If you're looking for an ecommerce shopping cart solution to sell products online, there are 5 main things you should research before making a decision.
Start by making a list of the things you want to achieve with your shopping cart.
Will you need a gift registry, an affiliate program, a mobile store (yes!), or cart design?
Would you like social features so your customers can share product information with their friends and groups online? Of course! Do your research, and make sure the shopping cart you choose offers these critical features...
Advanced Features
Look for an ecommerce shopping cart with sophisticated features like: batch order processing, automated drop shipping, purchase order management and advanced CRM. And to help grow your business, get the right marketing tools, such as built-in newsletters, a rewards program, gift registry and affiliate program.
Full Support
To get the help you deserve, pick a provider that offers 24x7x365 support. Without this, you'll be out of luck if you ever encounter an issue after-hours, or on weekends and holidays. And if you do find a provider that offers 24x7x365 support, dig a little deeper. Can you reach them by phone or only email? How big is their support staff?
Security
Keeping your business and customers safe is a big part of selling online. That's why it's critical to select a shopping cart solution that exceeds industry security standards. You need a solution that's fully PCI Certified and is on Visa's list of providers. This level of security provides a much bigger safety net than mere compliance.
Social and Mobile Selling
Your online business needs to be in the social media and mobile mix. When picking a shopping cart solution, look for one that offers a built-in mobile optimized store. You'll also need tools that allow you to list and share your products across multiple social sites. Volusion is an example of a platform that includes a Social Store Builder™ in its software as well as mobile optimization.
Shopping Cart Design Features
Customers won't buy from your site if it doesn't look credible. That's why it's particularly important to have a full suite of design options. From dozens of free templates to full design code access, you need to be in charge of creating a site that's unique and professional.
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If you are more of a visual person, take a look at this infographic from Volusion that provides a blueprint to choosing the right shopping cart:
Volusion is a leading Ecommerce Shopping Cart provider. Give them a test drive to see if they are the right fit for the products you're selling online!
Best,
disclosure: I am affiliated with Volusion, the ecommerce shopping cart solution
About Lynn Terry
Funny thing is, I have been working on wp-ecommerce and I gotta tell ya.. skinning that thing is NOT fun! it looks like this eCommerce solution is remotely hosted, it looks good! but I am wondering if you have any recommendations for an eCommerce solution that someone could host them selves on their own website?
@ Jubair - ZenCart is an Open Source shopping cart that is also free and doesn't have some of the restrictions that Volusion does. There is a huge learning curve with Zencart though. However they do have community forums that are pretty helpful
Wow! That's a really cool infographic. 😀
With regards to features, I think having simplicity is important. Too many features can over-complicate things and increase the learning curve and management complexity.
Ditto for design features. I currently use CS-Cart and it is extremely difficult to customize the themes available for it. I'm strongly considering moving to a WordPress platform and using Cart66 as my shopping cart plugin.
Really planning to implement one.. hope to find easy and of course affordalbe ones... thanks for the tips.
Lynn,
Quick question. I noticed that you are affiliated with Volusion. Quick question. Do you use them personally and if so, are you happy with them?
Also, what is the learning curve like???
Mark
I do not use Volusion myself, as I do all affiliate marketing (no shopping cart required). I am affiliated with them via CJ.com (affiliate network) and they are working with me on content development to help ecommerce site owners.
I heard Zencart is very good plus it's open source. can't wait to lay my hands on one of these shopping cart softwares.
thanks lynn, it's important to have a good shopping cart if you want to build a profitable shopping cart.
For now i'm working with wp-ecommerce and I must admit it gives me headaches (sometimes). In the past I've tried osCommerce, Magento and PrestaShop but the last I liked most. Anyway, it's good to know that we have alternatives when it comes to ecommerce solutions.
WP-Ecommerce is pretty alright. If you're looking for a great WordPress shopping cart however, I highly recommend "Shopp" (you can get that at bit.ly/shopplugin). Foxyshop is another great alternative from Foxycart.
There are a heck of a lot of choices out there, but I know these two are some of the best ones you can find.
I would definitely opt for a shopping cart solution that is "on the cloud" rather than an installation solution. Don't get me wrong, I love WordPress, but I wouldn't want to use a WordPress shopping cart plugin or theme. Instead I would opt for a cloud-computing solution with all the bells and whistles.
