5 Questions to Ask Before Choosing a Shopping Cart

One of the first questions clients ask when they begin to set up their online business is what e-commerce system (or  shopping cart  should I use.  The answer (of course) varies according to the client (and more importantly, their target market).

Choosing the right shopping cart system from the very beginning can save you valuable time, money and help preserve your list (because any time you change mailing lists, you risk losing subscribers because many times your subscribers will need to opt-in again).

Here are some questions to ask yourself before choosing an e-commerce system for your business.

1. What am I selling? The best e-commerce system for someone selling arts and crafts on their website will be very different than the best cart for someone who is selling e-books and coaching sessions.

2. What do you need the shopping cart to be able to do besides just take payments? Do you want to integrate your shopping cart and your e-mail service?  Do you want the shopping cart to act as a customer relationship manager for your business?  Do you want the affiliate program to be built into the cart?  The e-commerce system you choose depends heavily on your answers to these questions.

3. Do you really need all of the functions to be taken care of in one program? One thing that I have noticed about e-commerce programs is that none of them do everything well.  The systems with strong payment processing usually have weak e-mail composition services or affiliate programs.  A few of my clients have found it to be more cost effective and efficient to use separate services for payment processing, e-mailing and affiliate management.

4.  What is my anticipated monthly volume/how much can I afford? Shopping cart services range from free (but somewhat difficult to use) to very sophisticated (and expensive).  If you are starting small, it may not make sense to start with a “big” system.  Conversely, if you are choosing a system that includes an e-mail service, you want to choose something you can stay with for a while. Moving mailing lists can usually cost you subscribers.

5.  Does my shopping cart program need to integrate with another program (like a membership site system)? It seems like there are new shopping cart choices poopping up daily.  The problem is that most of the new systems don’t integrate with other programs  (espeically membership site programs).  If you are planning to create a membership site in the future, you may want to choose a shopping cart system that is well known rather an a promising upstart.

Although choosing a shopping cart can be daunting… it is helpful to remember that you can change carts – especially if you do it early on in your business growth.  Don’t be afraid to sign up for free trials of a few different cart systems and see what works best for your business.

Want some personalized advice on choosing the right e-commerce system for you? E-mail me for a free e-mail consultation.