Nov
26
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Jeev Trika asked:
When was the last time you went around hunting for a discount? I am sure a lot of us are familiar with the sight of someone in the family clipping out newspaper coupons and sifting through catalogues for some good deals. The search for saving money has always been around in different forms. After all, when it comes to saving a buck or two, everyone is interested.
Now, the Internet puts a new twist to the whole idea of discount shopping. As people become more and more comfortable with shopping online, they realize that they actually can search out products based on the budget they have for a certain product. It’s a rather easy process. There are numerous shopping comparison sites where you can search out what kind of offers retailers have and make a decision based on that information.
Shopping comparison sites, more popularly known as ‘shopping bots’, are appearing all over the Internet. The Internet has already taken the strain out of shopping and now shopping comparison sites are here to make the whole deal easier (though there are others who believe that shopping bots are not doing as well as one might think they are). Shopping bots take advantage of the fact that there is too much information on the Internet. If you want to buy, say for example, a mobile phone, simply searching the words “mobile phone” or “buying mobile phones” (or other variations of these search terms) will most probably give you a mind-boggling list of results. You couldn’t possibly go through all those sites without driving yourself crazy with information overload.
A better option might be to refer to a shopping bot. A shopping bot will give you prices that are available online based on your specifics. So you can actually choose the brand and model of the mobile phone you want and these sites will help you find the relevant information and usually the best prices.
It all comes down to the fact that everyone loves to save money. Previously, the obvious choice was to scurry in and out of stores, gathering information and then making your final decision. Shopping bots make it possible to do the same by sitting in front of your computer screen. Shopping bots are not necessarily used only as part of a high involvement purchase. Even if the product that a shopper is seeking to purchase costs only a few dollars, he or she might choose to refer to a shopping bot. This is mainly due to the convenience factor. Information can be found on a shopping comparison site within a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
One thing we all have got quite used to is the amount of choice we have when we buy something regardless of if it is online or offline. That is one major attraction that shopping bots have for consumers. As if the Internet didn’t already provide enough choices, shopping bots aim at bringing all these choices on to one page for you. Online shoppers also put in a fair amount of confidence into these bots and this is what these sites should aim to maintain.
The flipside of comparison shopping sites, on the other hand, is that they might not actually be giving you what they are saying they are giving you. There are sites on the Internet, which does a good job at finding the best that there is on offer, and there are other sites that don’t perform so well with the information gathering. Your task is to identify the good quality bots from the less efficient ones.
At the same time, it pays (no pun intended) to know how these shopping bots actually work. To the general population it might seem like shopping comparison sites rank products merely based on their prices. That does not always need to be the case. There are instances where retailers can pay for top ranking which means that those retailers who are willing to pay more will occupy the top slots on the site. This is a slightly sticky situation since consumers might not realize that a site appears on top, not because it has the cheapest offer, but because it has paid to be there.
Not all shoppers are all starry-eyed about shopping bots. There are plenty who are not really convinced that these comparison sites are as good as they claim to be. It could be the skepticism towards something that works so easily. After all, there are plenty of people who believe that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Then again, there is also that section of consumers who believe that they can do a better job at finding the best prices available and do not need to rely on a website for that.
It all comes down to your personal attitudes towards shopping comparison sites. There is no doubt that these sites make shopping online easier than it already is. It, of course, helps to know how these sites work so that you can be aware of where the information is coming from. After all, it is your hard earned money that is going to these retailers.
ROOSEVELT
When was the last time you went around hunting for a discount? I am sure a lot of us are familiar with the sight of someone in the family clipping out newspaper coupons and sifting through catalogues for some good deals. The search for saving money has always been around in different forms. After all, when it comes to saving a buck or two, everyone is interested.
Now, the Internet puts a new twist to the whole idea of discount shopping. As people become more and more comfortable with shopping online, they realize that they actually can search out products based on the budget they have for a certain product. It’s a rather easy process. There are numerous shopping comparison sites where you can search out what kind of offers retailers have and make a decision based on that information.
Shopping comparison sites, more popularly known as ‘shopping bots’, are appearing all over the Internet. The Internet has already taken the strain out of shopping and now shopping comparison sites are here to make the whole deal easier (though there are others who believe that shopping bots are not doing as well as one might think they are). Shopping bots take advantage of the fact that there is too much information on the Internet. If you want to buy, say for example, a mobile phone, simply searching the words “mobile phone” or “buying mobile phones” (or other variations of these search terms) will most probably give you a mind-boggling list of results. You couldn’t possibly go through all those sites without driving yourself crazy with information overload.
A better option might be to refer to a shopping bot. A shopping bot will give you prices that are available online based on your specifics. So you can actually choose the brand and model of the mobile phone you want and these sites will help you find the relevant information and usually the best prices.
It all comes down to the fact that everyone loves to save money. Previously, the obvious choice was to scurry in and out of stores, gathering information and then making your final decision. Shopping bots make it possible to do the same by sitting in front of your computer screen. Shopping bots are not necessarily used only as part of a high involvement purchase. Even if the product that a shopper is seeking to purchase costs only a few dollars, he or she might choose to refer to a shopping bot. This is mainly due to the convenience factor. Information can be found on a shopping comparison site within a matter of minutes, if not seconds.
One thing we all have got quite used to is the amount of choice we have when we buy something regardless of if it is online or offline. That is one major attraction that shopping bots have for consumers. As if the Internet didn’t already provide enough choices, shopping bots aim at bringing all these choices on to one page for you. Online shoppers also put in a fair amount of confidence into these bots and this is what these sites should aim to maintain.
The flipside of comparison shopping sites, on the other hand, is that they might not actually be giving you what they are saying they are giving you. There are sites on the Internet, which does a good job at finding the best that there is on offer, and there are other sites that don’t perform so well with the information gathering. Your task is to identify the good quality bots from the less efficient ones.
At the same time, it pays (no pun intended) to know how these shopping bots actually work. To the general population it might seem like shopping comparison sites rank products merely based on their prices. That does not always need to be the case. There are instances where retailers can pay for top ranking which means that those retailers who are willing to pay more will occupy the top slots on the site. This is a slightly sticky situation since consumers might not realize that a site appears on top, not because it has the cheapest offer, but because it has paid to be there.
Not all shoppers are all starry-eyed about shopping bots. There are plenty who are not really convinced that these comparison sites are as good as they claim to be. It could be the skepticism towards something that works so easily. After all, there are plenty of people who believe that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. Then again, there is also that section of consumers who believe that they can do a better job at finding the best prices available and do not need to rely on a website for that.
It all comes down to your personal attitudes towards shopping comparison sites. There is no doubt that these sites make shopping online easier than it already is. It, of course, helps to know how these sites work so that you can be aware of where the information is coming from. After all, it is your hard earned money that is going to these retailers.
ROOSEVELT
Nov
19
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Tiekie asked:
is a shopping cart?
In a basic definition, it’s 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 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 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 shopping cart software. For further information on the “back-end” aspects of ecommerce; read our guide to payment gateways and merchant accounts.
The good news is that there are literally hundreds of shopping cart packages available. The bad news is the same as the good. Sometimes, too many choices make it very difficult to make a decision - especially when all companies claim to have the superior product. After having worked with or examined over a hundred different shopping cart applications over the years, I hope this article may make your life just a little bit easier!
Free or premium shopping carts?
It’s very important before you begin reviewing software 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 packages - if this is the case, then a good package will cost around the $US250 - $300 mark; with some excellent, and in my opinion, crucial features included at the high end of that range. Some companies offer free shopping carts, but bear in mind that nothing in this world is truly free - read the fine print.
Be careful not to limit yourself either - you may only want limited features initially, but what about in the future? Give yourself room to grow as having to change software mid-stream to a totally different package can be a real time-sucker.
Shopping cart for downloadable goods
A very simple and easy to use shopping cart to sell your downloadable goods is from Ux cart - Shopping cart
Free ecommerce solutions
One of the best free ecommerce solutions around is Paypal, which integrates basic shopping cart functions with a payment gateway and merchant account - funds are paid to you via check or through direct deposit. 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.
What other features do shopping carts have?
Shopping cart software has come a long way in recent years, and many packages are so advanced that they are in effect entire store fronts and can actually be your entire web site. Some integrated elements of benefit to your online business you may wish to consider include:
Suggest sell/cross selling functions
Just as in the physical world, impulse buying via the Internet is quite common. Some shopping carts 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 shopping carts now allow for the calculation of discount rates based on the number of units a customer wishes to purchase. Coupon functions allow you to issue special offers as part of your marketing campaigns. Usually, prospective clients are given special codes that are matched against a particular item or overall discount rate. I strongly recommend using a shopping cart that supports coupons; it’s such a powerful sales strategy.
Autoresponder and newsletter functions
If you follow up all your clients with regular email offers, you may want to consider shopping cart software that has integrated autoresponder and newsletter capabilities - this will streamline your operations and can be used for maintaining other contact lists as well. Why buy two pieces of software when you can get them rolled into one?
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, stationery creation/management, reviews and wish lists.
There’s a number of questions you’ll want to ask yourself when compiling a shopping cart wish list:
What kind of shopping cart does my hosting service support?
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. If you opt for a remotely hosted service (explained in more detail below), then it won’t matter what programming language the cart software is written in.
What is my budget?
It’s easy to blow your budget on a turbo-charged 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!
FREDERIC
is a shopping cart?
In a basic definition, it’s 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 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 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 shopping cart software. For further information on the “back-end” aspects of ecommerce; read our guide to payment gateways and merchant accounts.
The good news is that there are literally hundreds of shopping cart packages available. The bad news is the same as the good. Sometimes, too many choices make it very difficult to make a decision - especially when all companies claim to have the superior product. After having worked with or examined over a hundred different shopping cart applications over the years, I hope this article may make your life just a little bit easier!
Free or premium shopping carts?
It’s very important before you begin reviewing software 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 packages - if this is the case, then a good package will cost around the $US250 - $300 mark; with some excellent, and in my opinion, crucial features included at the high end of that range. Some companies offer free shopping carts, but bear in mind that nothing in this world is truly free - read the fine print.
Be careful not to limit yourself either - you may only want limited features initially, but what about in the future? Give yourself room to grow as having to change software mid-stream to a totally different package can be a real time-sucker.
Shopping cart for downloadable goods
A very simple and easy to use shopping cart to sell your downloadable goods is from Ux cart - Shopping cart
Free ecommerce solutions
One of the best free ecommerce solutions around is Paypal, which integrates basic shopping cart functions with a payment gateway and merchant account - funds are paid to you via check or through direct deposit. 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.
What other features do shopping carts have?
