Choosing a Shopping Cart Software for Your Store
Published in Design & Development
Proper planning is the key to any successful business. If you are thinking of starting an online store you are probably already starting to plan the layout, design, navigation structure, etc. Planning for a shopping cart is just as important, and deciding on a shopping cart software should be done as early as possible in development.
The shopping cart or e-commerce software can significantly affect your website's layout and available features. You should have a good idea of what features you want to include in your website before getting started. You should find a shopping cart that can offer these features plus meet other important criteria.
Why don't I just create my own?
Creating a shopping cart is a very involved, lengthy and complicated task. Why reinvent the wheel if it isn't neccessary? There are hundreds of viable shopping carts and e-commerce systems commerically available ranging from free to costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. There is a good chance that there is already a shopping cart with all the features you need.
Another issue to consider is security. Writing secure code is a neccessity when creating a shopping cart that will accept or store customer information.
Do you have to integrate with an existing website or start from scratch?
Some shopping carts are simple and only handle the checkout process, and require you to simply add snippets of code (order buttons) to your existing pages. This works best for those who are trying to e-commerce-enable an existing website.
However, if you are starting from scratch you may want to find a more complex system. Shopping carts that can create your product pages are extremely useful when changing product information, adding new products or deleting products.
What features do you need in a shopping cart?
There are thousands of different features and every store is unique. You may need only basic functions or you may need all the bells and whistles of the largest e-commerce websites. You should determine what features your site will utilize before deciding on a cart. It is very frustrating to be half-way done integrating a cart into your website only to find that it doesn't support a neccessary feature.
Below are a list of some features you may need in an e-commerce system. You most likely will not need all of these features, and you may need some not listed here. This will give you a starting point to work from:
- Dynamic Product/Page Creation
- Database-Driven
- User Registration
- Coupon Codes
- Affiliate Tracking
- Inventory Tracking
- Product Options
- Product Reviews
- Shipper Integration (FedEx, UPS, USPS)
- Template-Driven (easily customizable)
- Order Management/Editing
- Support for multiple payment processors
- Product categories and sub-categories
- Top Seller List
- Cross-Selling Products
- Multiple Currency Support
- Gift Certificates
- Price Discounts based on Quantity/Order Total
- Order Download into Quickbooks, etc.
Technical Considerations
There are several technical aspects you must consider when selecting a shopping cart. Many shopping carts require you host on their servers. If you already have a website, this may not be a viable option for you especially if you've paid for a year of hosting in advance.
If you are installing your shopping cart, you must be careful to use a cart that is compatible with your hosting (or get hosting that is compatible with your shopping cart). An ASP/MS SQL shopping cart will not work on a Linux web server (and vice versa). Make sure your web server meets all the listed requirements before purchasing the software. If something is missing, ask your host if they can install the missing component.
Shopping Cart Pricing
Shopping carts and e-commerce systems range in price from free to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Make sure the solution you choose meets your needs, but don't go overboard. You could easily spend too much money on a solution that is much more than you will ever need.
On the same note, don't always go for the free option either. Most free shopping carts are developed by programmers part-time and some haven't been updated in months or years. If you decide to use a free shopping cart, make sure that there is adequate support from either the developers or other users online and that bugs or security issues are addressed immediately.
Scalability
Everyone that starts an online store has dreams of becoming the next Amazon or Ebay. You will probably never reach the level of these conglomerates, but you should be prepared for growth. Make sure the cart you choose is scalable and can handle a large number of orders and visitors simultaneously. Also make sure theat it has all the features you will need, or that you can upgrade to a more advanced version if needed.
Technical Support
You will eventually need help with your shopping cart. You will either need assistance setting up or installing, configuring or maybe customizing the cart to fit your website. You may encounter a bug or error that needs to be addressed. It is important that there is quick support because even one day of problems can lead to a significant number of lost sales (and revenues).
Conclusion
There are many factors that affect which shopping cart or e-commerce system you should choose for your store. Make sure you feel comfortable with the cart you choose and that it is priced within your budget. Contact a few stores using the cart you choose and ask them some questions about the cart. Do they like it? Does it work well for their store?
For a list of e-commerce systems and shopping carts, see the Directory tab at the top of the page.
About Brandon Eley
I am an Internet entrepreneur and own several e-commerce companies. I started 2BigFeet.com in 1999 and have shipped big shoes to all 50 states, most provinces and over 40 countries all over the world. We have a warehouse and retail store in LaGrange, GA.
I also work as the Interactive Director for Kelsey Advertising & Design. I am responsible for enterprise level web applications for Fortune 100 companies as well as e-commerce websites and other client projects.
I also run several content websites and write for several publications, including SitePoint where I am also a Community Advisor, The Apple Blog and others.
