» Making a good decision

If you are looking for an ecommerce system to add to your Web site, you are probably reviewing a number of different programs to see which one might be the best fit for you. Unfortunately there is a lack of shopping cart reviews in IT publications and small business magazines or Web sites, and you are often left with the only option of obtaining information from the vendors themselves.

We tried to put together a few tips that you might find helpful when reviewing and comparing shopping carts. Here they are.

(1) Focus on what's most important to you

This is key given the overwhelming amount of information that you can be bombarded with. Shopping carts look similar, but they are not. Focus on the features that will be most important to you. Start filtering out the programs that don't match your needs. Then, compare the remaining shopping carts by testing those specific features using the demo storefronts that they often provide.

(2) Look at live stores

Most software vendors will provide a partial list of ecommerce Web sites that use their application. We do so on this page. Here are two things to focus on when looking at live store using a specific shopping cart:

• Different graphical interface. Look at a few stores to get an idea of how well the shopping cart merges with the Web site. Make sure the transition from static pages (e.g. About us) to dynamic pages (e.g. search, view basket, browse by category, etc.) is smooth. Make sure there are stores that look completely different from one another. This will ensure that you will be able to make your store look exactly how you want it to look.
• Customer experience. Pick a few live stores that you particularly like (or that are in an industry that is close to yours), then browse the store, perform a search, add items to the shopping cart, etc. Are you experiencing what you would like your customers to experience on your own online store?

The bottom line here is that the ecommerce portion of your Web site must seamlessly integrate with the rest of the pages. If it doesn't, the online store will not look professional, and customers will not buy. It's that simple. So make sure to choose an ecommerce application that allows you to easily merge the shopping cart with the rest of your Web site.

(3) Understand the "Total Cost" of running your store

Some of the software that you are reviewing may be provided to your as a service (a hosted shopping cart solution, software is not delivered to you), and some may be sold to you as a product (not a hosted solution, software is delivered to you). Take some time to estimate the total cost of running your online store.

Let's first look at hosted solutions, and assume that your store will operate for at least 2 years:

Set up fees + (Monthly fees * 24) + (Commission on sales * Total Sales) = Total Cost

Assume the company you choose charges a $50 set up fee, $40 monthly fees, and a sales commission that is 1% of your sales, which you estimate will average around $20,000 a month over the course of the 2 years. The total cost becomes:

$50 + ($40 * 24) + (2% * $240,000) = $3,410 (or ~$142/month).

This calculation assumes that technical support and updates are included in the "monthly fees". If they are not, you will need to take those into account as well.

If you are not looking at a hosted solution, but rather at a software program that will be delivered to you, the calculation is normally easier. The total cost for the same 2-year time period would be calculated as follows:

Software License + Technical Support Plan + Software Updates = Total Cost

For example, if you purchase ProductCart, the calculation would be as follows:

$495 + $0 + $0 = $495

This assumes that you are already paying for a hosting account for your Web site. If not, then adding hosting to the equation normally adds between $10 and $20 a month.

(3) Review store management tools

Imagine yourself managing the store that you have built after picking any of the ecommerce programs that you are reviewing. Here are few things to focus on:

• Store administration. How easy will it be to manage your online store? Make sure that the shopping cart you end up choosing offers an intuitive administration area where you can manage every aspect of your store. Many low-cost ecommerce systems have very limited administration features, especially when it comes to adding/editing multiple products or categories at once.
• Order processing. Think about when your store is active and accepting real orders: can the shopping cart accommodate real life scenarios? For example: can you edit an order after it has been placed (e.g. customer wants to modify the quantity purchased)? Can you authorize, but not capture funds during a credit card transaction (e.g. you want to make sure the order is accurate and legitimate before processing it)? Does the system automatically notify the customer at every step of the process (order received, order processed, order shipped, etc.)? Can you batch process multiple orders at once or will you have to handle each order one by one? Many shopping carts have a weak order processing module.
• Offline vs. online shopping carts. There is a difference between ecommerce software that runs entirely on the Web server and software that needs to be partially installed on your local computer. Make sure you choose the system that best fits your needs. Read our tutorial about the advantages of using an online shopping cart for more information.

(4) Review payment & shipping components

Since they directly affect the checkout process, the payment and shipping components of any shopping cart are crucial to the successful operation of your online store. Pay attention to the shipping options that the various shopping carts that you are reviewing offer: do they dynamically connect to shipping providers such as UPS or FedEx? Can you choose which services to show/hide? Can you set a shipping service to be free for certain orders (e.g. UPS Ground free for orders > $100)? Then look at the payment systems that they integrate with, and whether or not you are able to create your own, custom payment options.

(5) Look at documentation and response time

You're now down to just a handful of ecommerce programs. Which one should you pick? Download the technical support documentation that is available for all of them. Look at the table of contents for all the manuals that you have downloaded. Make sure that whatever solution you end up choosing has good support documentation.

Then, contact each company. You will likely not be able to contact their support staff, since you are not a customer yet. Try contacting the sales staff, or just submit a general enquiry. How fast did you receive a response? Was is a generic response or did they take the time to answer your specific questions?