Shopping cart software has come a long way in recent years, and many packages are so advanced that they are in effect entire store fronts and can actually be your entire web site. Some integrated elements of benefit to your online business you may wish to consider include:
Suggest sell/cross selling functions
Just as in the physical world, impulse buying via the Internet is quite common. Some shopping carts 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 shopping carts now allow for the calculation of discount rates based on the number of units a customer wishes to purchase. Coupon functions allow you to issue special offers as part of your marketing campaigns. Usually, prospective clients are given special codes that are matched against a particular item or overall discount rate. I strongly recommend using a shopping cart that supports coupons; it’s such a powerful sales strategy.
Autoresponder and newsletter functions
If you follow up all your clients with regular email offers, you may want to consider shopping cart software that has integrated autoresponder and newsletter capabilities - this will streamline your operations and can be used for maintaining other contact lists as well. Why buy two pieces of software when you can get them rolled into one?
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, stationery creation/management, reviews and wish lists.
There’s a number of questions you’ll want to ask yourself when compiling a shopping cart wish list:
What kind of shopping cart does my hosting service support?
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. If you opt for a remotely hosted service (explained in more detail below), then it won’t matter what programming language the cart software is written in.
What is my budget?
It’s easy to blow your budget on a turbo-charged 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!
FREDERIC
Nov
15
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Chip Arndt asked:
As EVP at MerchantAdvantage, one of my responsibilities is to analyze multiple shopping cart technologies before integrating storefront data into our Channel Management system.
This is an essential process as it ensures that an online merchant’s data is compliant with our data transport system from which we easily distribute data into various marketing channels, such as shopping comparison sites, comparison shopping engines, marketplaces, such as Amazon, Shop.com and Underbid, and other unique marketing channels such as m-commerce sites, such as iSave.com, mPoria.com, mShopper.com, and review and coupon sites, such as PowerReviews.com and MyCoupons.com.
As I do this, I have established 3 points of analysis to make the process as reliable as possible. As technology changes, and new marketing outlets emerge, I think it is important for each merchant to look at their shopping cart infrastructure and analyze the ease of portability of their data into other systems in order to keep ongoing marketing integration “surprise-less”.
Merchants should perform this type of analysis in between the busy season; let’s say before or after March – ergo after the holiday season and before the summer rush. My suggestion is that a technical person should compile a list of questions to ask their shopping cart vendor, in order to ensure that the online merchant fully understands the “power” and “limitations” of their shopping cart technology and how it allows the online merchant to utilize many other software technologies to help the online merchant grow their business.
To begin, here are some definitions to consider – just so we understand each other.
Portability: A shopping cart’s capacity to integrate into a totally disparate system without losing product data impact.
Data Impact: The scale of impact that product data has functioning independently within an online merchant’s or marketed outside of an online merchant’s website. Product data contained within a an individual shopping cart, and website, may have “high impact” on marketing — as product descriptions, manufacturing names, pictures, pricing, and general marketing is robust and current.
However, if incorrectly formatted and mapped to an outside “software system”, the robust product data will have a “low impact” if it is taken out of its current shopping cart technology infrastructure and put on/within a marketing. In order to maintain product data’s “high impact” it is essential to ensure that the original data is mapped to correspond to the required elements of a marketing channel. This might include updating and creating: varied coding requirements, dropping/eliminating symbols, dropping/eliminating line breaks, adding varied prices and inventories levels, changing pictures and product names, and updating marketing descriptions.
An example of something that can cause “low impact” data on marketing channels is a shopping cart’s capacity to output a “new” product file on a scheduled basis, without encoding or symbols. This type of “new and daily export” yields usable data and not blank columns, or duplicate columns, in a data feed to marketing feed, that then will be rejected.
Marketing Outlet or Channel: A separate system used to market product data and drive sales into an online merchant’s site or on another site on behalf of the online merchant.
Marketplace: A marketing channel where the purchase is made outside of the cart and orders are fulfilled by the merchant. The order may be processed by the marketplace or the merchant, but the merchant is somewhat invisible during the view and ordering process. Examples would be Amazon.com, Shop.com, and Underbid.com.
CSE: Comparison Shopping Engine, a.k.a. Comparison Shopping site. This is a marketing channel where the goal is to drive a consumer back to your shopping cart to complete the purchase there. CSEs may charge the merchant a pay-per-click pay-per-lead or commission from all sales referred by the CSE to the online merchant, such as couparison shopping sites do.
Parent /Child Relationship, Options: Many products have options associate with the product before a final purchase is made, i.e., size, color, etc. This is especially true with clothing. These options show up on web pages and the website directs the consumer to select certain options related to a product before the consumer proceeds to checkout. This is great when the purchase happens on the merchant’s website, but how does an online merchant handle all of these options when exporting data to marketing channels and having to deal with a myriad of taxonomy and mapping issues as they relate to each marketing channel?
To answer this, the online merchant must assess:
1. the origination point of the data within their shopping cart technology
2. the options available to access the date therein
3. portability issues (i.e. ease of output and export)
…ultimately forcing the online merchant to analyze how the data is stored in its rawest form in the original database.
Just because a shopping cart technology can export data does not mean that that data is exported in the “form” that you need it exported. For instance, some shopping cart technologies export feature creates new line items for each option; some may create a field with every possible color/size possibility, while others do not.
Essentially shopping cart technologies, while trying to “play well with other,” simply do not and export features inherent in many shopping cart technologies are not designed to sync easily with the many requirements that are essential to working with marketing channels.
This lack of syncing of data is why we created MerchantAdvantage – to make the communication between systems seamless – and is the NUMBER ONE BREAKING POINT for online merchants to work with, and integrate with, systems and marketing channels out side of the their shopping cart technology.
So what should an online merchant be asking themselves to work effectively and efficiently with marketing channels and other systems out side of their shopping cart technology?
Remembering the definitions I outlined above, here are the questions I ask of online merchants about their shopping cart technology before transporting their data to ensure that we have the same “highest impact” data on/within marketing channels. I would be glad to do it with any online merchant, just give us a call at MerchantAdvantage, or you can do it on your own.
5 Questions to ask about your company data & company to see if your shopping cart is portable:
1. Where will this data be used to market? Marketplaces, CSEs, other marketing channels?
2. Is there a unique identifier for each product that stays the same all of the time?
a. Is that unique number for joined products (options) referenced in all joined products (i.e., do child products reference parent – see definition above)?
3. Are there Product URLs and Image URLs? And do they work?
4. Are there encoded characters, ASCII Characters, Line-breaks, or data anomalies?
5. Can any product data export process be automated?
a. Is the location to where exports are updated and pushed to always available on the internet
b. Is the location updated on a scheduled basis that parallels your shopping cart technology cart updates and changes?
5 Questions to ask to see if your portability is optimized:
1. Is each piece of necessary data stored in separate fields or columns, i.e., manufacturer, manufacturer part number, or availability, and not all clumped together in one general description.
Special Note: Some marketing channels require this data in different orders and formatting unique to their marketing channel.
2. Are the marketing descriptions sensible and concise, containing all important data at the front of the description (within first 100 characters)?
Special Note: descriptions can be indexed/searchable and are usually trimmed to the first set of 100 characters.
3. Is the “Cost Field” present in the export?
Special Note: Adjustments to the “Pricing” and “Marketing” fields may be made at any time of the product data dispersion process.
4. Do the unique identifiers match competitors’ unique identifiers?
Special Note: Consumers will and can see your items when viewing competitors’ products on CSEs.
5. Does my data meet all of the requirements of each requested marking channel that I am trying to get/feed to?
Special Note: Each marketing channel requires different types and formats of data delivery.
Okay, now what?
My suggestions:
1. after each question has been answered and each possible point-of-failure has been addressed then you can move onto the planning and process of into which marketing channels you want to work with and feed your product catalog data.
2. You have taken the most important step of data feed integration and marketing, namely understanding what your shopping cart technology allows you to do and not to do and, most important, understanding what you need to do to make sure that you create and market the “highest impact” data to your marketing channels.
3. Integration is ready to be achieved.
Good luck and if you would like to make your life a lot simpler, give us a shout at MerchantAdvantage, we would be glad to work with you, and start feeding and having fun with over 100 marketing channels, cost effectively, with the most uptime, least surprises and zero technician’s heart attacks!!
Happy Holidays!
– Chip Arndt
chip@eTaildTail.com
chip@merchantadvantage.com
CLEMENT
As EVP at MerchantAdvantage, one of my responsibilities is to analyze multiple shopping cart technologies before integrating storefront data into our Channel Management system.
This is an essential process as it ensures that an online merchant’s data is compliant with our data transport system from which we easily distribute data into various marketing channels, such as shopping comparison sites, comparison shopping engines, marketplaces, such as Amazon, Shop.com and Underbid, and other unique marketing channels such as m-commerce sites, such as iSave.com, mPoria.com, mShopper.com, and review and coupon sites, such as PowerReviews.com and MyCoupons.com.
As I do this, I have established 3 points of analysis to make the process as reliable as possible. As technology changes, and new marketing outlets emerge, I think it is important for each merchant to look at their shopping cart infrastructure and analyze the ease of portability of their data into other systems in order to keep ongoing marketing integration “surprise-less”.
Merchants should perform this type of analysis in between the busy season; let’s say before or after March – ergo after the holiday season and before the summer rush. My suggestion is that a technical person should compile a list of questions to ask their shopping cart vendor, in order to ensure that the online merchant fully understands the “power” and “limitations” of their shopping cart technology and how it allows the online merchant to utilize many other software technologies to help the online merchant grow their business.
To begin, here are some definitions to consider – just so we understand each other.
Portability: A shopping cart’s capacity to integrate into a totally disparate system without losing product data impact.
Data Impact: The scale of impact that product data has functioning independently within an online merchant’s or marketed outside of an online merchant’s website. Product data contained within a an individual shopping cart, and website, may have “high impact” on marketing — as product descriptions, manufacturing names, pictures, pricing, and general marketing is robust and current.
However, if incorrectly formatted and mapped to an outside “software system”, the robust product data will have a “low impact” if it is taken out of its current shopping cart technology infrastructure and put on/within a marketing. In order to maintain product data’s “high impact” it is essential to ensure that the original data is mapped to correspond to the required elements of a marketing channel. This might include updating and creating: varied coding requirements, dropping/eliminating symbols, dropping/eliminating line breaks, adding varied prices and inventories levels, changing pictures and product names, and updating marketing descriptions.
An example of something that can cause “low impact” data on marketing channels is a shopping cart’s capacity to output a “new” product file on a scheduled basis, without encoding or symbols. This type of “new and daily export” yields usable data and not blank columns, or duplicate columns, in a data feed to marketing feed, that then will be rejected.
Marketing Outlet or Channel: A separate system used to market product data and drive sales into an online merchant’s site or on another site on behalf of the online merchant.
