SHOPPING CARTS: WHAT SOLUTION IS RIGHT FOR YOUR BUSINESS?

by Anna Dalea, ERT Website Solutions

At some point or another, every business owner has thought of possibly creating or implementing a shopping cart feature on their website.  This is a very involved process and should not be delved into until you know all of your options and everything that will be involved in the process.  There are three different types of shopping cart solutions that can integrate with three different types of business volume.  We will explore these options here.  Hopefully, this article will assist you in your decision. Don't get stuck paying tons of money if you don't necessarily have to or if your business is not at that level of sales volume.

1. Pre-fab shopping cart solutions.  This includes Godaddy-like shopping carts.  First off let me state that companies like Godaddy are a very inexpensive alternative to most of your website needs.  However, their shopping cart has drawbacks, like most other companies that offer similar shopping cart solutions. This option is for the do-it-yourselfer who wants to create and maintain their shopping cart themselves.  These people are concerned about PRICE, not visual appeal or quality of the design.  The cheaper the better is their motto.  Most start up businesses would most likely go this route because a lot is thrown in for one price.  DRAWBACKS: pre-fab templates -- you HAVE to choose one of their templates for your site... also, another drawback is that your shopping cart has to be YOUR SITE... you can't already have a website up and running and think that Godaddy's (or a similar companies) shopping cart will integrate nicely into it.  It won't!  This option however, can be for a company that has A LOT to sell as the shopping cart is set up for this purpose.

2. Merchants, Processors & Gateways.  If you are, again, selling a good amount of products that you expect will generate A LOT of business for your company, you may want to open a merchant account and use a credit card processor. This is actually a great way to go for business owners that have a good amount of merchandise to sell, or that want to have a nice integration of shopping cart and custom website design.  It's a very involved process, but having a good processor to hold your hand through it all is a treat (one of which is someone I work with called Evelyn Sigel of CashFlowServices.com) The Gateway company will be able to give the webmaster, or whomever is creating your site, a special code that drops into your site so that viewers will see a purchase button for each item.  You, as the merchant, will set up all the specifics -- of what you want your clients to see after they click the purchase button-- online with your merchant account.

3.  Paypal.  This option is great for small business owners who are just starting out and have no clue as to how much of their product they will sell.  Perhaps they want to start out slowly with their business, but would like their clients to have the option to purchase with a credit card. This option is also for business owners that will only be selling a couple of items on their site.  It's a much cheaper alternative in the short run -- if you expect small or few sales.  If you're selling a book, I would go with Paypal... if you're selling seminars... i'd go with paypal.  If you're only selling 5-10 items...paypal.  It will at least get you started and give you the ability to feel it out to better assess your shopping cart needs.  The only drawback is that sometimes clients don't necessarily like Paypal because you have to verify your payment method if you don't already have a PayPal account.  It's a hassle to most clients!  But it still is a good way to START a new business until you gain momentum and gain a budget that will allow for a monthy fee to a gateway.

Remember, just make sure that you fully understand what is involved with any shopping cart solution that you decide to go with.  No matter which way you go, you will be EXTREMELY involved with the process.  If you're going to accept credit cards online you will definitely have to go through a processor and gateway regardless.