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6 Tips For Choosing The Perfect Shopping Cart
So you have a bunch of products you'd like to sell, you
know you need a shopping cart, but you're unsure of which
one to choose. You don't want to spend a lot; however, you
want the most bang for your buck! You have a website and
all, but you're not a "Master" webmaster, and you want
something powerful and professional, without the powerful
and professional price tag. Then, this article is for you -
read on...
1. OK - Just What Is A Shopping Cart Supposed to Do?
Shopping carts are more commonly used as a way to display
physical products, products like televisions, groceries,
electronic equipment, clothes, and memorabilia, etc - NOT
digital products. Shopping carts make it easy to cross-sell
and up-sell your customers once they arrive at your store.
Shopping carts typically handle the shipping and handling
calculation, taxes and credit card processing. A good
shopping cart handles all of these efficiently and
securely.
2. Dynamic Operation
A good shopping cart program also creates dynamic order
forms on the fly as the order takes place. The shopping cart
should be totally dynamic; meaning it only executes code and
retrieves products, images, and product descriptions from
your database when your customers request it. During the
checkout process it should also calculate shipping/handling
and taxes for you.
3. Real-Time Credit Card Processing
Powerful CGI, PHP, CFM, ASP, etc, scripting, processes
commands for you on secure servers when your customers place
their orders. Don't get this confused with credit card
processing. What I'm speaking of here is the passing of your
customers' order information from a secure form, to your
merchant or payment processor, using one of the scripting
languages above. Your payment processor or merchant, like
PayPal, 2CheckOut, or Authorize.Net will then process the
credit card. If you don't currently have a merchant or
payment processor, and you are going to be selling online,
then you NEED one. You can view some recommendations here:
http://prowebware.com/merchantaccts.html
4. Usability
You can choose what options you want your customer to see.
For instance, you can choose to display a search form on
your shopping cart. A search form allows your customers to
search your store for items by keyword or product name,
etc. You can choose to display options like color, size and
quantity, and even adjust the price based on the customer's
selection. These are called options. Your shopping cart
should also allow you to upload images of your products as
well. The ProWebWare shopping cart is a well-rounded,
all-in-one solution to your shopping cart needs that's worth
a look. The ProWebWare cart is a service that's part of a
total e-business automation package. You can check it out
here:
http://prowebware.com/shopping_cart.html.
5. Stand-Alone -vs- Hosted Shopping Carts
However, you CAN purchase standalone shopping cart software
or services. The stand alone software, of course, requires
skill and expertise to install it on your web host or on
your own server. Some of the shopping cart services,
although it may not seem like it at first, limit you as to
what you can and cannot do. These services are most commonly
offered by web hosts as a way to entice you to host your
site with them. When using these types of services,
remember, you're locked into using that web host when you
opt to use their shopping cart service. Your business is not
portable and becomes a part of that web host. Make sure
there is a simple export process that allows you to easily
download your website and shopping cart if you no longer
wish to use their services. In my opinion, the best option
is to use a shopping cart that runs from your own website,
independent of your web host. Both Prowebware and
stand-alone shopping cart applications run from YOUR
website, giving you both control and flexibility.
6. So, Which Is The Right System For You?
Choosing a shopping cart boils down to 4 things:
1.
Your Budget - Is FREE your only option or are you serious
about your business?
2. Your Skill-level - Do you have the
expertise to edit & install scripts on your server?
3.
Desired Functionality - Want a professional results oriented
system or a display case?
4. Time - Have time to take away
from your business to shape and mold a new program?
Whatever you decide, your cart should also permit you
to follow-up with your customers automatically and even
auto-subscribe them to your mailing list, all of which, of
course, can be easily handled with the ProWebWare system, or
another out-of-the-box application. To implement most
out-of-the-box applications, you will need to know how to edit
PHP code and how to set up a MySQL database on your server for
dynamic operation. If you opt for the ProWebWare e-business
Automation System to automate your shopping cart as well as
your entire e-business, then all you need to know is how to
copy/paste some simple code to your existing website. The
system also includes contextual help menus that walk you
through setting up your new cart.
If either of these fits you, Prowebware or a boxed program,
then, why not try one of them today? The ProWebWare system
is easy to setup and it offers a free trial period so you
can try it out and see if the system is right for you.
Check out their free trial certificate here,
http://prowebware.com/order.html, or check out their
shopping cart features here:
http://prowebware.com/shopping_cart.html.
About the author:
Ettione Stuckey, Performance Technologist, Webmaster, Internet
Marketer Ettione holds degrees in electronics and business. His
passion is ecommerce and Internet Marketing. Ettione is an
accomplished webmaster, who runs several ecommerce websites. He
understands the science and application of ecommerce technology
and concepts. "ProWebWare E-Business Automation" is his fourth
website and is a big HIT for its powerful ecommerce features and
Written by: Ettione Stuckey
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