Marketplace: A marketing channel where the purchase is made outside of the cart and orders are fulfilled by the merchant. The order may be processed by the marketplace or the merchant, but the merchant is somewhat invisible during the view and ordering process. Examples would be Amazon.com, Shop.com, and Underbid.com.
CSE: Comparison Shopping Engine, a.k.a. Comparison Shopping site. This is a marketing channel where the goal is to drive a consumer back to your shopping cart to complete the purchase there. CSEs may charge the merchant a pay-per-click pay-per-lead or commission from all sales referred by the CSE to the online merchant, such as couparison shopping sites do.
Parent /Child Relationship, Options: Many products have options associate with the product before a final purchase is made, i.e., size, color, etc. This is especially true with clothing. These options show up on web pages and the website directs the consumer to select certain options related to a product before the consumer proceeds to checkout. This is great when the purchase happens on the merchant’s website, but how does an online merchant handle all of these options when exporting data to marketing channels and having to deal with a myriad of taxonomy and mapping issues as they relate to each marketing channel?
To answer this, the online merchant must assess:
1. the origination point of the data within their shopping cart technology
2. the options available to access the date therein
3. portability issues (i.e. ease of output and export)
…ultimately forcing the online merchant to analyze how the data is stored in its rawest form in the original database.
Just because a shopping cart technology can export data does not mean that that data is exported in the “form” that you need it exported. For instance, some shopping cart technologies export feature creates new line items for each option; some may create a field with every possible color/size possibility, while others do not.
Essentially shopping cart technologies, while trying to “play well with other,” simply do not and export features inherent in many shopping cart technologies are not designed to sync easily with the many requirements that are essential to working with marketing channels.
This lack of syncing of data is why we created MerchantAdvantage – to make the communication between systems seamless – and is the NUMBER ONE BREAKING POINT for online merchants to work with, and integrate with, systems and marketing channels out side of the their shopping cart technology.
So what should an online merchant be asking themselves to work effectively and efficiently with marketing channels and other systems out side of their shopping cart technology?
Remembering the definitions I outlined above, here are the questions I ask of online merchants about their shopping cart technology before transporting their data to ensure that we have the same “highest impact” data on/within marketing channels. I would be glad to do it with any online merchant, just give us a call at MerchantAdvantage, or you can do it on your own.
5 Questions to ask about your company data & company to see if your shopping cart is portable:
1. Where will this data be used to market? Marketplaces, CSEs, other marketing channels?
2. Is there a unique identifier for each product that stays the same all of the time?
a. Is that unique number for joined products (options) referenced in all joined products (i.e., do child products reference parent – see definition above)?
3. Are there Product URLs and Image URLs? And do they work?
4. Are there encoded characters, ASCII Characters, Line-breaks, or data anomalies?
5. Can any product data export process be automated?
a. Is the location to where exports are updated and pushed to always available on the internet
b. Is the location updated on a scheduled basis that parallels your shopping cart technology cart updates and changes?
5 Questions to ask to see if your portability is optimized:
1. Is each piece of necessary data stored in separate fields or columns, i.e., manufacturer, manufacturer part number, or availability, and not all clumped together in one general description.
Special Note: Some marketing channels require this data in different orders and formatting unique to their marketing channel.
2. Are the marketing descriptions sensible and concise, containing all important data at the front of the description (within first 100 characters)?
Special Note: descriptions can be indexed/searchable and are usually trimmed to the first set of 100 characters.
3. Is the “Cost Field” present in the export?
Special Note: Adjustments to the “Pricing” and “Marketing” fields may be made at any time of the product data dispersion process.
4. Do the unique identifiers match competitors’ unique identifiers?
Special Note: Consumers will and can see your items when viewing competitors’ products on CSEs.
5. Does my data meet all of the requirements of each requested marking channel that I am trying to get/feed to?
Special Note: Each marketing channel requires different types and formats of data delivery.
Okay, now what?
My suggestions:
1. after each question has been answered and each possible point-of-failure has been addressed then you can move onto the planning and process of into which marketing channels you want to work with and feed your product catalog data.
2. You have taken the most important step of data feed integration and marketing, namely understanding what your shopping cart technology allows you to do and not to do and, most important, understanding what you need to do to make sure that you create and market the “highest impact” data to your marketing channels.
3. Integration is ready to be achieved.
Good luck and if you would like to make your life a lot simpler, give us a shout at MerchantAdvantage, we would be glad to work with you, and start feeding and having fun with over 100 marketing channels, cost effectively, with the most uptime, least surprises and zero technician’s heart attacks!!
Happy Holidays!
– Chip Arndt
chip@eTaildTail.com
chip@merchantadvantage.com
CLEMENT
Oct
23
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Sandra Prior asked:
Net shopping has really taken off in the last couple of years and there’s a vast amount of goods and services available in the digital megamall. Even so, more skeptical Net users are wary and need convincing of the advantages of shopping online.
After all, most people have a perfectly good mall just a short drive away and you can get most of the things you need there. As for saving money, there are always the seasonal sales. But the fact is, these are the exact reasons for shopping on the Internet. It’s convenient, the choice is amazing, and you can save loads of money.
As with anything though, you have to be aware of the potential pitfalls. The Net offers access to a whole new world of shopping and opens up the free market to individuals as never before. On the other hand, this is unfamiliar territory for most people. You are outside your normal field of reference and you need all sorts of new information, such as how your rights are affected when you buy from abroad, how to separate a good shop from a con job and what security measures protect you from fraud.
Getting Started
The Net brings the mall to your home, but it’s a mall unlike any other you’ve seen – one open to the whole world and with almost no limitations. Sure, you can shop for all the things you would buy on a normal Saturday afternoon trudge around town. If it’s familiar names you’re looking for, you’ll find them online as increasing numbers of players start waking up to the fact that Net shopping is here to stay, and have started offering an online service to their customers.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as Net shopping is concerned. The real benefits come when you get a bit more adventurous and start to explore. You can save money by buying from Internet-only retailers that don’t have the expensive overheads of shopfront premises and pass the savings on to their customers; buy from stores overseas and benefit from their lower prices; and find unusual or hard-to-come-by items at the click of a button. Shopping will never be the same again.
With such a wealth of choice available, you will never need help to get started. For most purposes, a good jumping-off point is one of the many shopping directories that have sprung up all over the Net recently. These provide links to selected shops and save you a lot of browsing if you’re looking for anything vaguely mainstream.
Some of these sites are extremely useful and will help you enormously when you start shopping online. Others are frankly rubbish, so be selective. Look for a site that’s clearly set out with well-defined shopping categories, a profile of each shop with details of any disadvantages to shopping there, and ideally some sort of scoring system so you know where to go.
Shop with Confidence
The biggest concern most people have when they start shopping on the Net is whether it’s secure. Many people are reluctant to send their credit card details off into the ether for fear of them being intercepted and used fraudulently by others to run up enormous bills. This is an understandable worry, but it’s largely unfounded. Shopping on the Net is as safe as, if not safer than, mail order or telephone shopping, or even paying by credit card in a restaurant. Basically, whenever you give someone your credit card details or let the card out of your sight, you are at risk of fraud. The good news with Net shopping, however, is that there are lots of ways to protect yourself and minimize the risks.
Here comes the science bit; you’re protected in many cases by the kindly technology elves. On shopping sites you will often see assurances that information is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket layer), a technology used to encrypt all information being sent to and received from a specific Web page or pages. Most mainstream shopping sites use this secure connection when you send your payment details over the Internet. Any information transmitted in this secure way is encrypted for the duration of the transfer. In the unlikely event that it is intercepted en route, it will be absolutely no use to anyone. The retailer decodes the message once it has arrived in order to take payment, but nobody else has access to your details along the way.
ERVIN
Net shopping has really taken off in the last couple of years and there’s a vast amount of goods and services available in the digital megamall. Even so, more skeptical Net users are wary and need convincing of the advantages of shopping online.
After all, most people have a perfectly good mall just a short drive away and you can get most of the things you need there. As for saving money, there are always the seasonal sales. But the fact is, these are the exact reasons for shopping on the Internet. It’s convenient, the choice is amazing, and you can save loads of money.
As with anything though, you have to be aware of the potential pitfalls. The Net offers access to a whole new world of shopping and opens up the free market to individuals as never before. On the other hand, this is unfamiliar territory for most people. You are outside your normal field of reference and you need all sorts of new information, such as how your rights are affected when you buy from abroad, how to separate a good shop from a con job and what security measures protect you from fraud.
Getting Started
The Net brings the mall to your home, but it’s a mall unlike any other you’ve seen – one open to the whole world and with almost no limitations. Sure, you can shop for all the things you would buy on a normal Saturday afternoon trudge around town. If it’s familiar names you’re looking for, you’ll find them online as increasing numbers of players start waking up to the fact that Net shopping is here to stay, and have started offering an online service to their customers.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as Net shopping is concerned. The real benefits come when you get a bit more adventurous and start to explore. You can save money by buying from Internet-only retailers that don’t have the expensive overheads of shopfront premises and pass the savings on to their customers; buy from stores overseas and benefit from their lower prices; and find unusual or hard-to-come-by items at the click of a button. Shopping will never be the same again.
With such a wealth of choice available, you will never need help to get started. For most purposes, a good jumping-off point is one of the many shopping directories that have sprung up all over the Net recently. These provide links to selected shops and save you a lot of browsing if you’re looking for anything vaguely mainstream.
Some of these sites are extremely useful and will help you enormously when you start shopping online. Others are frankly rubbish, so be selective. Look for a site that’s clearly set out with well-defined shopping categories, a profile of each shop with details of any disadvantages to shopping there, and ideally some sort of scoring system so you know where to go.
Shop with Confidence
The biggest concern most people have when they start shopping on the Net is whether it’s secure. Many people are reluctant to send their credit card details off into the ether for fear of them being intercepted and used fraudulently by others to run up enormous bills. This is an understandable worry, but it’s largely unfounded. Shopping on the Net is as safe as, if not safer than, mail order or telephone shopping, or even paying by credit card in a restaurant. Basically, whenever you give someone your credit card details or let the card out of your sight, you are at risk of fraud. The good news with Net shopping, however, is that there are lots of ways to protect yourself and minimize the risks.
Here comes the science bit; you’re protected in many cases by the kindly technology elves. On shopping sites you will often see assurances that information is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket layer), a technology used to encrypt all information being sent to and received from a specific Web page or pages. Most mainstream shopping sites use this secure connection when you send your payment details over the Internet. Any information transmitted in this secure way is encrypted for the duration of the transfer. In the unlikely event that it is intercepted en route, it will be absolutely no use to anyone. The retailer decodes the message once it has arrived in order to take payment, but nobody else has access to your details along the way.
