Ecommerce Software: A Shopping Cart, Plus More
An "ecommerce shopping cart" is a piece of Internet software. But when someone says or writes "ecommerce shopping cart software," the speaker or writer is almost always talking about the Internet shopping cart software, plus the other software it takes to make ecommerce happen:
-A shopping cart merchant account for accepting and processing credit cards
-An integrated database for items to be sold through the web page shopping cart and tracking customer data.
-Integrated marketing tools like an email autoresponder.
Researching ecommerce software for your business? Remember that an ecommerce solution is much more than a web page shopping cart. It's an entire integrated sales-and-customer-service package.
Study and Compare
Choosing the right ecommerce shopping cart software can easily mean the difference between life and death for your ebusiness. So before shopping for an overall ecommerce solution, do your due diligence. Make sure you're educated about what type of ecommerce shopping cart software would be right for your ebusiness. Then spend some time researching different Internet shopping cart options and prices. Ask around at your next business or trade group function. Look at web sites with strong ecommerce software packages and see how you might be able to emulate them. Research web comparison and review sites, as well as manufacturer and retail sites. Take the time and learn a lot before purchasing. It won't be wasted time.
Put the Cart Before the Sale
Ecommerce shopping cart software is a critical component, but not the only component, of the overall ecommerce solution. A good web page shopping cart will not only let users choose, hold and purchase items, but will also calculate sales tax and shipping costs in real time, track user purchases and patterns and even integrate with a database and marketing software. If you're new to the ecommerce business, you'll likely choose Internet shopping cart software as part of an overall ecommerce software solution. However, you can also purchase or even download free ecommerce shopping cart software and integrate it yourself into an existing or custom ecommerce solution. Just make sure you have the skills and time to do it yourself.
What Else Is Needed?
Other necessary components of an overall ecommerce solution include the following:
* A payment gateway -- This is often bundled with the shopping cart merchant account. The payment gateway is Internet software that interfaces with credit card company databases and the ecommerce shopping cart software to process the transaction and check for possible fraud. If your shopping cart merchant account does not come with a payment gateway, it's going to cost you more to get one up and running.
* A secure server -- Credit card transactions running from the web page shopping cart through the Internet payment gateway need to run through an encrypted server to avoid exposing sensitive credit card data during the transaction.
* A web site with a product database -- This will come as part of a web-based ecommerce solution. The database is already web-enabled and ready to be populated with your goods for sale. If you have an existing product database, you will need to convert it to a web-enabled database to make it interface with the rest of the ecommerce software.
Your Host or Mine?
There are basically two types of ecommerce solutions: web-based (ASP) and software-based/locally hosted. Web-based ecommerce solutions use point-and-click interfaces and bundled Internet shopping cart software to allow any user to build and run full-featured electronic storefronts. The host company takes care of all maintenance and IT issues and will charge one monthly fee, as well as transaction fees. Software-based ecommerce solutions are installed on the local server with the web site and integrate directly with the site. These almost always require the skills of a web programmer, but are more easily integrated with existing sites or complicated business practices. Which is right for you? It depends on your needs, budget and experience.
How Much Will It Cost? Depends on How Much You Want
The cost of a total ecommerce solution depends on how powerful and detailed a solution you need. You can get a turnkey hosted ecommerce shopping cart software package for under $30 a month, along with per-transaction fees. Separate Internet shopping cart software can be found for free, or boxed for under $200. Custom ecommerce solutions that interface with separate marketing and CRM software can cost thousands, or even millions of dollars, depending on the size and scope of the project.
A Total Ecommerce Shopping Cart Solution
Remember, even the best ecommerce shopping cart software is really only part of your total ecommerce solution. Internet shopping cart software, a shopping cart merchant account, a payment gateway and secure server only allow you to actually conduct sales. Good ecommerce shopping cart software -- either web-based, or boxed or custom software -- includes all of those pieces, but also components that help businesses perform critical marketing tasks: prospecting, follow-ups, affiliate or reseller programs. It's easy to find ecommerce shopping cart software that integrates some or all of these components as part of a single ecommerce software solution. Or you can pick and choose your own for a locally hosted software solution.
Who Should I Buy My Ecommerce Solution From?
There are hundreds of companies offering ecommerce solutions. Google "ecommerce solution" and see for yourself. So who offers the best? It depends on what you want in terms of Internet shopping cart software. Giant ecommerce shopping cart providers like Yahoo, EBay and Amazon have point-and-click storefronts for sale, as do hundreds of remotely hosted ecommerce specialists. If you want a software-based ecommerce solution to host yourself, the best advice for non-technical business minds is this: Tell your developer or IT department what you want to do and how much you want to spend and let them come back to you with specific proposals for going forward.
Shopping Cart Merchant Account Required
The second critical component of an overall ecommerce software solution is a shopping cart merchant account. This is a bank account that is enabled to work online with the ecommerce shopping cart software and accept credit card payments through a web gateway. Money can then automatically transfer from the shopping cart merchant account to the business's designated business bank account. A shopping cart merchant account often comes as part of a web-based or pre-packaged ecommerce solution, but can also be obtained individually and used with custom-built Internet shopping cart software. Expect to pay set-up and monthly fees for an ecommerce merchant account, as well as a small percentage of every transaction. You have to have a shopping cart merchant account to do ecommerce on the web.
Autoresponders Save Time and Money
One of the great advantages of ecommerce shopping cart software packages is how you can automate many customer-service functions that used to take work by humans. For example, answering customer email. Some packaged ecommerce solutions come with autoresponders, to allow canned email responses to be sent in answer to specific questions or tasks sent in through the ecommerce shopping cart software. Many autoresponders can also send emails to specific users or smal mailing lists. The idea here is to use the autoresponders not only to automate email responses, but to do, for example, follow-up marketing with contextual data. If this really takes off, you will likely need to upgrade to more powerful email list software.