Online Shopping cart
Written by Don on November 27th, 2009
A shopping cart is a software application that runs on the computer where your Web site is located (the Web server), and allows your customers to search for a product in your store catalogue, add a selected product to a basket, and place an order for it. Upon checkout, the online shopping software typically calculates a total for the order, including shipping and handling charges and the associated taxes, as applicable. Shopping cart software is the programming that allows a Web site to build a catalogue of products
The shopping cart is one of the most important features that Internet marketing has, for having a smooth e-commerce transition. Shopping carts are written in different programming languages. Some of them provide full access to the “source code”. Some shopping carts run on Windows Web servers and some on UNIX. You can also place the shopping cart on your Web server simply by transferring its files there using any FTP (File Transfer Protocol) software.
The shopping cart software consists of two components storefront and administration. The Storefront is the area, which is accessed by visitors to the online shop. The storeowner can normally change the look of the storefront so that it merges with the rest of the Web site. Administration is the area of the Web store that is accessed by the merchant to manage the online shop. A good storefront should include a store catalogue, a search feature that allows customers to quickly locate specific products, a customer service area and a way in which customers to retrieve a lost password. Sophisticated shopping cart systems like Product Cart should also be available for the customers. A good administration should have the following features – A way to assign options to products, to improve productivity, a module to create and manage products and a way to easily set general store settings such as the way products should be displayed
Shopping cart software can be categorized into two main categories Licensed Software and Hosted Service. Licensed software is downloaded and then installed; it is associated with onetime fee .The main advantage of this option is that the merchant owns a license and therefore can host it on any Web server. The source code can also be accessed and customized. Host Service is provided by the service provider. It cannot be downloaded. They have pre-designed templates.
Most of the shopping carts share the following structure. A database that stores information, a storefront that displays this information to store and an administration area that allows you, the store administrator, to manage your store.
Most of the information is contained in a database. If the database contains huge amounts of data it is always better to use a good database management system. The shopping cart pages don’t exist until a customer requests one.
To confirm the purchase nearly all carts provide the customer with both on-screen and e-mail receipts
The heart of any e-commerce Web site is a shopping cart program that allows customers to find and buy products and services.
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E commerce website development
Written by AJSPM on November 25th, 2009
The term eCommerce describes commercial activity on the internet like purchasing stock, buying products online, businesses-to-businesses transactions etc.
The content that are necessary to run an ecommerce website successfully are product catalog, information about the product, good quality images of the product, credit card processing methodology and search engine optimization apart from information about the company for the customers to understand, FAQs, privacy policy and testimonials.
You visit popular ecommerce websites all the time but you never exactly know how they work or what goes behind developing one of your own. You can set up your own eCommerce web site by following just a few simple steps.
1. A domain name and a web hosting account are one of the first things that you would need. Many web hosting companies charge either a dollar or two per month, or a flat annual price like 25$ for small websites. This is not a huge investment and this amount usually includes the purchase of a domain name. Cincinnati Website Design company does website designing for businesses who are early birds in ecommerce.
2. If you are newly starting out with an eCommerce website, it is best advised that you start with PayPal. It allows you to sign up free for a merchant account. You are provided access to special features that you would need to set up your ecommerce site and also a shopping cart system at no additional charge. If this does not suit your needs, you can instead sign up for an individual merchant account to accept credit cards from your online customers. But keep in mind that you will have to pay an upfront charge for a virtual terminal memory, pay monthly statements and gateway fees, apart from learning how to install a shopping cart on your hosting account.
3. A third-party shopping cart system will manage your requirements of a shopping cart. Ensure that you sign up with a tried and tested system.
4. The website name has to be very attractive and easy to remember. You clientele will have to come back to you repeatedly. This is the key factor in running an ecommerce website.
5. A list of all the products that would be sold on the website, their item numbers, product name, a good quality picture of the product and the actual price should be easily available to the shoppers. Upload this list to your online shopping cart by following the exact the instructions of your shopping cart system.
6. Your shopping cart items can be integrated to your PayPal account by simply using the Website Payments Standards tool. After completion, all the products will appear in your category pages with respective PayPal links underneath them. There are various Online Marketing Services companies which offer third party Paypal services.
7. An ecommerce website has to be marketed very efficiently for successful results. Ensure that every single page is search engine optimized. Uses techniques like highly searched keywords, and provide valuable product research information and articles. Make people know your in-depth understanding of the niche market. Social networks act as powerful marketing tools. Publish blogs and newsletters for customers to know what you are upto. Always allow new customers to opt out of newsletters. You will find that most customers won’t.
Apart from all these ensure that you run you business with great integrity and professionalism. Like in every business the customer does not merely buy the product but trusts you with an investment.
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