ERVIN
Jun
26
Shopping Cart Solutions
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Hassan_Ahmed asked:
Choosing the best shopping cart solutions for your launch into ecommerce is critical to the success of your online business. If you’re wanting to learn more about this sometimes confusing world, this guide will explain the points you should consider before purchasing a cart.
If you’re currently in the market for software or services and would like our recommendations, Please check our NextAge Shopping Cart software at http://www.nextagecart.com . They have a Powerful SEO Shopping Cart Script
What is a shopping cart?
In a basic definition, it’s 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 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 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 shopping cart software. For further information on the “back-end” aspects of ecommerce; The good news is that there are literally hundreds of shopping cart packages available. The bad news is the same as the good. Sometimes, too many choices make it very difficult to make a decision - especially when all companies claim to have the superior product. I recently experienced this challenge by reviewing over 130 shopping cart programs. I hope this article may make your life just a little bit easier!
Free or premium shopping carts?
It’s very important before you begin reviewing software 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 packages - if this is the case, then a good package will cost around the $US150 mark. Some companies offer free 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 shopping cart functions with a payment gateway and merchant account - funds are paid to you via check or through direct deposit. 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.
What other features do shopping carts have?
Shopping cart software 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 benefit to your online business you may wish to consider include:
Suggest sell/cross selling functions
Just as in the physical world, impulse buying via the Internet is quite common. Some shopping carts 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 shopping carts now allow for the calculation of discount rates based on the number of units a customer wishes to purchase. Coupon functions allow you to issue special offers as part of your marketing campaigns. Usually, prospective clients are given special codes that are matched against a particular item or overall discount rate.
Autoresponders
If you follow up all your clients with regular email offers, you may want to consider shopping cart software that has integrated autoresponder capabilities - this will streamline your operations and can be used for maintaining other contact lists as well. Why buy two pieces of software when you can get them rolled into one?
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.
There’s a number of questions you’ll want to ask yourself when compiling a shopping cart wish list:
What kind of shopping cart does my hosting service support?
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. If you’re currently in the market for software or services and would like our recommendations, Please check our NextAge Shopping Cart software at http://www.nextagecart.com . They have a Powerful SEO Shopping Cart Script
What is my budget?
It’s easy to blow your budget on a turbo-charged 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!
What kind of delivery mechanisms will I require?
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.
As an example, some 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 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.
Another strategy employed by some carts 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 shopping cart after a successful transaction has occurred.
Yet another soft goods delivery means used by carts is that the software 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.
Where will my business be in 6 months time?
Does the package 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 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. It isn’t uncommon for companies is to offer the base model for next to nothing and then to charge like wounded bulls for any upgrades.
Is the cart software compatible with my payment gateway?
There are dozens of different payment gateways which plug into various shopping cart packages - but perhaps not yours! Before purchasing your 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 cart you want to talk to the gateway service you want and also to your bank! Read our guide to
What kind of payments are supported by the cart?
Credit card transactions are now a normal part of our online world. If your shopping cart software does not support credit card transactions or if you have not enabled credit card processing, you’re in trouble - you may as well just close up shop!
There are still some customers who will refuse to use a credit card over the Internet, so you will need to be able to offer other forms of payment - e.g. money orders, echecks etc.
What about disaster planning?
A good 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. If you’re currently in the market for software or services and would like our recommendations, Please check our NextAge Shopping Cart software at http://www.nextagecart.com . They have a Powerful SEO Shopping Cart Script
What level of support will I need and receive?
All shopping cart providers will tell you that their software is simple to install and configure. Few will be actually correct in making that statement. If you don’t have the technical expertise to configure your shopping cart, get quotes from the company or a third party contractor to undertake this work for you.
Test out the support system by sending a query to the sales department - if they don’t respond quickly this is usually a good indicator that after sales support will be even worse!
Also, read the fine print before parting with your hard earned cash - you may find that technical support will be charged out per incident.
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.
Be sure to review the company’s “bug” policy; i.e. if a error in the software is fixed and an updated version is released, will you be entitled to recieve that upgrade or patch at no cost.
While I am all for supporting the solo programmers, a shopping cart 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. If you’re currently in the market for software or services and would like our recommendations, Please check our NextAge Shopping Cart software at http://www.nextagecart.com . They have a Powerful SEO Shopping Cart Script
Remotely or locally hosted shopping cart?
Some shopping cart programs can be purchased as stand alone programs or as pay per month services hosted on another companies’ server. Remotely hosted options usually allow for extensive customization of pages to fit in with your sites look and feel.
Remote hosting advantages
Fast implementation, secure connection supplied, monitoring of service and usually many other features are offered as part of the service. 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.
Some remotely hosted shopping carts 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 services are excellent for people ‘testing the water’ as they also include gateway services and even an Internet merchant account!
If you are looking for features without needing to spending thousands of dollars up front, remotely hosted may be the way to go. Plan on spending at least US$60 per month for these kinds of services. Compare prices carefully - I have seen one company charge US$200 a month for the same service provided by another for $US59 per month. Remember, this added recurring expense will need to be taken into account when establishing a price level for your products and services.
Remote hosting disadvantages
What happens if the company goes belly up overnight? Remote hosting also tends to give you less control over how cart pages display. If you are going to use a remotely hosted service, check the company history carefully. Some operators have also been known to ‘harvest’ your client databases for spamming purposes.
Local hosting advantages
Total control over the software, no ongoing fees.
Local hosting disadvantages
Time spent in installation, configuration and maintenance, greater initial outlay, requires SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to be enabled on your site which usually incurs an extra charge per month.
As you can see, there is a lot to consider before purchasing shopping cart software or services. It is very important to remember that the shopping cart is only one part of your ecommerce arsenal. Without an effective payment gateway and Internet merchant account (sometimes these are combined), the cart is useless.
Don’t rush your decision to purchase based on marketing hype - the future of your business is at stake!
TERRANCE
Choosing the best shopping cart solutions for your launch into ecommerce is critical to the success of your online business. If you’re wanting to learn more about this sometimes confusing world, this guide will explain the points you should consider before purchasing a cart.
If you’re currently in the market for software or services and would like our recommendations, Please check our NextAge Shopping Cart software at http://www.nextagecart.com . They have a Powerful SEO Shopping Cart Script
What is a shopping cart?
In a basic definition, it’s 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 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 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 shopping cart software. For further information on the “back-end” aspects of ecommerce; The good news is that there are literally hundreds of shopping cart packages available. The bad news is the same as the good. Sometimes, too many choices make it very difficult to make a decision - especially when all companies claim to have the superior product. I recently experienced this challenge by reviewing over 130 shopping cart programs. I hope this article may make your life just a little bit easier!
Free or premium shopping carts?
It’s very important before you begin reviewing software 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 packages - if this is the case, then a good package will cost around the $US150 mark. Some companies offer free 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 shopping cart functions with a payment gateway and merchant account - funds are paid to you via check or through direct deposit. 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.
What other features do shopping carts have?
Shopping cart software 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 benefit to your online business you may wish to consider include:
Suggest sell/cross selling functions
Just as in the physical world, impulse buying via the Internet is quite common. Some shopping carts 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 shopping carts now allow for the calculation of discount rates based on the number of units a customer wishes to purchase. Coupon functions allow you to issue special offers as part of your marketing campaigns. Usually, prospective clients are given special codes that are matched against a particular item or overall discount rate.
Autoresponders
If you follow up all your clients with regular email offers, you may want to consider shopping cart software that has integrated autoresponder capabilities - this will streamline your operations and can be used for maintaining other contact lists as well. Why buy two pieces of software when you can get them rolled into one?
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.
There’s a number of questions you’ll want to ask yourself when compiling a shopping cart wish list:
What kind of shopping cart does my hosting service support?
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. If you’re currently in the market for software or services and would like our recommendations, Please check our NextAge Shopping Cart software at http://www.nextagecart.com . They have a Powerful SEO Shopping Cart Script
What is my budget?
It’s easy to blow your budget on a turbo-charged 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!
What kind of delivery mechanisms will I require?
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.
As an example, some 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 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.
Another strategy employed by some carts 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 shopping cart after a successful transaction has occurred.
Yet another soft goods delivery means used by carts is that the software 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.
Where will my business be in 6 months time?
Does the package 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 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. It isn’t uncommon for companies is to offer the base model for next to nothing and then to charge like wounded bulls for any upgrades.
Is the cart software compatible with my payment gateway?
There are dozens of different payment gateways which plug into various shopping cart packages - but perhaps not yours! Before purchasing your 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 cart you want to talk to the gateway service you want and also to your bank! Read our guide to
What kind of payments are supported by the cart?
Credit card transactions are now a normal part of our online world. If your shopping cart software does not support credit card transactions or if you have not enabled credit card processing, you’re in trouble - you may as well just close up shop!
There are still some customers who will refuse to use a credit card over the Internet, so you will need to be able to offer other forms of payment - e.g. money orders, echecks etc.
What about disaster planning?
A good 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. If you’re currently in the market for software or services and would like our recommendations, Please check our NextAge Shopping Cart software at http://www.nextagecart.com . They have a Powerful SEO Shopping Cart Script
What level of support will I need and receive?
All shopping cart providers will tell you that their software is simple to install and configure. Few will be actually correct in making that statement. If you don’t have the technical expertise to configure your shopping cart, get quotes from the company or a third party contractor to undertake this work for you.
Test out the support system by sending a query to the sales department - if they don’t respond quickly this is usually a good indicator that after sales support will be even worse!
Also, read the fine print before parting with your hard earned cash - you may find that technical support will be charged out per incident.
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.
Be sure to review the company’s “bug” policy; i.e. if a error in the software is fixed and an updated version is released, will you be entitled to recieve that upgrade or patch at no cost.
While I am all for supporting the solo programmers, a shopping cart 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. If you’re currently in the market for software or services and would like our recommendations, Please check our NextAge Shopping Cart software at http://www.nextagecart.com . They have a Powerful SEO Shopping Cart Script
Remotely or locally hosted shopping cart?
Some shopping cart programs can be purchased as stand alone programs or as pay per month services hosted on another companies’ server. Remotely hosted options usually allow for extensive customization of pages to fit in with your sites look and feel.
Remote hosting advantages
Fast implementation, secure connection supplied, monitoring of service and usually many other features are offered as part of the service. 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.
Some remotely hosted shopping carts 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 services are excellent for people ‘testing the water’ as they also include gateway services and even an Internet merchant account!
If you are looking for features without needing to spending thousands of dollars up front, remotely hosted may be the way to go. Plan on spending at least US$60 per month for these kinds of services. Compare prices carefully - I have seen one company charge US$200 a month for the same service provided by another for $US59 per month. Remember, this added recurring expense will need to be taken into account when establishing a price level for your products and services.
