Increase Your Sales With A Smart Shopping Cart
We are often asked by small business owners about the best shopping cart software for their business. We have prepared this Shopping Cart Buying Guide to help you make the best decision when purchasing a shopping cart solution for your online store.
What Is A Shopping Cart?
A shopping cart is an e-commerce application that allows an individual to collect items to be purchased, so they can buy them all at once.
What Is The Purpose Of A Shopping Cart?
The purpose of a shopping cart is for online stores to have an e-commerce solution that allows customers to purchase multiple items within one transaction. This eliminates the double entry of data which helps increase the likelihood that an order will be placed.
What Kind Of Shopping Carts Are There?
There are two main types of shopping carts for e-commerce stores:
Hosted Shopping Carts
These have the least amount of work needed on your end because they are hosted on someone else's servers. This kind of shopping cart software typically has limitations on things to track for your store, but are generally very easy to use.
Self-Hosted Shopping Carts
These require you or your employees to upload the files to a server that you own. This means that there are no limitations other than what you set yourself. We recommend this kind of shopping cart for most e-commerce stores because it gives you the freedom to have everything your store needs.
Types Of Shopping Carts
There are several different types of shopping carts that can be used by online merchants. Some of the most popular carts are:
A full page shopping cart is a shopping cart design where images on the site are directly linked to products on your online store. All of the products have links that allow people to purchase them, and there is no need for separate pages for checkout.
-
Single Product Layouts
A single product layout is shopping cart design where all of the products are listed on one page with each item having its own shortcode or link that directs people to the checkout page.
-
Mini/Light Box Layouts
A mini (light box) layout is a shopping cart design that has images of the products on your site while linking to a separate page for more information.
-
Advanced Layouts
An advanced layout is shopping cart design where all of the different types of layouts are combined into one complete shopping cart.
Deliver Best Shopping Cart Experience
One of the most important things to remember when it comes to shopping cart abandonment is that there's no such thing as a “one size fits all” solution. Everyone has different needs and preferences, so listening to your customers and understanding their specific pain points will help you deliver an experience they'll return for again and again. If we're helping you with this issue, let us know how we can be of assistance! It doesn't matter if you need more shoppers on-site or less abandoned carts – our team at Sharp Tack Media are experts in both conversion optimization AND customer retention. What does your store do differently than others? Let us know!
