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What is Involved in Shopping Cart Software

By on November 29, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

What is Involved in Shopping Cart Software

There are many things that go on within a shopping cart. There are many different features and management systems, so many that it can be mind-boggling. When deciding on which shopping cart program to purchase you should know what the basic parts of a shopping cart system entails so that you can make a smart buying decision.

All shopping carts have some kind of ordering system whether it is a simple online ordering system that includes buttons that have HTML attached to them such as is done with the Paypal shopping cart or a store-front ordering system where everything is done on site.

All shopping carts also have the ability for customers to add items to the cart, delete items from the cart, and input quantity desired. All shopping carts collect data such as the customer’s name, address and phone number. All shopping carts have to include shipping modules unless the products are all digital in nature in that case there would be a download manager.

Advanced shopping carts would allow customers to have several options per item such as color, size, weight, shape, height or width. Some carts even have choices between bulk or single item orders.

Shopping carts normally have shipping options with common ones being USPS, UPS and FedEx, DHL, CanadaPost, and also AustraliaPost. Not only do you have the different carriers but you also have other shipping options such as delivery time: next day, second day, ground, and air.

Tax calculation are also a part of what shopping carts need to offer when the customer has a physical address that is in the same state or city as the merchant. Tax calculations are done by zip code. Merchants who have stores in multiple rates would have a hair-pulling experience if not for advanced software plug-ins such as TaxWare’s Sales/Use Tax System or CertiTax which can calculate for the customer in real time the exact taxes.

Buyers insist on secure transactions before they hand over their credit cards so it is important for the shopping cart to integrate a payment gateway that is secure, protection for credit card numbers that are stored on the Website, an SSL secure connection certificate between the customer and the Website to discourage hackers from stealing sensitive financial information from the customers. It is also important to have a secure Sockets Layer (SSL) between the customer and the Website. If your Website server is not secure customer won’t buy. It is also important to have secure order retrieval.

Not all payment gateways are compatible with all shopping carts so you need to verify that the payment gateway is compatible before making your purchase. The most common U.S. based shopping cart compatible payment gateways are Authorize.net, LinkPoint, veriSign PayFlow Pro, and WorldPay. PayPal is another alternative payment system for most shopping carts but PayPal’s proprietary Instant Payment Notification (IPN) is not always available so you have to check before deciding to use PayPal.

Most shopping carts nowadays provide email confirmation of order placement and a few provide email confirmation of shipment.

Cookies, temporary IP number assignment and randomly generated cart numbers are all ways that shopping carts have to help keep customer orders straight. Because some shoppers turn off cookies it is important that shopping carts be set up with other methods alongside cookies just in case.

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If You Sell Products or Services Online You Need A Shopping Cart

By on August 29, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

If You Sell Products or Services Online You Need A Shopping Cart

The shopping cart is a vital part of any ecommerce site. A shopping cart allows your site visitors to browse your site, buy products or services and have a place to hold items while they continue to browse.

A shopping cart is a software application that gives your customer freedom to browse, to add or delete products from a virtual shopping cart and to see a running total of how much they have selected in dollar amount.

A shopping cart integrates with the rest of your site. A shopping cart may have links that allow the customer to search your site for specific items, see what is in their cart, even save their cart’s contents for later.

Shopping carts are designed in many programming languages. You can run a shopping cart on many different servers such as the Windows Web servers, Unix, and others. You can also place the shopping cart on your own web Server by transferring the files using any FTP program.

A shopping cart typically includes a database for storing information such as your product description; customer data, order information and can display this information for the customer on pages such as product detail page, checkout page, etc. Shopping carts also have an administration area where you can manage your store such as adding product, set up shipping and payment options, or process orders.

There are two parts or components to the shopping cart – the part that the customer sees, called the storefront and the administrative section where the owner manages the store. Features of a shopping cart will vary from one shopping cart company to another.

Basic features that most shopping carts should have are: A catalog of products, a search feature to locate items easily, a customer service area where customers can get help locating or buying products, special pages such as sales, featured products, a specific brands.

The administration section of the shopping cart is where the owner manages the store and should include general settings such as product, categories, currency, date format, language etc. and a module for creating and editing products, a place for managing product categories, and a section for managing options such as color or size. Another section that is important is the price setting and changing area. There also needs to be a module for managing orders such as those that need processing, those that are pending, and those that have shipped as well as a returns section.