Remote hosting disadvantages
What happens if the company goes belly up overnight? Remote hosting also tends to give you less control over how cart pages display. If you are going to use a remotely hosted service, check the company history carefully. Some operators have also been known to ‘harvest’ your client databases for spamming purposes.
Local hosting advantages
Total control over the software, no ongoing fees.
Local hosting disadvantages
Time spent in installation, configuration and maintenance, greater initial outlay, requires SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) to be enabled on your site which usually incurs an extra charge per month.
As you can see, there is a lot to consider before purchasing shopping cart software or services. It is very important to remember that the shopping cart is only one part of your ecommerce arsenal. Without an effective payment gateway and Internet merchant account (sometimes these are combined), the cart is useless.
Don’t rush your decision to purchase based on marketing hype - the future of your business is at stake!
TERRANCE
Apr
5
Decreased Abandoned Shopping Carts, Increase Sales
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Justin Pinkus asked:
The virtual market has arrived and with the growing number of online stores, it seems like the trend is here to stay. Unlike real time stores, one does not need to invest heavily in virtual stores, and so even small business owners find the deal lucrative. Virtual stores are easy to create and manage, which has added immensely to their popularity. Depending upon the investment that a business owner would like to make, both in terms of time and money, one can create a virtual store for the business.
The convenience that these virtual stores offer to the online shopper cannot be matched by real time stores. The ease of begin able to compare several different manufacturers of a product and then purchase it online, along with having it delivered to your door step is indeed magnetic. While initially buyers were skeptical of products that they saw online and not in reality, over the years, online dealers have established a gold reputation for themselves, which has added to an increase in online shoppers. Most online stores offer money back guarantees, much like real time stores, which takes away the fear of being cheated from the prospects mind. Almost all commercial ventures today understand the growing importance of E commerce, and virtual stores are the gateway of commercial activities on the internet.
Though having concluded that virtual stores are convenient to both the seller and the buyer, it is a know fact that simply setting up a virtual store is not the answer to increasing online sales. In fact, despite adopting extremely sophisticated advertising and quality products, it is a fact that for every online transaction that is completed, almost four times as many are deserted. Apparently putting up several payment gateways and adopting highly developed shopping cart software does not seem to seal the deal either. These techniques work at only drawing the prospects attention and moving towards a possible sale. However, despite these efforts, it has been estimated that on an average 75% of shopping carts are abandoned before the deal can be closed. It is no wonder then that abandoned shopping carts are considered the biggest ‘bane of ecommerce’.
An abandoned shopping cart is an incomplete transaction, which the prospect deserts before the final deal is sealed. Since the ultimate goal of all E commerce activity is sales, of course a conversion left half way is extremely damaging to the business. Businesses that operate online spend huge sums of money to setup a commercially viable virtual stores and are then aghast at the large number of abandoned shopping carts. Therefore, one can safely conclude that as important as setting up a virtual store, is decreasing abandoned shopping carts so that the sales maybe increased.
The solution comes in a two phase package. First is, understanding the reason why the percentage of abandoned shopping carts is so high, and the second phase is ensuring that these hurdles and problems are done away with.
Reasons for shopping cart abandonment:-
1) Shipping cost – Over 72% of prospects who leave the deal half way through, do so due to the high shipping cost that the site charges. The advantage of shopping in the convenience of ones home is definitely attractive to the customer, but is marred by high cost of delivery. Also since shipping charges are as a rule not refundable, prospects are deterred from closing the deal.
2) Competition comparisons – One of the major attractions of online shopping is begin able to easily compare several manufacturers of similar products, so as to choose the most feasible deal. It has been observed that 61% prospects move on to greener pastures and abandon their shopping carts midway, when they find that the competition has more to offer.
3) Second thoughts- While initially taken in by the product and its cost, at the time of final payment, 51% of online shoppers abandon the shopping cart due to second thoughts. Wanting to think over the deal a little more, these prospects are likely to simply abandon the shopping cart and maybe come back later for the purchase. It is also a fact that 96% of browsers never return to a site even if they did buy something from that site.
4) Decide otherwise- While second thoughts do leave some room for a comeback, there are 56% prospects that choose items but give up the idea of buying them completely while going through the process of the ultimate purchase. They may decide that the item is not required or not as attractive that they had thought before.
5) Collective cost of products – While shopping, prospects tend to pick up several products and dump them in their shopping carts. On finally viewing the total cost of these products, 43% find them too high and therefore completely abandon the shopping cart that they had selected rather than go through the items again.
6) Length of check out process- 41% buyers abandon shopping carts because they find that the time required for the final check out is too lengthy. Irritated by the time that the check out process is taking, these buyers despite being committed to the deal simply abandon the shopping cart and move on.
7) Personal information for check out process- There are several website that seem to go on and on asking the prospect to give their personal information for the final deal to go through. Irritated by this, 35 % buyers tend to leave the cart and move away from the final transaction.
Registration process- There are several sites who have a pre requisite to register before the final buying process can be undertaken. 34% buyers decide that they would rather abandon the shopping cart than register for the site.
9) Complicated check out process- Confused by complicated check out process 27% buyers decide to give up buying the product(s) online rather than try and figure out how the system works.
10) Reliability of the site- Cautious about the site’s authenticity and reliability, 31% buyers decide to not go through with the deal despite having started it. The fear of begin cheated online is much more than being cheated in the real world, since it is much easier to disappear in the virtual world.
Having nailed most of the reasons for abandoned shopping carts, the next phase involves finding solutions for these problems.
Solutions for shopping cart abandonment:-
1) Quick downloads- It is crucial for the sale to meet its final transaction that the web page does not take too long to download. On an average the shopper will not give your site more than 10 seconds to download. It is therefore important that the web page is not filled with images and that the graphics if any, are compressed for easy downloads.
2) Easy navigation – If the buyer wanted to solve a jig saw puzzle, a games site is what he/she would be visiting. Keep navigation and links of the website clear and simple. Golden rules like a right hand index, links to the buy tab and home page on all sub pages and pastels backgrounds should never be overlooked. Over decades people have come to expect certain tabs at certain spots on a website and not finding them there, tends to make the prospect move on.
3) Short sale routine – There are many sites that go on forcing a sales pitch on the prospect despite the customer already begin sold to the idea. Allow the client to buy the product as soon as he/she is convinced. Close the deal quickly, so as to not allow time to the prospect to rethink. For this it is important that the journey between the sales pitch and the payment gateway be as short as possible.
4) Lay down facts – Do not allow grey area to creep into your sales pitch. State the facts about the product in clear black and white terms. The price, the shipping cost, the availability and other such facts must be laid down in simple and clear terms to the prospect, so that it does not come as a shock later.
5) Offer attractions – If you find that the customer is leaving the site without purchasing what was placed in the shopping cart, step in with an attractive offer, which may be introduced via a pop up window. This works very well in cases where the prospect is half sold to the idea and just needs a bit more cajoling to undertake the final transaction.
6) Avoid distractions – Do not place banner ads or other similar distractions on your shopping cart. While the prospect is having a look at the product(s) you do not want to distract him/her. It is therefore very important that you do not fall into the trap of allowing other sites to take your prospect away by letting a small blinking advertisement break the shopper’s concentration.
While there are several other tips that help increase conversion rates for commercial websites, the basic essence of each trick is to add to the shopping experience of the customer. It is imperative that problems and solutions both be figured out from the client’s point of view. Be it a real time store or a virtual one, the customer is the final and most crucial link of the sales process and therefore must be kept happy at all given times.
RANDALL
The virtual market has arrived and with the growing number of online stores, it seems like the trend is here to stay. Unlike real time stores, one does not need to invest heavily in virtual stores, and so even small business owners find the deal lucrative. Virtual stores are easy to create and manage, which has added immensely to their popularity. Depending upon the investment that a business owner would like to make, both in terms of time and money, one can create a virtual store for the business.
The convenience that these virtual stores offer to the online shopper cannot be matched by real time stores. The ease of begin able to compare several different manufacturers of a product and then purchase it online, along with having it delivered to your door step is indeed magnetic. While initially buyers were skeptical of products that they saw online and not in reality, over the years, online dealers have established a gold reputation for themselves, which has added to an increase in online shoppers. Most online stores offer money back guarantees, much like real time stores, which takes away the fear of being cheated from the prospects mind. Almost all commercial ventures today understand the growing importance of E commerce, and virtual stores are the gateway of commercial activities on the internet.
Though having concluded that virtual stores are convenient to both the seller and the buyer, it is a know fact that simply setting up a virtual store is not the answer to increasing online sales. In fact, despite adopting extremely sophisticated advertising and quality products, it is a fact that for every online transaction that is completed, almost four times as many are deserted. Apparently putting up several payment gateways and adopting highly developed shopping cart software does not seem to seal the deal either. These techniques work at only drawing the prospects attention and moving towards a possible sale. However, despite these efforts, it has been estimated that on an average 75% of shopping carts are abandoned before the deal can be closed. It is no wonder then that abandoned shopping carts are considered the biggest ‘bane of ecommerce’.
An abandoned shopping cart is an incomplete transaction, which the prospect deserts before the final deal is sealed. Since the ultimate goal of all E commerce activity is sales, of course a conversion left half way is extremely damaging to the business. Businesses that operate online spend huge sums of money to setup a commercially viable virtual stores and are then aghast at the large number of abandoned shopping carts. Therefore, one can safely conclude that as important as setting up a virtual store, is decreasing abandoned shopping carts so that the sales maybe increased.
The solution comes in a two phase package. First is, understanding the reason why the percentage of abandoned shopping carts is so high, and the second phase is ensuring that these hurdles and problems are done away with.
Reasons for shopping cart abandonment:-
1) Shipping cost – Over 72% of prospects who leave the deal half way through, do so due to the high shipping cost that the site charges. The advantage of shopping in the convenience of ones home is definitely attractive to the customer, but is marred by high cost of delivery. Also since shipping charges are as a rule not refundable, prospects are deterred from closing the deal.
2) Competition comparisons – One of the major attractions of online shopping is begin able to easily compare several manufacturers of similar products, so as to choose the most feasible deal. It has been observed that 61% prospects move on to greener pastures and abandon their shopping carts midway, when they find that the competition has more to offer.
3) Second thoughts- While initially taken in by the product and its cost, at the time of final payment, 51% of online shoppers abandon the shopping cart due to second thoughts. Wanting to think over the deal a little more, these prospects are likely to simply abandon the shopping cart and maybe come back later for the purchase. It is also a fact that 96% of browsers never return to a site even if they did buy something from that site.
