Software Shopping Cart

Software shopping cart is a series of scripts that keep track of items a visitor picks to buy from your site until they proceed to the "checkout". A popular misconception is that software shopping carts handle the whole financial transaction, but they only really act as a front end which passes information via a secure connection (another service) to a payment gateway - a separate service altogether.
 
The payment gateway for the software shopping cart service then channels the requests and transfers throughout relevant financial networks, including the Internet merchant account with your bank. It then sends back confirmation or denial back to the software shopping cart.

The good news is that there are literally hundreds of software shopping cart packages available.. Sometimes, too many choices make it very difficult to make a decision - especially when all companies claim to have the superior software shopping cart product.

Free and premium software shopping carts
It's very important before you begin reviewing software shopping cart and services to be to be very specific in what you actually want the cart to be able to do. It may be that you really don't require all the bells and buzzers offered by high end software shopping cart packages - if this is the case, then a good package will cost around the $US150 mark. Some companies offer free software shopping carts, but bear in mind that nothing in this world is truly free - read the fine print.

Free ecommerce solutions
One of the best free ecommerce solutions around is Paypal, which integrates basic software shopping cart functions with a payment gateway and merchant account - funds are paid to you via check or through direct deposit.
The only drawback with using Paypal as an ecommerce solution is that your customers must be Paypal account holders - but they become account holders by purchasing from you - the sign-up process is integrated into the checkout process. Paypal is an excellent way to begin in ecommerce and is very widely accepted around the world.

You only pay a small percentage of each sale and there are no monthly fees or setup costs, plus you receive free fraud protection - no chargeback fees to worry about. Paypal also offers web developers a wide variety of easy to use tools to assist with rapid implementation.

Other features of software shopping cart
Software shopping cart has come a long way in recent years, and many packages are so advanced that they are in effect entire store fronts. Some integrated elements of software shopping cart are:

Selling functions
Just as in the physical world, impulse buying via the Internet is quite common. Some software shopping cart will suggest another product to complement a customers current selection. If offered at a discount rate, this strategy proves quite successful.

Quantity discounts/coupons
Many software shopping cart now allow for the calculation of discount rates based on the number of units a customer wishes to purchase. Coupon functions in software shopping cart allow you to issue special offers as part of your marketing campaigns.

Auto responders
If you follow up all your clients with regular email offers, you may want to consider software shopping cart software that has integrated auto responder capabilities - this will streamline your operations and can be used for maintaining other contact lists as well.

Affiliate modules
One of the most effective, low cost ways to advertise your product is through an affiliate program. Your outlay is minimal if you only pay on performance; i.e. sales generated. An affiliate module can handle the signup process, provide statistics, streamline communications and keep track of payments to be made to affiliates.

Other features commonly incorporated into carts include inventory tracking, sales tax calculation and stationery creation/management.

Kind of software shopping cart
Software shopping cart scripts are written in many different coding formats - PERL, PHP, ASP just to name a few. Be sure to check with your host before purchasing a program.

o It's easy to blow your budget on a turbo-charged software shopping cart only to find that there were a number of other critical items you didn't factor in - like a payment gateway, or the fact that the cart software may be so complex that you need to hire somebody else to assist in implementation!
o Another strategy employed by some Shopping carts software for soft goods online delivery is to use a static URL for downloading, but scripting is implemented to ensure the visitor to the page has come via the software shopping cart after a successful transaction has occurred.
o If you are selling hard goods that need shipping, choice of cart is a little easier as this is a standard function. Many carts also offer customers the ability to calculate different shipping options. If you are trading in soft goods such as software and want to make delivery available online immediately, you'll need to carefully compare carts.
o As an example, some software shopping carts that are capable of delivering goods online redirect customers to a static download page after a successful transaction. This isn't a good idea as the customer (and his/her friends) are able to return to the page to download again and again. A better equipped software shopping cart will only provide customers with a temporary URL, that will be unique to that customer and may only be available for a few hours after purchase before it is deleted.
o Yet another soft goods delivery means used by carts is that the software shopping cart is attached to an email sent to the customer after a successful transaction. This may be suitable for very small files, but I don't think many ISP's would appreciate you sending 20 megabyte attachments to a customers inbox - in fact, it would not be possible in many instances.
o Does the software shopping cart allow for scalability? While you may not require bells and buzzers now, as your business grows you may find that your needs change. The better software shopping carts are in a modular format which allow for scalability with minimum downtime. Be sure to check the prices of modules you may need in the future.
o There are dozens of different payment gateways which plug into various software shopping cart packages . Before purchasing your software shopping cart, also review gateway services supported by the software (and also make sure that the payment gateway is compatible with the Internet merchant account you have with your bank). It can be a bit of a challenge getting the software shopping cart you want to talk to the gateway service you want and also to your bank!
o Your software shopping cart must support credit card transactions and you must enable credit card processing.
There are still some customers who will refuse to use a credit card over the Internet, so your software shopping cart will need to be able to offer other forms of payment - e.g. money orders, checks etc.
o A good software shopping cart application will have excellent support for backing up files and allowing for export into a variety of formats. Flexible exporting functions will also be of value in the future should you need to change carts and wish to import existing data into a new application.
o All shopping cart software providers will tell you that their software is simple to install and configure. Few shopping cart software providers will be actually correct in making that statement. If you don't have the technical expertise to configure your shopping cart software, get quotes from the company or a third party contractor to undertake this work for you.
o Some shopping cart software companies also offer user forums as part of their service. This is an excellent bonus. If you are having problems with setting up your scripts, no doubt someone else has experienced the same issues and may be willing to help you out.
o Be sure to review the shopping cart software company's "bug" policy; i.e. if an error in the shopping cart software is fixed and an updated version is released, will you be entitled to receive that upgrade or patch at no cost.
A shopping cart software is so crucial that it may not be wise to purchase a product from a one-man operation as customer support may not be efficient.
o Some shopping cart software programs can be purchased as stand alone programs or as pay per month services hosted on another companies' server. Remotely hosted shopping cart software usually allow for extensive customization of pages to fit in with your sites look and feel.
o Fast implementation, secure connection supplied, monitoring of service and usually many other features are offered as part of the service of Shopping cart software. Because the cart is actually hosted on another server, you can also save on bandwidth charges - especially if your products are soft goods and delivered online.
o Some remotely hosted shopping cart software are in effect total marketing solutions, containing options to run affiliate programs and the ability to send sequential pre-defined messages to clients and leads. Some of these shopping cart software services are excellent for people 'testing the water' as they also include gateway services and even an Internet merchant account!

Compare prices of shopping cart software carefully. Remember, this added recurring expense of shopping cart software will need to be taken into account when establishing a price level for your products and services If you are looking for features without needing to spending thousands of dollars up front, remotely hosted may be the way to go..

There is a lot to consider before purchasing shopping cart software or services. It is very important to remember that the shopping cart software is only one part of your ecommerce arsenal. Without an effective payment gateway and Internet merchant account (sometimes these are combined), the shopping cart software is useless.