E-Commerce Tools: Shopping Cart Software

Let's assume you now have your merchant account -- or alternative method of processing payments. Now you have to have a way to let your Web shoppers select the products they want, preview the sale amounts, delete items they change their minds about, enter in their payment and shipping information, and then cancel the order completely. (OK, hopefully they won't do that last part.) Having a good shopping cart interface is very important for a good e-commerce-enabled Web site. The easier and more intuitive you make it for your shoppers the more sales and the more repeat business you can have.

So how do you get that cute little shopping cart icon and "order me" button on your site? Well, you could pull out the Cold Fusion books and set aside a few months to code it yourself, or you could leave that fantasy world and get an off-the-shelf shopping cart program. I highly recommend the second option for several reasons. First of all, unless you're a programmer (or have good friends who are) it's going to cost quite a bit more, in terms of your time being money and all, to put together the code to do the job. Second, there are so many good programs out there now that have been proven and debugged over time that it just makes more sense. And third, you can get a lot of features for not a lot of money. Now don't get the idea that we're affiliated with any of these off-the-shelf companies-- we're not. I just recognize a time saver that's worth the money when I see it!

So what features do they have and what do you look for? Ready-to-go shopping cart programs usually offer simple template- or wizard-based tools to set up the ordering functions the way you want them. Most will also give you enough creative license to make the ordering pages have the same "look" and "feel" as the rest of your site, and then all it takes is cutting and pasting the generated code into your own html pages. Also look for:

  • SSL (secure socket layer) capabilities
  • interactivity with online authorization services
  • shipping calculators -- some also offer real-time shipping links
  • business administration tools for managing the sales cycle
  • management tools to manage your store
  • merchandising features that let you cross-sell more products
  • inventory tracking functions
  • product maintenance and categorizing tools
  • order reviewing and confirmation tools
  • sales tax calculators
  • capabilities for selecting various product options
  • e-mail order notifications
  • help functions
  • search functions
  • discount functions
  • frequent-shopper-point functions
  • price variation capabilities based on product option choices
  • database importers for the programs you are using to set up your product databases (e.g.. Microsoft Excel, Access, or even ASCII formats)

You may also find products that offer:

  • web-based administration tools that will allow you to administer changes from anywhere
  • tools to set up shopper groups to allow you to run specials for select customers
  • vendor maintenance tools if you distribute products from different vendors
  • editing capabilities for their pre-set templates

Here are some things to remember:

  • Watch for products or services that take the shopper away from your site.
  • Check out the support services and user documentation.
  • Visit some sites that are currently using the product and test them out. (Talk to the store owners if possible.)
  • If you are designing and building your own Web site, also check on development components for programs like Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver, or whatever program you are using to build your site. (Having these specific components makes integrating the shopping cart code with your site much easier.)
  • Check on system requirements and platform compatibility -- if your site is being designed on a Macintosh system then it might help to have the shopping cart software compatible.
  • Check out the payment services the program is compatible with such as Authorize.net, Cybercash, SurePay, etc.

So as you can see, there are many features to look at and compare so know your needs before you tackle it. Some programs out there to look at include: BugMall, PDG Software, and SoftCart by Mercantec (actually more of a full-site development tool).