4) Decide otherwise- While second thoughts do leave some room for a comeback, there are 56% prospects that choose items but give up the idea of buying them completely while going through the process of the ultimate purchase. They may decide that the item is not required or not as attractive that they had thought before.
5) Collective cost of products – While shopping, prospects tend to pick up several products and dump them in their shopping carts. On finally viewing the total cost of these products, 43% find them too high and therefore completely abandon the shopping cart that they had selected rather than go through the items again.
6) Length of check out process- 41% buyers abandon shopping carts because they find that the time required for the final check out is too lengthy. Irritated by the time that the check out process is taking, these buyers despite being committed to the deal simply abandon the shopping cart and move on.
7) Personal information for check out process- There are several website that seem to go on and on asking the prospect to give their personal information for the final deal to go through. Irritated by this, 35 % buyers tend to leave the cart and move away from the final transaction.
Registration process- There are several sites who have a pre requisite to register before the final buying process can be undertaken. 34% buyers decide that they would rather abandon the shopping cart than register for the site. 9) Complicated check out process- Confused by complicated check out process 27% buyers decide to give up buying the product(s) online rather than try and figure out how the system works.
10) Reliability of the site- Cautious about the site’s authenticity and reliability, 31% buyers decide to not go through with the deal despite having started it. The fear of begin cheated online is much more than being cheated in the real world, since it is much easier to disappear in the virtual world.
Having nailed most of the reasons for abandoned shopping carts, the next phase involves finding solutions for these problems.
Solutions for shopping cart abandonment:-
1) Quick downloads- It is crucial for the sale to meet its final transaction that the web page does not take too long to download. On an average the shopper will not give your site more than 10 seconds to download. It is therefore important that the web page is not filled with images and that the graphics if any, are compressed for easy downloads.
2) Easy navigation – If the buyer wanted to solve a jig saw puzzle, a games site is what he/she would be visiting. Keep navigation and links of the website clear and simple. Golden rules like a right hand index, links to the buy tab and home page on all sub pages and pastels backgrounds should never be overlooked. Over decades people have come to expect certain tabs at certain spots on a website and not finding them there, tends to make the prospect move on.
3) Short sale routine – There are many sites that go on forcing a sales pitch on the prospect despite the customer already begin sold to the idea. Allow the client to buy the product as soon as he/she is convinced. Close the deal quickly, so as to not allow time to the prospect to rethink. For this it is important that the journey between the sales pitch and the payment gateway be as short as possible.
4) Lay down facts – Do not allow grey area to creep into your sales pitch. State the facts about the product in clear black and white terms. The price, the shipping cost, the availability and other such facts must be laid down in simple and clear terms to the prospect, so that it does not come as a shock later.
5) Offer attractions – If you find that the customer is leaving the site without purchasing what was placed in the shopping cart, step in with an attractive offer, which may be introduced via a pop up window. This works very well in cases where the prospect is half sold to the idea and just needs a bit more cajoling to undertake the final transaction.
6) Avoid distractions – Do not place banner ads or other similar distractions on your shopping cart. While the prospect is having a look at the product(s) you do not want to distract him/her. It is therefore very important that you do not fall into the trap of allowing other sites to take your prospect away by letting a small blinking advertisement break the shopper’s concentration.
While there are several other tips that help increase conversion rates for commercial websites, the basic essence of each trick is to add to the shopping experience of the customer. It is imperative that problems and solutions both be figured out from the client’s point of view. Be it a real time store or a virtual one, the customer is the final and most crucial link of the sales process and therefore must be kept happy at all given times.
RANDALL
Mar
11
Shopping Carts: 5 Usability Problems
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Tracey Simpson asked:
The process leading up to a transaction online is possibly the most critical to a shopping cart’s success. If the buying process causes frustration, confusion or insecurity, the user is likely to abandon the shopping cart, never to return again.
The usability of a shopping cart refers to the efficiency with which a user can achieve their goals on a website. Many of the larger online shopping carts, like Play.com and Amazon.com, are continuously striving to make their buying process as fluent and as effortless as possible. Knowing you can buy a book or film in just 3 or 4 clicks encourages you to return to the same, reliable website.
Having read numerous articles and white papers dedicated to best practice shopping cart design and usability; below I have highlighted five potential design problems in shopping carts that I’m sure many users have encountered.
1. Shopping carts that ask a user to register before knowing if the product is available or not.
It could be quite irritating for a user if they have spent 10 minutes entering their credit card details, home address, telephone number etc etc. only to find out during the checkout process that the product they want to buy is out of stock.
Many shopping carts enable you to present users with live stock availability before the user places their product in the shopping cart.
2. Suggesting the user buys similar products before adding the main product to the shopping cart.
It’s often helpful when a website recommends additional products you may want or need after adding your main product to your shopping cart.
However, I think you’ll agree that it could be slightly confusing if these additional products were offered to you before even adding the main product to your shopping cart? You press “Add to Cart” and suddenly you’re offered batteries, or insoles or travel cases. Many users would be left feeling confused, wondering if their product had been added or not, or if they’d pressed the wrong button.
Best practice guidelines would indicate offering your user the extra products after the user has finished shopping and they’re entering the checkout process.
3. Shopping carts that ask a user to register before they have even added a product to their shopping cart.
Asking for a user’s personal information before they have even added a product to their shopping cart is not a good move.
Customer registration can offer some big advantages to you as a merchant including recovery for abandoned shopping carts, customer loyalty and email contact. However, many users may be browsing a number of websites, adding products to numerous shopping carts for the main purpose of comparing prices and features. If a user has to register personal details before using the shopping carts, a large percentage are likely to abandon the website.
4. Requiring a user to delete and add the same product to shopping carts just so they can change its colour, size or variation.
Editing a shopping cart should be as simple as possible and shouldn’t require the user to delete anything from the shopping cart.
If a product comes in different colours and different sizes don’t make them delete it from their shopping cart if they want it in a different variation. Users should be able to select from within their shopping carts the different options.
5. Websites that do not clearly show the user the contents of the shopping carts.
Have you ever been on a website and added the same product to your shopping cart 3 or 4 times because you’re not sure if it worked the first time?
Many users that can’t see the contents of their shopping cart in the same browser as the one they are shopping on can often feel confused about whether or not their item has been added successfully.
As a merchant it is understandable that you don’t want to take your user away from the page they are shopping on every time they add something to their shopping cart. Best practice guidelines therefore indicate displaying the contents of a users shopping cart in the same browser, in the right hand corner for example.
To summarise, the design of the entire shopping experience is of utmost importance. These 5 potential design problems highlighted are five of many common problems found on shopping carts.
Which one is most likely to make you abandon your shopping cart?
Tell us about additional usability problems you have encountered!
Which, out of those above, do you think is the most irritating and the most likely to cause shopping abandonment?
MITCHEL
The process leading up to a transaction online is possibly the most critical to a shopping cart’s success. If the buying process causes frustration, confusion or insecurity, the user is likely to abandon the shopping cart, never to return again.
The usability of a shopping cart refers to the efficiency with which a user can achieve their goals on a website. Many of the larger online shopping carts, like Play.com and Amazon.com, are continuously striving to make their buying process as fluent and as effortless as possible. Knowing you can buy a book or film in just 3 or 4 clicks encourages you to return to the same, reliable website.
Having read numerous articles and white papers dedicated to best practice shopping cart design and usability; below I have highlighted five potential design problems in shopping carts that I’m sure many users have encountered.
1. Shopping carts that ask a user to register before knowing if the product is available or not.
It could be quite irritating for a user if they have spent 10 minutes entering their credit card details, home address, telephone number etc etc. only to find out during the checkout process that the product they want to buy is out of stock.
Many shopping carts enable you to present users with live stock availability before the user places their product in the shopping cart.
2. Suggesting the user buys similar products before adding the main product to the shopping cart.
It’s often helpful when a website recommends additional products you may want or need after adding your main product to your shopping cart.
However, I think you’ll agree that it could be slightly confusing if these additional products were offered to you before even adding the main product to your shopping cart? You press “Add to Cart” and suddenly you’re offered batteries, or insoles or travel cases. Many users would be left feeling confused, wondering if their product had been added or not, or if they’d pressed the wrong button.
Best practice guidelines would indicate offering your user the extra products after the user has finished shopping and they’re entering the checkout process.
3. Shopping carts that ask a user to register before they have even added a product to their shopping cart.
Asking for a user’s personal information before they have even added a product to their shopping cart is not a good move.
Customer registration can offer some big advantages to you as a merchant including recovery for abandoned shopping carts, customer loyalty and email contact. However, many users may be browsing a number of websites, adding products to numerous shopping carts for the main purpose of comparing prices and features. If a user has to register personal details before using the shopping carts, a large percentage are likely to abandon the website.
4. Requiring a user to delete and add the same product to shopping carts just so they can change its colour, size or variation.
Editing a shopping cart should be as simple as possible and shouldn’t require the user to delete anything from the shopping cart.
If a product comes in different colours and different sizes don’t make them delete it from their shopping cart if they want it in a different variation. Users should be able to select from within their shopping carts the different options.
5. Websites that do not clearly show the user the contents of the shopping carts.
Have you ever been on a website and added the same product to your shopping cart 3 or 4 times because you’re not sure if it worked the first time?
Many users that can’t see the contents of their shopping cart in the same browser as the one they are shopping on can often feel confused about whether or not their item has been added successfully.
As a merchant it is understandable that you don’t want to take your user away from the page they are shopping on every time they add something to their shopping cart. Best practice guidelines therefore indicate displaying the contents of a users shopping cart in the same browser, in the right hand corner for example.
To summarise, the design of the entire shopping experience is of utmost importance. These 5 potential design problems highlighted are five of many common problems found on shopping carts.
Which one is most likely to make you abandon your shopping cart?
Tell us about additional usability problems you have encountered!
Which, out of those above, do you think is the most irritating and the most likely to cause shopping abandonment?
MITCHEL
Jan
27
Shopping Carts Solutions
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Rakhi Chowdhary asked:
Shopping Carts Solutions an integrated shopping solution, a new way that lets your customers to make orders, purchase online, manage shipping…
Today every growing business tries to be customer centric and I am very sure that business entropy will increase if your customer retention rate goes low. In this article I will discuss all about shopping cart and shopping cart software solution. With plethora of internet, staying at the top of your field has become arduous and it takes a lot to remain or reach at the top position. Looking back at the decade of shopping, there were no online store and customers had to walk to the store, spend time there browsing through the catalogue, deciding products, and then the product was passed into the shopping cart (trolley), order was placed and finally checkout and payment processes were carried. Then everything was manual, all entries were made manually and pricing were calculated on hands. In present scenario - With online shopping cart you can shop from your home or your office; just need internet connection and all yours processing finalized in a minute. This online storefront with integrated shopping solution provides a platform for selecting and purchasing your favorite products.
