Why Should You Consider Changing Your eCommerce Shopping Cart?

It only takes two words to answer this question, cart abandonment. Customers who shop in retail stores often give up trying to buy due to a long checkout line or a slow, incompetent cashier. And, there is no difference when it comes to online shopping. Customers demand speed, security, and convenience. A lengthy and complicated checkout process will not only lose sales but also gives a bad impression on your business and brand.

Cart abandonment is a major cause of lost revenue in the business of online selling. According to Small Business Trends, cart abandonment typically leads to a loss of $18 billion for the entire industry each year. A 2016 study done at Baymard Institute stated that at least 68.63% of shoppers abandon their carts every year.

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Is your current shopping cart providing a short, linear checkout process?

This article will share some useful information that eCommerce business owners need when contemplating their current shopping cart situation.

Your eCommerce Store Needs A New Shopping Cart When…

It’s not hard to recognize if customers have problems with checking out or other bottlenecks that prevent a smooth user experience. Some obvious clues are when your current online shopping cart has:

• Limited payment options (maybe missing some major credit cards, e-wallet)
  
  
• Limited shipping options (not offering overnight or express delivery)
  
  
• Payment options are not mobile-friendly
  
  
• Missing safety features and recognizable security emblems
  
  
• Non-existent guest or express check out
  
  
• No abandon cart follow-up strategy

Lack of elements like these on a checkout page increases the cart abandonment rate.

Increase Sales Through Better UX

While eCommerce businesses invest a great deal of money into digital marketing efforts, they sometimes neglect the customer experience. However, the easier it is for them to get in and get out, the more likely they will buy.

When it comes to optimizing for eCommerce user experience, the focus is on ease of navigation, mobile devices, and faster payment gateways.

Here are the main areas you need to upgrade to keep your customers coming back.

Latest Payment Options: With the rise of eWallets, you need to be sure to have this function available. Of course, your store needs to accept all major credit cards and paysites from the countries in which you do business.

And, don’t forget about bitcoin. It’s one of the fastest-growing methods of payment. Cointelegraph reported that at the beginning of January 2017 there were 8,207(U.S. brick and mortar) businesses accepting Bitcoin. By December an additional 3,084 businesses had jumped on the Bitcoin bandwagon. CNBC said there are over 100,000 global retailers, like Newegg, who now accept bitcoin.

• In-Site Search Functionality: Make your catalogs easy-to-browse with site search features that include AI and machine learning. For example, InstantSearch+ has many built-in features to help shoppers find what they are looking for even if they misspelled the word. It uses a natural language program to help provide the right item to the shopper.
  
  
• Personalized Pricing: Shoppers are always looking for a bargain, so give it to them in the form of personalized or dynamic pricing. Provide specials, coupons, and discounts based on customer demographics, shopping history, holidays, events, and more.
  
  
• Product Recommendations: As part of the search function, the cart should display additional suggested or related items for upsell opportunities.
  
  
• Follow-up: Whether the customer purchased or not, always have a follow-up program linked to the cart. It will improve return visits and reduce cart abandonment.
  
  
• Security and Trust: Approximately 21% of shoppers abandon their carts midstream over fears of security issues. Be sure your site uses the latest SSL encryption and carries proof of security logos to relieve customer’s fears.
  
  
• Viewing Features – Customers need to see close-ups of products in the catalog. Providing a zoom function lets customers scroll around an image to see an enlarged, detailed version. This helps them make a buying decision.

Shopping carts are the engine that makes any eCommerce site run and seals the deal. It needs to work for both the customer and the merchant.

Increase Revenues with the Right Cart

Shoppers and management appreciate a smooth checkout experience. Managing any eCommerce business requires a lot of detailed information and reports to make the right decisions. Look for all-in-one software to help you manage everything from sales to shipping.

From a management standpoint, you’ll want to have features such as:

• Payment Processing from all gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Square, and dozens of others.
  
  
• Accept global currencies in real-time exchange rates, company POs, money orders, and COD.
  
  
• Offer instant checkout with one click options like PayPal One Touch, Amazon Pay, and Apple Pay
  
  
• A wide variety of management and customer reports
  
  
• Dynamic pricing and discounting
  
  
• Inventory management and tracking
  
  
• Sales tracking and reporting

Make sure the cart you choose has all the functionality you require. The latest platforms offer AI and reporting to increase sales and better manage your business.

A New Shopping Cart Means Better Business

High cart abandonment rates and decreasing sales can indicate that your customers are frustrated with cumbersome checkout and high lag times, especially on mobile devices.

eCommerce shopping carts allow merchants to display products and sell them securely online. There are many features and third-party apps that integrate into the platform to make them work better. The right shopping cart gives merchants total control over inventory, shipping, fulfillment, and CRM data. They also provide marketing features to promote products via email and social media marketing.

Understand your unique business requirements, and the needs of your shoppers before deciding on a solution.  The right cart means better functionality, ROI, and higher revenues. Are you interested in comparing the shopping cart you now using with BigCommerce? If so, they offer a free trial.