways and support other payment modes possible. Shopping carts also keep a check on your shipping procedures and update the buyer as and when changes are done.
Special offers and benefits: It is your shopping cart which permits the online sellers to engage and maintain their clientele list. It is done by collecting precious customer data. As the buyer comes in your database, you can design special offers, discounts and coupons along with offer prices to gain their loyalty. You can also add a subscription offer along with different options for them.
Analytics and reporting: Shopping carts collect vital intelligence for your store via their own processing abilities or through third part integration like Google Analytics. It helps you to find out about the positive and negative, rising and falling sales trends. You can separate your prospective buyers from inefficient buyers or abandons too.
Full-fledged chat assistance: Shopping carts play a vital role in your purchase, thereby ensuring that the customer gets sufficient support and answer to all his queries. Thus, it should feature an integrated chat service so that you are available for round the clock for your customers.
3D cart is one of the best shopping cart software with most rich feature that renders best ecommerce solution for any type or size of business.