Now that you know a little bit more about the shopping cart, you can understand just how important it is to have a shopping cart on your Website if you are selling products or services.

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PHP Shopping Cart Benefits Your Website

By on July 28, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

PHP Shopping Cart Benefits Your Website

You are an Internet entrepreneur hoping to make it big in the online world of business. You realize that your website has to be functional, accessible to viewers and attractive to keep the attention of the viewer; but do you realize the benefits of having a PHP shopping cart on your website? A PHP shopping cart can allow the visitor to your website to perform many functional tasks such as adding to the cart, updating the cart when changes are made to the items in the cart and deleting unwanted items from the cart. The shopping cart should be set up in a familiar way and should have a textual message on each page to inform the visitor of how many items are in the cart to remind the visitor when they are browsing the site of the existence of the cart in this “non-physical” world where a virtual cart is not as visible as a real shopping cart would be in the real world.

You can make a PHP shopping cart very accessible to the website visitor by a link, such as “add to cart”, or a visible button located by each item on the web page. You can also have both button and textual message for each product on the page.

The PHP shopping cart has many traits that lends success for your business such as having the requisite information being sent to the cart, the ability to locate and execute a high compliance cart, and the ability to call an external PHP file. It is also possible to have the PHP shopping cart to have the option of paying via the popular Paypal service.

Most PHP shopping cart software programs come with complete ready-to-run PHP shopping carts that do not require any programming knowledge. The software is usually cost-effective and can be complement major ecommerce features. PHP shopping carts are usually easy design integration with any HTML editor and are usually accompanied by ready-to-use skin templates. PHP shopping carts are search engine friends, and gives the website owner the ability to accept online credit card processing. Most PHP shopping cart software allows for real-time shipping quotes and easy order notifications by email or SMS. If you are looking for a software program consider PHP shopping carts.

PHP shopping carts are flexible, fully functional that can easily be integrated into any ecommerce website. Look for one with custom template systems that will make the cart easy to set up with multiple payment gateways. When purchasing a PHP shopping cart make sure the in company you purchase the software from has free technical support, multiple currency support and offers multiple shipping configurations. You want total control over your shopping cart and having separate links from each product to the shopping cart will allow the customer to easily add products to the cart.

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What Are The Most Frequently Asked Questions About Shopping Carts

By on July 8, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

What Are The Most Frequently Asked Questions About Shopping Carts? There are questions about shopping carts that are asked by customers and there are questions that Website owners have about shopping carts when they are looking to add a shopping cart to their Website. Some of the questions are the same, but most of the questions are different. What are the questions that customers and Website owners ask about shopping carts? Customers often ask questions about a shopping cart’s navigation such as how do I add products to the cart, and how do I delete items if I chance my mind? Customers want to know if they will be able to use their preferred payment method. They also want options when it comes to shipping so they can choose the quickest way, or the cheapest way or the preferred carrier. Customers are very concerned about security when it comes to using credit cards online. They also want to know which credit cards are acceptable to use? Customers also want to know how to make choices such as color or size when ordering. While browsing for multiple items customers also want to know if they can see what is in their cart and also if they can see a tally of the total dollar amount of the items in the cart? Customers want to know if there is any sales tax charged and if the store ships to where they live? Customers want to know not only what the shipping options are but they want to be able to compare the costs of shipping. There may be some customers who need to know if you ship to APO or FPO addresses or internationally? Website owners often ask a lot of questions when they are looking for a shopping cart solution for their business. They want to know how well the shopping cart will blend in with their Website. They have questions about how much HTML knowledge they will need to know in order to install or configure the shopping cart? They are naturally going to want to know about technical support if they encounter problems while installing or configuring the shopping cart. They are also going to want to know how responsive customer support is and how helpful they are. They are going to want to know if there is a user’s manual or a help topic or FAQs section that they can find answers when customer service is closed. When in the buying phase they will have lots of questions about features, administration, installation, maintenance, and upgrades. They will also want to know about pricing and payment plans so that they can know if the shopping cart is within their budget or not. It is up to the shopping cart software company to answer the questions of the Website Owner and it is up to the Website owner to answer the questions asked by the customer about the shopping cart. The shopping cart is a very important part of the success of any Website that sells products or services so answering questions about the shopping cart are vital too.