Shopping Carts is selecting products online for purchasing. Ecommerce is complete online store for shopping where from placing orders, tracking orders and managing account all are maintained.
The interface of online stores are designed for users and it is really easy to browse, collect, place orders and make payment but behind the curtain the scene is sophisticated, it needs round the clock maintenance for smooth functioning of your ecommerce store. The current study says that abandonment rate of shopping cart ranges from 25% to 75%. Being a SEO executive and strategist I have analyzed lots of ecommerce websites, studied its web analytics funnel visualization report, it shows that most of the visitors exit at the initial step (after Login or Registration), these visitors drop out at proceeding steps, and very small percentage reach the final checkout. I would say that funnel conversion rate is very low for these ecommerce websites / shopping carts if the funnel steps are not properly set.
I would like to share what all I have inculcated through my experience, reasons for shopping cart abandonment are:
High Shipping Cost: This can be inversely managed by increasing product cost and reducing shipping cost.
Security and Privacy Problem: Providing very transparent privacy statement and high level security for payment gateway.
Lot of essentialities and billing formalities: Non essential information should be not be made mandatory, other formalities can be filled at the after checkout.
Poor Navigation: Your shopping store should respond quickly, check that your site does not take enough loading time. Search should be simple and checkout process should not be very lengthy. Clients should be notified after payment is done and visitors who wish can easily navigate back to make more shopping without time wastage.
Remember, your ecommerce website should be simple so that it entices your customers to come again for shopping. All the shopping cart segments should be integrated and should be streamlined for its smooth running. Elements of consideration are: a ecommerce shopping cart (storefront with shopping cart), a merchant account, a database server (this stores all information about customer and all your storefront products and services), a web server (hosts your website and provides all information about your product at the web browser’s request), a catalogue, legacy system, control inventory, reporting tool and secure payment gateway. Hosting of your online storefront or ecommerce website is of first consideration. Depending on your storefront hosting you choose shopping cart software, all depends on the software and your website hosting compatibility.
There are different shopping cart software available for your storefront from which you can choose. Either you can Buy a shopping cart software product, or join a service (template service build your store).
Choosing shopping cart software is the key business requirement for online shopping business solutions.
Every ecommerce site has its shopping cart and thus needs a merchant account and payment gateway. I believe these two are basic necessities of any online store for allowing credit card payment. Let be brief the main points that you should know before proceeding to shopping carts.
Merchant Account: This allows to process credit card information. Different types of merchant accounts are available to suit your business needs. Most popular merchant accounts include wireless, telecheck, mail order or phone, e-commerce. Ecommerce is the fastest growing transaction segment.
Payment Gateway: payment gateway processes this credit card and shipping information and real time information over a secure network connection.
A company that validates your credit card information in real time is electronic gateway or payment gateway. Few most widely accepted gateways are: Paypal (Globally), Verisign (Globally), 2Checkout (Globally), WorldPay (Gloablly), Authorize.Net (US), CyberSource (US), Moneris (CA), Protx (UK), EWay (AU); some others are Chronopay, Westpac, BluePay, viaKLIX, eMatters, plugnpay, eway, goemerchant.com, skipjack, MiraPay, netaxept, DirectOne, nab, NETBANX, Network Merchants, Nochex, DeltaPAY, eProcessing Network, protx, egateway, SECPay, paymate, Gotmerchant, ANZ, beanstream, Payjunction, TECHNOCASH, MiraPay, GoDaddy.
Payment gateway main motive is to provide secure channel for credit card information transfer. Basically the credit card information is encrypted and sent to respective bank for verification, these are of highest priority, no detail is stored in between.
You may be having now in mind how to create your merchant account and have your payment gateway??? Not mandatory to have one’s own, you may use merchant service providers’ shopping cart solutions for your ecommerce websites.
Type of Gateways:
Currently there are 3 main gateway interfaces available:
COM based gateway interface: Most of the COM based gateway company requires installing the DLL software on your hosting server, and also checks for your SSL certificate.
XML Transport gateway interface: XML Transport gateway companies do not require DLL installation but checks for you SLL certification instead uses Windows server installed facilities.
Form based gateway interface: This is most common gateway as does not require any software installation, very few companies ask for SSL certification.
The main advantage is that COM and XML gateways are integrated with your store and thus no redirection to external server but the drawback also lies that since the transfer is over the internet to payment gateway makes this less reliable.
Types of Shopping Cart
Merchant Service Shopping Carts
Have you set up a new business, do not have merchant account and payment gateway??? Still looking…. There are merchant services shopping carts available for new businesses with very less queries at the initial stage. Once you start your business at the initial stage there are very less orders that increases gradually, so merchant will get you licensed . It proceeds somewhat like this: it collects and stores your client’s information and takes you to its payment gateway and merchant account.
The main problem is the fee that gateway company charges. Apart from the set up fee, transaction cost is also high making the over all gateway an expensive one. Another major drawback is that client’s credit card statements will contain merchant service not your company name. There is admin login section for all sort of updation – add, delete, edit, and manage products and other information. The HTML code generated by the cart is inserted in the respected pages, once the visitor clicks on the link (button), visitor is redirected to merchant site where visitor needs to enter card detail and personal details.
Hosted Shopping Carts
Small and medium sized businesses need not worry!! Yes, they can have hosted shopping cart for those not having enough resource to go with integrated shopping cart solutions for their ecommerce websites. The hosted shopping cart solution has an administration area for entering product information. The generated HTML information code is inserted into the product page. The website visitor is redirected to another site to fill a form with information that is CC to the website. There are certain carts that provide configurable user interface so that it looks as corporate website.
The most important point to be noted is that in hosted shopping cart solutions the website owner uses ones own payment gateway and merchant account; this provides your client with credit card detail with your company title not the title of merchant service. For increasing sale this shopping cart service becomes cheaper, this may be fixed transaction charge for higher sales compared to per transaction.
Fully Integrated Shopping Carts
Fully integrated (Trunkey - a comprehensive shopping cart solution provided by one provider) shopping cart provides completely configurable user interface and other interesting features. This needs some programming knowledge so that you can better manage and handle its modules and use the extra features provided. Provider of On the ecommerce provider server the software data and web pages are hosted. Examples: Yahoo Store, Bigstep, Merchandizer, etc. these include form based built in payment gateway.
Which shopping cart to go with?? Points to ponder – Costing: The investment you put in, hosting
Shopping cart software is the common online storefront business solution. There are myriad e-commerce solutions available with varying features, design, security so that you can customize based on your requirements and specifications. With open source software solutions, osCommerce shopping cart solution there are slew of customizable shopping cart solutions available. The open source ecommerce software products are available that are very easy to setup, configure, administration. So before going with a particular solution Payment gateway or shopping cart just be clear about your requirements. There is another storefront solution, Watson shopping cart system (developed in Switzerland) is a new shopping cart or trolley that has unique database and uses audio advertising system of the internet for online shopping.
EMANUEL
Shopping Carts Solutions an integrated shopping solution, a new way that lets your customers to make orders, purchase online, manage shipping…
Today every growing business tries to be customer centric and I am very sure that business entropy will increase if your customer retention rate goes low. In this article I will discuss all about shopping cart and shopping cart software solution. With plethora of internet, staying at the top of your field has become arduous and it takes a lot to remain or reach at the top position. Looking back at the decade of shopping, there were no online store and customers had to walk to the store, spend time there browsing through the catalogue, deciding products, and then the product was passed into the shopping cart (trolley), order was placed and finally checkout and payment processes were carried. Then everything was manual, all entries were made manually and pricing were calculated on hands. In present scenario - With online shopping cart you can shop from your home or your office; just need internet connection and all yours processing finalized in a minute. This online storefront with integrated shopping solution provides a platform for selecting and purchasing your favorite products.
Shopping Carts is selecting products online for purchasing. Ecommerce is complete online store for shopping where from placing orders, tracking orders and managing account all are maintained.
The interface of online stores are designed for users and it is really easy to browse, collect, place orders and make payment but behind the curtain the scene is sophisticated, it needs round the clock maintenance for smooth functioning of your ecommerce store. The current study says that abandonment rate of shopping cart ranges from 25% to 75%. Being a SEO executive and strategist I have analyzed lots of ecommerce websites, studied its web analytics funnel visualization report, it shows that most of the visitors exit at the initial step (after Login or Registration), these visitors drop out at proceeding steps, and very small percentage reach the final checkout. I would say that funnel conversion rate is very low for these ecommerce websites / shopping carts if the funnel steps are not properly set.
I would like to share what all I have inculcated through my experience, reasons for shopping cart abandonment are:
High Shipping Cost: This can be inversely managed by increasing product cost and reducing shipping cost.
Security and Privacy Problem: Providing very transparent privacy statement and high level security for payment gateway.
Lot of essentialities and billing formalities: Non essential information should be not be made mandatory, other formalities can be filled at the after checkout.
Poor Navigation: Your shopping store should respond quickly, check that your site does not take enough loading time. Search should be simple and checkout process should not be very lengthy. Clients should be notified after payment is done and visitors who wish can easily navigate back to make more shopping without time wastage.
Remember, your ecommerce website should be simple so that it entices your customers to come again for shopping. All the shopping cart segments should be integrated and should be streamlined for its smooth running. Elements of consideration are: a ecommerce shopping cart (storefront with shopping cart), a merchant account, a database server (this stores all information about customer and all your storefront products and services), a web server (hosts your website and provides all information about your product at the web browser’s request), a catalogue, legacy system, control inventory, reporting tool and secure payment gateway. Hosting of your online storefront or ecommerce website is of first consideration. Depending on your storefront hosting you choose shopping cart software, all depends on the software and your website hosting compatibility.
There are different shopping cart software available for your storefront from which you can choose. Either you can Buy a shopping cart software product, or join a service (template service build your store).
Choosing shopping cart software is the key business requirement for online shopping business solutions.
Every ecommerce site has its shopping cart and thus needs a merchant account and payment gateway. I believe these two are basic necessities of any online store for allowing credit card payment. Let be brief the main points that you should know before proceeding to shopping carts.
Merchant Account: This allows to process credit card information. Different types of merchant accounts are available to suit your business needs. Most popular merchant accounts include wireless, telecheck, mail order or phone, e-commerce. Ecommerce is the fastest growing transaction segment.
Payment Gateway: payment gateway processes this credit card and shipping information and real time information over a secure network connection.
