What you need in ecommerce software / shopping cart solution

If you're new to ecommerce and how everything works then we recommend a complete ecommerce software solution which includes the shopping cart software, website hosting, SSL certificate and website builder to manage & build everything. By providing the software, hosting, certificate and builder you will be able to use the same company to create your store. This means that if you have problems you only have to one company to call for support, and not two or three. When you use more than one, they tend to finger point instead of help solve any problems you may encounter. For more advanced users that know how to build websites, understand HTML, PHP, SQL, and can run a website, then splitting up the solution can work for you.

When building your eCommerce shopping cart solution you will want to make sure that the following items are supported. If you don't see these basic options then go to the next company.

• Payment Gateway Integration: The payment gateway sits between your bank and website to help process transactions. The payment gateway needs to support the following at a bare minimum. There are a lot of payment gateways on the market and the more they support the better you are. It will mean more options available to you when need to switch or compare pricing.
  
  
  • Paypal Basic
  • Paypal Pro
  • Google Checkout
  • Authorize.net
  • First Data (LinkPoint)
  
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• SSL - Secure Socket Layer: SSL is A method of ensuring that private information sent through your website via the payment gateway to the bank cannot be accessed by unauthorized people online. Information sent through an SSL-secured form is encrypted for security. You will want to make sure that the solution you select provides and SSL Certificate which does the encryption and that you don't have to go outside of your solution to buy one. This can be costly and sometimes is why one shopping cart is cheaper than another.


• PCI Compliance: Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, which confirms that your ecommerce solution is compliant with this standard to process credit card transactions and prevent fraud.


• Order Management: You will want to make sure you have a order management screen where you can see your orders and manage them. Managing the order allows you to review the order, create shipping labels, ship order, complete order along with other tasks you may want to do.


• Reporting: Reports are key to any solution and you will want to make sure you have sales, inventory, order and traffic reports. These are just the basics but make sure you review what's available to you before selecting a solution.


• Search Engine Optimization: SEO is very important to any ecommerce software solution and you will want to make sure you can optimize your products with keywords, descriptions and other ranking factors.

The items listed next are important but not everyone will need them. Review each and write down which one you need when reviewing your eCommerce software solution.

• Total number of products the store will support. (you will want to make sure the solution can grow with your growth).


• Product Options: (Will the product you're selling need to have an add on price for size, color, quantity, weight.)


• Coupons


• Gift Certificates


• Downloadable products like files or music


• Shipping calculator (FedEx, UPS, USPS, Manual Creation)


• Shipping estimator within cart while selecting products in the store


• Sales Tax

I know there are a lot of items listed here but not everyone will need all of them. You will need to make your own list and see what your company's requirements are. You will also want to make a list to prepare for possible growth, if your company grows and you feel that some of these items you don't currently need but may need in a year or two, then add them to the list and make sure the provider you use can grow with you. The worst thing to have happen is to need to rebuild your shopping cart with a new provider after one or two years. Here are some more important eCommerce components to consider in choosing an ecommerce website builder

• Shopping rewards


• Product review/comments


• Mailing list (to email specials, etc.)


• Mobile shopping cart


• Recurring billing/subscriptions


• eCommerce tracking


• Affiliates


• Upsell items


• Payment methods (credit card, check, money order, PO, COD, eChecks


• Store Currency (Dollar, Euro, Pounds, Other)


• International settings (VAT)


• Area to display Privacy and Return Policy


• Quickbooks integration


• Customize cart, buttons, fonts, colors


• Social networking icons and integration


• User Manual, Tutorials, Online Help Videos