Ecommerce: Have Cart - Will Shop

by: Scott Lindsay

In order for you to sell products or services online you will need a shopping cart application to facilitate ecommerce. While your customers simply want a way to make a purchase if they are interested in your product you will have already considered tough choices.

For Instance...

If you want a full solution for invoicing, statements, receipts and company financial history there are solutions that cover all of this with an application for a shopping cart that is tied to company financial data. One such company is COREsense based in New York. This service requires less redundant work because data entry on sales to a separate accounting software application is not required due to the full integration of financial data. For most companies this solution will fall outside normal budget constraints.

If you have no budget for a shopping cart, you have a couple of solutions that might work depending on your technical expertise. OSCommerce is available at no cost. This product is a fully customizable solution for a shopping cart, but it does require personal programming. In many cases netrepreneurs will hire a programmer to set this shopping cart up for them.

If you have no up front budget for a shopping cart PayPal makes one available at no cost, but they do retain a fee as well as a small commission on each sale. The power of PayPal may make this a trusted source for online transactions for your customers.

Yahoo and eBay provide shopping cart services at $30-40 per month and offers a few features unavailable with the low cost or no-cost checkout solutions.

There are other online solutions for cyber transactions with the tipping point based entirely on the size and needs of your online business. If you are a large company with thousands of online transactions, it may ultimately be less expensive to purchase a shopping cart system that requires a monthly fee. In the end, the fees and commissions associated with no cost carts could outpace a standard monthly fee from other ecommerce transaction solutions.

Your customers have a choice in where they shop online and you have a choice in how you manage online transactions. Spend some time checking out the services offered and how the fees will affect your bottom line both now and as your company grows.

As with all ecommerce sites, your business will not do well if it is difficult to checkout. Make sure the transaction solution you choose allow your clients to make a purchase easily. If the process if too difficult the prospect may bow out before the sale is complete.