 

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The Indispensable Shopping Cart

By on June 6, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

The Indispensable Shopping Cart

Shopping carts are a necessity for those Website owners who wish to sell physical or digital goods and also those who sell services. Customers have come to expect that a serious ecommerce site will have a shopping cart and will exit a site it if doesn’t. A shopping cart has become an indispensable part of doing business online.

A customer can place items into a virtual shopping cart and continue browsing the site to locate other items of interest. The customer can usually look at the top of the screen and see a running total of how many items they have placed in the cart and can usually also tell a running total of dollars spent so far. While navigating the online shopping cart a customer is able to add to the cart, delete items from the cart, change quantities of the items that are in the cart and make option choices such as color and size from the cart. Shopping carts will even do the math for the customer regarding totaling the retail amount of the order, adding any necessary tax and also adding the shipping fee to the order. Most shopping carts will even email the customer after they have made a purchase and thank them for shopping at the particular Website and will confirm the order that they just placed. The fact that a shopping carts software can be programmed to do this means that the customer will feel secure in the purchase.

Because most ecommerce sites have shopping carts, if your site lacks one you will look unprofessional to a customer visiting your site. The last thing you want to do is drive away potential customers because you did not think to provide a shopping cart.

A shopping cart can provide many benefits to the online store owner including providing data collection and market research based on customer usage, such as how many carts have been abandoned before the purchase was completed, and how much traffic went through the shopping cart. A secure, easy to use shopping cart can even foster repeat business when customers enjoy their shopping cart experience.

The benefits of a secure and multiple featured shopping cart can give your customers a shopping experience that will put them at ease dealing with you. When a customer feels comfortable dealing with you they will purchase more items, and also come back to purchase again from you. They will also spread the word about the good shopping experience they encountered with you and you will pick up more customers by word-of-mouth advertising.

A shopping cart is an indispensable tool to the Website owner who sells goods or services because of the professional look of the site, the shopping experience a customer will enjoy using the shopping cart and because of the invaluable data a shopping cart can provide the Website owner about the shopping habits of the customers who visit the site.

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The Benefits of Having a Shopping Cart on Your Website

By on March 18, 2011 in !Randy Roedl Internet Marketing, affiliate marketing, article directory, article plugin, article themes, Blog Business, Blog Platform, Blog Posting, blogging, Blogs, Conversion, Domains, Free Reports, Google Adsense, Membership sites, Mobil Blogging, New Blogging, SEO, Themes, Traffic, Web Design, Websites, widgets, wordpress, World Internet Summit, Wp Headers, Wp Themes, Youtube Video

The Benefits of Having a Shopping Cart on Your Website

There are many benefits that a shopping cart will bring to your ecommerce business. To discover some of the many benefits of having a shopping cart on your Website continue to read this article.

A shopping cart on your Website can actually increase your sales. The purpose of the shopping cart is to hold items you are thinking of purchasing as you continue to browse the Website. Shopping carts give customers freedom to explore your Website without losing track of where the items are that they wish to purchase during their browsing. A shopping cart allows the customer to do all the shopping on your Website in one transaction. Customers who are forced to check out every time they wish to buy an item, return to shop again only to checkout if they find another item will become frustrated if they have to do this multiple times.

A shopping cart can also display the cart total price so that as the customer adds items to the cart they are aware of how much money they are spending so that they don’t get any nasty surprises at checkout. Customers who are denied a way to check prices will not be as likely to purchase multiple items.

You will want to stay clear of shopping carts that load too slowly because in today’s world people want things fast and if they have to wait they just may move on to the next Website. So it is important not only to have a shopping cart but also to have the right one.

The presence of a shopping cart on your Website also says, “Professional” to your customers. A shopping cart tells your customers that you care about their shopping comfort and will provide what they need to make their shopping experience an enjoyable one. If they are made comfortable while shopping on your Website they are much more likely to return.

Some shopping cart software programs have the capabilities of being your storefront even being your entire Website. The benefit of a shopping cart with a storefront is that you don’t have to bother with any other Website designing.

A shopping cart makes shopping more convenient for your customer. Without a shopping cart you force your customer to browse and remember where items are located that they are interested in. This might cause them to forget items, misplace them, or just leave in frustration. Try shopping for multiple items in a physical store without a shopping cart and see how frustrating it can be. Without shopping cart customers buy less, think about it that shops without a cart? The person buying only one or two items shops without a cart. Do you want your Website visitors to buy just one item or do you want them to purchase multiple items? If you answered, multiple items, then you had better have a shopping cart on your Website.

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