As you would expect there are a set of pieces that must all work in concert to form a functional shopping experience. Focus on the experience rather than solely on the mechanics of the cart because the customer’s experience with your service is what will make or break you.

This page will deal with the shopping cart (check out our other sections for more), but for context the primary pieces are:

• A shopping cart located at some domain (www.yourstore.com)
• A web server to host www.yourstore.com
• A Digital Certificate – proves you are who you say you are.
• A Secure Protocol(s) (HTTPS, SFTP, PGP)* - provides privacy and reliability between two communicating applications.
• A Merchant Account
• A Transaction Processor (aka Payment Gateway)
• A Secure Database
• A Financial-Tracking Tool
• A Privacy & Security Policy
• And most important – Prospects and Customers!

*Don't be concerned about the acronyms, Secure Site Commerce ComPany will educate you to your degree of choice.

The Process In General

• You need to buy or commission an online shopping cart system.
• You need to secure everything from the time customers enter your site through your “Thank you for your order” acknowledgement and receipt.
• You need someone to handle Credit Card transactions for you (not just anyone is allowed to do this).
• You need a way to accept payments from a Credit Card.
• You need to ensure the customer has a pleasant and efficient shopping experience.
• You need to know what you sold, when you sold it, to whom you sold it, for how much (including taxes and shipping) and how that relates to inventory.
• You need to have a reliable and efficient mechanism for handling returns and customer complaints.
• You should always declare what information you gather and what you do with it as well as how you protect it.
• And you need to have a way to ensure and measure customer satisfaction with your service and product. Believe it or not – the service is THE MOST IMPORTANT aspect to a successful online business.

The Cart

The cart has to have 4 pieces:

• A way for the customer to view and select items for purchase
• A way for you to add, edit, and delete items for sale
• A way for you to track orders, fulfillment and inventory
• And a way for you to generate sales reports or import data into your accounting and/or shipping and/or materials management software

Do everything you can to make sure the customer has the means to:

• Navigate quickly - both to your products and to their cart
• Buy the products – an Add to Basket button right next to the product is important, and a way to quickly indicate quantity
• Check status – that Basket Contents button is all important. Customers should be able to review what they’ve selected at any time. Sub-totals, with or without taxes and shipping, are important as well.
• Check out - so customers can finish the purchase. And always, always, always, make sure they can finish the purchase whenever they want to. In other words, put a Checkout button on every page!
• Select shipping - make sure that when customers do check out they can select the shipping method and tell them clearly what it will cost.

Take the tour

For a further understanding of these concepts, visit our partner's fictional store. Remember to enter fictional personal information, except for your email address (used to send your fictional order acknowledgement).

Click above to start store demo

Follow up with the customer

Make sure the customer receives an email verification that acknowledges that they purchased X,Y,Z from You on This Date, for This Amount. Make NO mention of Credit Card numbers or account numbers. Keep the personal information to a minimum.

Storefront Administration

Your storefront should be easy to administer. And do not forget about site traffic and sales statistics. You should know exactly how many customers have visited your store and how much they have spent. If you have hard goods, you will want to track inventory for all your products your online store carries. Your customers should know exactly when a product is in stock or out of stock. Our solution even sends email notifications about low and sold out items. You should be able to manage inventory levels and notices for your entire store or for specific items. You'll eliminate orders for products that are no longer in stock. Track your store traffic and make smarter inventory and promotional decisions. We invite you to become familiar with our Administration capabilities by visiting our partner's fictional store.

Click above to start administration demo

Final Thoughts

How the Cart actually works and the process for checkout is what makes the customer's experience positive or negative. The most successful online transactions are those that allow the customer to easily choose what they want, pay for it in a quick and efficient manner, and insures that the transaction is secure - and, is indeed, secure.

It may sound overwhelming but with a little planning Secure Site Commerce Company can implement a shopping cart for you that’s functional, quick, efficient, secure, and leaves your customers happy because they got in, found what they were after, bought it, and felt it was secure, fair and fast.

Shopping. Simple. Secure.