Shopping cart is a crucial element of any kind of eCommerce site. Basically, it is a piece of software that facilitates a product/service purchase from you. It acts as a bridge between buying and selling while presenting a gateway for catalog, order and customer management.
If a customer faces any kind of loophole, it is most likely they drop the idea of completing the purchase. So you should try to have the best shopping cart software to ensure things in a fruitful manner.
If we talk about eCommerce shopping software, there are two kind of options available. Hosted Shopping carts and Licensed Shopping carts. In the latter one, you always have an option to develop your own type of shopping cart and customize it in accordance with your business needs.
For beginners, hosted solutions are always recommended as you don’t need to be tech-savvy to manage those. However, if you wish to offer your potential users a customized experience, you should opt for a licensed one.
Talking about different software available to build tailored shopping carts, PHP is the best option to consider. One of the biggest advantages of building PHP carts is the fact that PHP is completely open-source.
It clearly depicts that setting up a customized shopping cart will definitely be a cost-effective process, even if you hire a PHP development company too.
Having to mention, some of the benefits that PHP bring with it:
– cost-effectiveness, powerful shipping & payment system integrations, flexible and strong community backup.
Apart from these advantages, you need to consider a few elements that you need to include in your PHP powered shopping cart, to remain effective and sustained in conversions. Let’s get started with them below:-
Display Enough Trust Factors
What if a customer doesn’t trust you? Would he/she share their sensitive or financial details with you?
Of course not! So you need to stay consistent while displaying enough trust factors on your website. And, a shopping cart is no exception.
Try to remind your customers that their information is secure with you while displaying enough of security certificates or text like ‘Pay securely’ on checkout button etc. on your shopping cart page.
Apart from these, provide them with an easily visible and clear Return/Refund policy link so that they can stay comfortable while purchasing from you.
Enable Users to Add More Products
Don’t make the shopping cart page an end to the purchase on your website. Be flexible.
Allow your consumers to add more products or increase the quantity of chosen products from the shopping cart page. But don’t redirect them to the product page or others.
Try to display pages where they find relatable products or products that they have viewed earlier, let them choose the next step; don’t do it on yourself.
Be Transparent
Shopping cart is almost the last page of your website where you can make or break a purchase. Many times a customer leaves the products as it is in the cart if found any hidden charges or extra costs.
It will definitely lead to abandoned shopping carts. But it is always beneficial and recommended to stay transparent in your dealings. It is always customers’ choice to buy or not; you need to remain transparent in terms of GST charged, Vat collected, Coupon discount if any, etc.
This way you can cut down on users’ return or refund requests.
Additionally, it is also important that you provide a brief product summary to users so that they can cross-check their products before making a purchase.
PHP shopping cart is no new term in eCommerce industry. It is highly appreciated amongst developers and vendors when looking for a powerful website built. Be it a shopping cart or a full-fledged eCommerce store, it aids all.
Referring to this article, I would like to say that shopping cart is a crucial aspect of your website. Therefore, try to stay open to any kind of technical advancement, it will help you to combat the competition lying ahead.