Domain Availability
Shopping Carts
ARE THERE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SHOPPING CARTS?
Yes! There are literally hundreds of shopping carts available for you to choose from; however, they all typically fall into one of the following three categories:
- ASPs (Application Service Providers) provide the shopping cart as a service to you. The ASP hosts the cart on their server and gives you everything you need to run it. Signing up with an ASP is like paying someone to take care of the whole process for you.
- SHOPPING CART SOFTWARE is just what it sounds like -software that you pay a flat fee to license. In this case, you are responsible for installing and hosting the application yourself.
- CUSTOMIZED SHOPPING CARTS are ones that you build yourself. In 310k Internet Solutions opinion, there's no need to write your own shopping cart software unless you have VERY specific needs and TONS of money!
The average small business web site doesn't typically need this level of customization. And given the wide-range of cost-effective software and solutions that are now available, there's certainly no need to go through all the trouble and expense. So we'll leave this option out for the rest of our discussion.
Of course, knowing that you can choose between software and ASP shopping carts doesn't really help you select the right one for your business. You still need to understand the fundamental differences between ASPs and software (why one might be better for your business than the other), and then you need to know how to choose from the hundreds of shopping carts available in each category!
So to make this decision a bit easier for you, 310k Internet Solutions has developed SEVEN KEY QUESTIONS that will help you find the cart that's perfect for your online business - one that will streamline your ordering process and potentially double your sales!
QUESTION 1
WHAT DO SHOPPING CARTS COME WITH?
The options that come with your shopping cart can vary widely, based on the package you choose. However, both ASP and software typically include:
- A SHOPPING CART that tracks products selected for purchase by your customers and calculates total purchase price, including tax and shipping costs.
- A MAINTENANCE SYSTEM that allows you to easily add new products, remove old ones, adjust prices, and set up special offers.
- An ORDER-RETRIEVAL SYSTEM that provides you with all the information you need to fulfill orders (like name, mailing address, product ordered, etc.).
On top of these fairly standard features, ASP carts and software packages can also include a variety of other options (some which you may have to pay for, and others which may be included free as part of the package) such as:
- Storage of customer information
- Revenue tracking
- Inventory management
- Advertising capabilities
- Permission marketing
One of the key differences between ASP and software shopping carts is that ASPs also come with a MERCHANT ACCOUNT AND PAYMENT GATEWAY (for which you may be charged additional fees), while software packages typically do not.