I'm glad you mentioned an affiliate program feature. Many online stores still don't have an affiliate program which I find baffling given the many easy solutions available. From a retailer's perspective, an affiliate program is one of the best marketing tools available because it only costs the retailer money when a sale is made.
I'm in one niche and I approached a software service about an affiliate program and they said they tried it but didn't get many sales. I suspect they didn't actively manage their affiliate program. Running an affiliate program requires effort and working with affiliates. But when it works, it really works. The exposure can be viral. By actively managing, I'm talking about creating great incentives for affiliates and approaching hand-selected affiliates to work with. Yes, it's effort, but if you get a few of the right affiliate marketing your product and online store, the results can be spectacular.
Wooow
I have only had problems with Volusion.
I had a client that lost thousands of dollars every month because the checkout did not work half of the time.
He changed shopping cart provider and his sales skyrocketed.
Or rather his profit, since he obviously had customers, they just could not get through the shopping cart...
So my 2 cents is that I would not use Volusion....
Madelaine
Thanks for posting the key essentials to ecommerce shopping carts. Support and security are #1 for me.
Did you see that 1shoppingcart now has a shopping cart solution called 1SCStores? I haven't tried it yet. Anyone else have experience with it?
Madelaine,
What shopping cart did your friend change to?
~ Regina
We built a heavily customized theme on WP platform e-com website for a client (url above)...it was a tough build out with lots of bugs initially, but worth the effort. Another option: OpenCart on WP; a much simplified and easier to work with cart. It matters if client is going to be hands on with updating their shops...some of the carts are not user friendly for editing purposes.
For the wordpress users, I'm using dukapress as a cart. It's simple - doesn't have a lot of those extra features, but they are continuously building more into it.
I've used zencart in the past and unless you understand coding, you'll have to pay someone to make it look good.
I like Volusion but their reporting features are horrible. I can't balance my sales to my credit card statements without hiring them or someone else to build a SQL report for me ($300.) Other then that Volusion has lots of bells and whistles that most others don't. Customer service is friendly, wait times can be a bit long. Learning curve is just OK. The system is not intuitive but their manual is great. I give it 3.5 stars.
Currently I am using 1shoppingcart but it is up to $149/mth now because I have over 10,000 in my database. I do like that it offers a decent 2 tier affiliate program and has autoresponders. Does Volusion have similar features? I can't find any mention about autoresponders with them. I also like the fact that the products are a link that I just add to a button. Volusion sounds more like an e-commerce store correct? Plus, could I use the same one with different domains as currently I do this with 1SC.
I've been using Volusion for over a year. I have had issues with the shopping cart sometimes not adding shipping in properly and other issues with wait times for customer service. You do not get a mobile site even if you pay for the highest price package, as I do- this still incurs an extra fee. The support is good, but there is no support as far as design or coding. You use their templates and everything above and beyond is extra money. It is expensive, but if you have a large ecommerce site like I do, it's worth it.
Lisa,
Off subject here but ... Just wanted to say, that's a pretty slick site you have. Had to email the link to my Mom out in SoCal. She likes that kind of stuff.
Rick Wilson aka CorpRebel 😎
Hi Lisa,
The mobile features are actually available on all of their packages. You may want to double check with them on that issue.
I have shop on volusion and am a member of a forum where others use yahoo stores. In comparison, Volusion wins hands down - it is more friendly, cheaper, and has more features. In the past I have used 3dcart and several others, I prefer volusion.
I built my site myself, using one of their default templates and I am very happy with it, though I am sure I could do a better job if I started again now.
I like using the wordpress ecommerce plugin, but it took a while to get the hang of. I think that if you have complex option with your products, volusion and something like it may be a better choice. I know a friend who sells area rugs had problems finding a suitable cart because of the need for searches within searches.
Hi Lynn, great article in a business which develops very rapidly. Although we reviewed the big OpenSource packages like Magento, X-cart, OpenCart, tomatocart & bigCommerce we finished building it mannualy based on PHP and MySQL. Basically it's not the product itself which makes an eCommerce solution succesfull. It's the people who build and support it! Our starting point was creating a shortlist of demands and wishes and finally found the company we felt comfortable with.
If you just want to experiment with shopping carts I think zencart is the best place to start. It has pretty much all the features mentioned above and best of all, it is open source!