Ecommerce shopping cart software

Nowadays the greater part of existing ecommerce shopping cart software is compatible with PHP because PHP has established itself as a filter that can be effective for most browsers and operating systems. It is simple to insert programs utilizing PHP programming language in HTML. Thus, more operative, dynamic and appealing web pages will be produced. Ecommerce shopping cart programs usually include the image of a shopping cart because of its popularity. It makes shoppers feels at ease when they add components into a virtual shopping cart. The shopping cart is reliable, easy to use, as well as reassuring which also has an impact on customers’ buying customs. A good PHP shopping cart should have the following characteristics as well: third party payment accessibility, security, PHP compatibility, user-friendliness. You usually accept credit card payments and echecks to carry out online selling. You may also decide to receive mail checks although most people do not choose this option because it prolongs the receipt of the goods. Like all conventional shops Internet business needs a means to process credit card payments and echecks. Services usually possess this characteristic when you buy an online shopping cart for your website.

Since there are numerous cheats online, people are always nervous when they have to share their contact and payment details. So, if you have security features, you will appear to be as trustworthy as big companies. And when the shoppers trust you it is more probable that they will buy something from you.

A good feature you may choose to possess is to offer them the possibility to save their current cart and continue their shopping later. You can send them an automatic e-mail after a defined period of time to remind them that they have started making a purchase.

Including a wish list will allow customers not to put a product in their cart, but save it and buy it later.

New Visitor Conversion Rate: Online retailers often do not make a difference between new and return visitor conversion rates. If you are looking only at the new visitor conversion rate, you will be able to understand what takes place when people visit your site for the first time.
Return Visitor Conversion Rate: Most people do not make a purchase when they first see your site. So, you have to make them visit it again. By investigating your return visitor conversion rate, you will understand whether you have managed to achieve this.
Orders Per Custom Per Year: The information about how many times a customer orders during a certain time period can be used to strike a balance and check how much it is worth spending on marketing.
Pages views/Visit: Pages views per visit indicate to what extent your site managed to keep people’s attention. A large number of page views per visit shows that your content is appealing so visitors browse it longer. Still, you have to bear in mind that this can also reflect the fact that your site involves too complex processes like product browsing or checkout.  
Items/Order: Provided that your site has a feature to encourage add-ons, you will be able to see the number of items that are purchased per order.
Average Order Value: Another metric you can track is the average order value over certain period of time (e.g. one year). This will show you whether you have achieved the expected increase.
Traffic sources: Google analytics divides visit sources into 3 groups: direct visits (from entering URL directly), Search engines visit (S.E.O. or P.P.C.) and referring sites (other sites linking to yours). If you have more visits from direct URL entry when your business develops, this is a good tendency for your site.
Shopping Cart/Checkout Abandonment Rate: You have to check the percentage of visitors that quit shopping and at which step in your checkout – whether they do it after putting a good in the cart, after writing transportation and payment details or after typing credit card data. If your abandonment rate is high, there may be considerable check out problems.

Key features:

• Perfect ecommerce usability
• Web-based management
• Highly-developed catalog management
• AJAX usage
• Offering possibility to be modified according to individual business needs
• Complete source code
• Compatible with payment methods
• Updated delivery fees (UPS, FedEx & USPS)
• Ready-to-use store package
• No programming skills necessary
• Free technical support
• Free access to future editions
• Import/export products using CSV
• Description of all possible offline payment methods: checks, purchase orders, phone orders, etc.
• Possibility for adding many components by one click (products, categories, static pages)
• Localization: simple new languages supplement, possible configuration of currency and weight symbols, configurable list of countries/states/provinces 
• Administrative access secured by a password
• “Continue shopping” button
• “Clear cart” button
• Possibility to modify all aspects of your e-commerce site in realtime
• Included database backup/restore tool
• Unrestricted number of admin accounts
• Complete HTTPS/SSL support

If your purpose is to achieve prosperity in online business and selling, one of the most important issues you have to consider is a well-made ecommerce shopping cart. Ecommerce capability should become a feature of your website. Online business can be operated and controlled from any computer in the world that is connected to the Internet. No matter where you are working or travelling, your online business will be entirely under your control.