A company that validates your credit card information in real time is electronic gateway or payment gateway. Few most widely accepted gateways are: Paypal (Globally), Verisign (Globally), 2Checkout (Globally), WorldPay (Gloablly), Authorize.Net (US), CyberSource (US), Moneris (CA), Protx (UK), EWay (AU); some others are Chronopay, Westpac, BluePay, viaKLIX, eMatters, plugnpay, eway, goemerchant.com, skipjack, MiraPay, netaxept, DirectOne, nab, NETBANX, Network Merchants, Nochex, DeltaPAY, eProcessing Network, protx, egateway, SECPay, paymate, Gotmerchant, ANZ, beanstream, Payjunction, TECHNOCASH, MiraPay, GoDaddy.
Payment gateway main motive is to provide secure channel for credit card information transfer. Basically the credit card information is encrypted and sent to respective bank for verification, these are of highest priority, no detail is stored in between.
You may be having now in mind how to create your merchant account and have your payment gateway??? Not mandatory to have one’s own, you may use merchant service providers’ shopping cart solutions for your ecommerce websites.
Type of Gateways:
Currently there are 3 main gateway interfaces available:
COM based gateway interface: Most of the COM based gateway company requires installing the DLL software on your hosting server, and also checks for your SSL certificate.
XML Transport gateway interface: XML Transport gateway companies do not require DLL installation but checks for you SLL certification instead uses Windows server installed facilities.
Form based gateway interface: This is most common gateway as does not require any software installation, very few companies ask for SSL certification.
The main advantage is that COM and XML gateways are integrated with your store and thus no redirection to external server but the drawback also lies that since the transfer is over the internet to payment gateway makes this less reliable.
Types of Shopping Cart
Merchant Service Shopping Carts
Have you set up a new business, do not have merchant account and payment gateway??? Still looking…. There are merchant services shopping carts available for new businesses with very less queries at the initial stage. Once you start your business at the initial stage there are very less orders that increases gradually, so merchant will get you licensed . It proceeds somewhat like this: it collects and stores your client’s information and takes you to its payment gateway and merchant account.
The main problem is the fee that gateway company charges. Apart from the set up fee, transaction cost is also high making the over all gateway an expensive one. Another major drawback is that client’s credit card statements will contain merchant service not your company name. There is admin login section for all sort of updation – add, delete, edit, and manage products and other information. The HTML code generated by the cart is inserted in the respected pages, once the visitor clicks on the link (button), visitor is redirected to merchant site where visitor needs to enter card detail and personal details.
Hosted Shopping Carts
Small and medium sized businesses need not worry!! Yes, they can have hosted shopping cart for those not having enough resource to go with integrated shopping cart solutions for their ecommerce websites. The hosted shopping cart solution has an administration area for entering product information. The generated HTML information code is inserted into the product page. The website visitor is redirected to another site to fill a form with information that is CC to the website. There are certain carts that provide configurable user interface so that it looks as corporate website.
The most important point to be noted is that in hosted shopping cart solutions the website owner uses ones own payment gateway and merchant account; this provides your client with credit card detail with your company title not the title of merchant service. For increasing sale this shopping cart service becomes cheaper, this may be fixed transaction charge for higher sales compared to per transaction.
Fully Integrated Shopping Carts
Fully integrated (Trunkey - a comprehensive shopping cart solution provided by one provider) shopping cart provides completely configurable user interface and other interesting features. This needs some programming knowledge so that you can better manage and handle its modules and use the extra features provided. Provider of On the ecommerce provider server the software data and web pages are hosted. Examples: Yahoo Store, Bigstep, Merchandizer, etc. these include form based built in payment gateway.
Which shopping cart to go with?? Points to ponder – Costing: The investment you put in, hosting
Shopping cart software is the common online storefront business solution. There are myriad e-commerce solutions available with varying features, design, security so that you can customize based on your requirements and specifications. With open source software solutions, osCommerce shopping cart solution there are slew of customizable shopping cart solutions available. The open source ecommerce software products are available that are very easy to setup, configure, administration. So before going with a particular solution Payment gateway or shopping cart just be clear about your requirements. There is another storefront solution, Watson shopping cart system (developed in Switzerland) is a new shopping cart or trolley that has unique database and uses audio advertising system of the internet for online shopping.
EMANUEL
Jan
16
Start Selling Online with the Shopping Cart
Filed Under Ecommerce | Comments Off
Aaron Goldberg asked:
ing Cart Software You want to shop for a week’s supply at Walmart and as you enter the store, you notice that all the shopping carts are gone. How would you feel? Of course, you’d feel like not shopping at all and switch to other stores where shopping carts are available. The same applies for online shoppers who wanted to make a more organized and one-way shopping, most especially if they’d purchase multiple items. A customer would always want it the easy way out and one way of letting them shop the easy way is through online shopping carts. Shopping cart software has improved a lot as years passed and as e-commerce boomed to overcome a lot of tangible business out in the business world. Having an Online Shopping Cart Software is important and will reap you a lot of benefits both in short term and in the long run. Through a shopping cart, you would be able to cater the best shopping experience to your online customers like they’re in a virtual shopping mall picking up what they want and stashing it inside the cart for the cashier to bill them out. Free vs Paid Shopping Carts There are a lot of shopping cart softwares available; most of them are pay-to-use while some few are for free. Free shopping cart softwares may be very tempting to avail of because they are absolutely free of charge. Take note, however, that these free shopping cart softwares may be a good option while starting a business, when the customers are not that overwhelming yet. But try to anticipate when your business made it into the main stream. Surely, the free shopping cart software won’t be able to handle the demands of multiple customers in the long run. As compared with paid shopping carts, free carts are less stable and have less customer support available for technical difficulties. Multi-Tasking Carts There are available shopping cart softwares which come in a package making them more versatile than ever. Shopping cart packages allow for the users to perform multiple tasks at once. Suggestive carts- Aside from the usual shopping cart where all the items to be purchased are stored temporarily, current carts also generate information about the customer’s history of previous purchases and offers them similar products which could catch their interests- this is through the power of cookies which collect previous information of users and dig them up for future use. Search Tool- Search tool is also integrated in some shopping carts so shoppers won’t need to scour over the list of items. They can also sort these items out so that they can compare the prices, and all other essential information. Cross Selling- Some carts can also be designed to do cross-selling such that there would be Hot Listed Items on a part of the cart which could raise the interest of a customer. Computations of Fees- One important feature of a shopping cart is to make the job of the online seller easier so that before it reaches the Internet Merchant Account service, everything is already ironed out and ready for billing. Computation of taxes, shipping costs, discount rates and all other necessary calculations can be done by a shopping cart and this helps a lot in making the transaction smoother and more convenient. Reporting- A shopping carts task doesn’t just end once the customer leaves the site and billed out by the IMA. The cart should also display reports to the online seller about the hottest items on the list, the overall sale for a certain time, the information about the traffic, the type of customers and all essential information necessary to improve the store. Customizability of Design The flexibility of the shopping carts is important so that it could be well adapted and customized according to the design or layout of the online store for which it is designed to work. By this feature, you can easily change the look of your store if it starts out to feel dull and monotonous. You should also see to it that the interface is user-friendly so that those persons with no idea about HTML or web designing can easily tweak the design up. There are also some shopping cart software providers who can customize the carts for you- all you need is to give them a logo of your store or tell them how you want those shopping carts to look like. Shopping carts are very vital in the functioning of an ecommerce website. It gives heaps of benefits for both the seller and the customer. For this reason, be very careful and strategic in choosing the right shopping cart for your store. Just bear in mind those tips and points which should be looked into and surely, you’ll get the best shopping cart service suited for your business.
JORGE
ing Cart Software You want to shop for a week’s supply at Walmart and as you enter the store, you notice that all the shopping carts are gone. How would you feel? Of course, you’d feel like not shopping at all and switch to other stores where shopping carts are available. The same applies for online shoppers who wanted to make a more organized and one-way shopping, most especially if they’d purchase multiple items. A customer would always want it the easy way out and one way of letting them shop the easy way is through online shopping carts. Shopping cart software has improved a lot as years passed and as e-commerce boomed to overcome a lot of tangible business out in the business world. Having an Online Shopping Cart Software is important and will reap you a lot of benefits both in short term and in the long run. Through a shopping cart, you would be able to cater the best shopping experience to your online customers like they’re in a virtual shopping mall picking up what they want and stashing it inside the cart for the cashier to bill them out. Free vs Paid Shopping Carts There are a lot of shopping cart softwares available; most of them are pay-to-use while some few are for free. Free shopping cart softwares may be very tempting to avail of because they are absolutely free of charge. Take note, however, that these free shopping cart softwares may be a good option while starting a business, when the customers are not that overwhelming yet. But try to anticipate when your business made it into the main stream. Surely, the free shopping cart software won’t be able to handle the demands of multiple customers in the long run. As compared with paid shopping carts, free carts are less stable and have less customer support available for technical difficulties. Multi-Tasking Carts There are available shopping cart softwares which come in a package making them more versatile than ever. Shopping cart packages allow for the users to perform multiple tasks at once. Suggestive carts- Aside from the usual shopping cart where all the items to be purchased are stored temporarily, current carts also generate information about the customer’s history of previous purchases and offers them similar products which could catch their interests- this is through the power of cookies which collect previous information of users and dig them up for future use. Search Tool- Search tool is also integrated in some shopping carts so shoppers won’t need to scour over the list of items. They can also sort these items out so that they can compare the prices, and all other essential information. Cross Selling- Some carts can also be designed to do cross-selling such that there would be Hot Listed Items on a part of the cart which could raise the interest of a customer. Computations of Fees- One important feature of a shopping cart is to make the job of the online seller easier so that before it reaches the Internet Merchant Account service, everything is already ironed out and ready for billing. Computation of taxes, shipping costs, discount rates and all other necessary calculations can be done by a shopping cart and this helps a lot in making the transaction smoother and more convenient. Reporting- A shopping carts task doesn’t just end once the customer leaves the site and billed out by the IMA. The cart should also display reports to the online seller about the hottest items on the list, the overall sale for a certain time, the information about the traffic, the type of customers and all essential information necessary to improve the store. Customizability of Design The flexibility of the shopping carts is important so that it could be well adapted and customized according to the design or layout of the online store for which it is designed to work. By this feature, you can easily change the look of your store if it starts out to feel dull and monotonous. You should also see to it that the interface is user-friendly so that those persons with no idea about HTML or web designing can easily tweak the design up. There are also some shopping cart software providers who can customize the carts for you- all you need is to give them a logo of your store or tell them how you want those shopping carts to look like. Shopping carts are very vital in the functioning of an ecommerce website. It gives heaps of benefits for both the seller and the customer. For this reason, be very careful and strategic in choosing the right shopping cart for your store. Just bear in mind those tips and points which should be looked into and surely, you’ll get the best shopping cart service suited for your business.
JORGE