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Shopping Carts

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Submitted By xavien
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Abstract The shopping cart software can generally be categorized as a shopping basket that remembers items that are placed for predetermine about of time. When a shopper inputs his/her shipping address, taxes and shipping costs can also be calculated from within the shopping cart. For the merchant, the shopping cart also provides important information, which is often transparent to the shopper including a cart number to track the order, as well as information to provide the customer with limited tracking details about the customer.

Online Shopping Carts Shopping carts through electronic commerce is a piece of software that acts as an online stores catalog and ordering process. The purpose of a shopping cart is it allows the merchant to be able to manage online sales through inventory control as well as collect customer data and information when the customer has complete their order. The purpose of the shopping cart for the customer is it allows the customer to store all the items they would like to purchase in one central location, add and review the products/order and submit payment. The shopping cart is the final review before payment information is collected and submitted. The shopping cart feature can be basic to advance depending on the size of the online business.
Basic Features Some of the basic and common features of an online shopping cart which are more beneficial to the customers are the ability to calculate sales tax and shipping cost. Each shopping cart is equipped with the ability to calculate sales tax after the customer enters their mailing address. “The more sophiscated carts, though, allow extensive rules to be defined concerning taxes are calculated, including calculating taxes given the customers zip code”. (Wilson, Pettijohn, McMurtrey, 2006) During checkout most shopping carts have the ability to let the customers choose what type of shipping they would like, such as next day, second day, or ground (7-10 business days). It is up to the merchant to designate what type and whose shipping services will be available to the customers (UPS, USPS, FEDEX) Wilson, Pettijohn, and McMurtney state “It is our observation that many merchants find a ‘by weight’ system to be more flexible, especially if they have a number of products that are diverse in size and shape”. (2006) All shopping carts provide the customer with an on screen or email confirmation of purchase while other shopping carts will also provide an email confirmation of the shipping date and tracking information.
Advanced Features Some merchants require a little more information from their customers so the shopping cart will have the ability to keep track of each customer’s name and address. This allows the customer to make a return visit and purchase without filling in all the require information again. It also creates a database so that customers will have access to sales and special offers. Every customer wants a sale, discount, and the ability to use a coupon online. Specific coupon features include a percentage or dollar amount, free shipping for orders over a certain amount, discount coupons that expires at a certain time. “B2B merchants frequently offer customer-specific pricing, with customers identifying themselves by means of their private login passwords”. (Wilson, Pettijohn, and McMurtrey)
Shopping Cart Set-up Before setting up a shopping cart a merchant must carefully choose software that will work best for the business. Making sure the shopping cart is secured by verifying the security features is essential. The merchant should be able to correctly charge and bill the customer, calculate sales and shipping cost, as well as upload and download products that are currently available. The software has to be user friendly to the customer so being able to categorize products and services so that they are able find items quickly is important to the customer. The shopping cart should be able to accept all the major types of payments, offer coupons and discounts and support the products that the merchant is carrying. After the merchant has chosen and installed the software they should do their due diligence in testing it out by ensuring transactions are secure and being processed immediately.
Shopping Cart Abandonment Just like with brick and mortar stores online shoppers tend to shop around at different online stores. The consumer will browse through different web pages and at times will placed items they may want to purchase in a shopping cart to bookmark it. Some shoppers will go through with the purchase while others will abandon the shopping cart all together. “Known as virtual or online shopping cart abandonment, we define this behavior as consumers’ placement of item(s) in their online shopping cart without making a purchase of any item(s) during that online shopping session”. (Kukar-Kinney & Close, 2007) Some of the reasons that consumers decide to abandon the shopping cart are they are presented with unexpected costs, such as shipping and handling costs or they have found a better price somewhere else. The problem with shopping cart abandonment for the merchant is that it subtracts that specific product from the inventory stock while it is in the cart, thus taking it away from another consumer that is wanting to make that purchase but the merchant looks as though they are out of stock or do not have that specific size or color. There is no one way to recover an abandon shopping cart but the most effective way to merchants have been to send reminder emails to the customer that they have items in the cart for purchase. In conclusion it is the merchant’s responsibility to make sure the customer has a safe and secure transaction. Knowing the ins and out of the software and the ability to adapt to the constant changes of the internet will help keep heavy traffic on the merchants website. The right online shopping cart features can fulfill both the customers and merchants desired in having a more enjoyable and informative shopping and administrative experience.

References
Kukar-Linney, M., & Clost, A.G. (2010). The determinants of consumers online shopping cart abandonment. Journal Of The Academy Of Marketing Science, 38(2), 240-250. Doi: 10-1007/s11747-009-0141-5
Janal, D. (2009). Upgrade YOUR ONLINE SHOPPING CART. Home Business Magazine: The Home Based Entreprenuer’s Magazine, 16(1), 66
Wilson, R. F., Pettijohn,J.B., &McMurtrey, S.D. (2006). Online Shopping Carts: The State-of-the-Art. Journal Of Internet Commerce, 5(2), 75-94. Doi:10-1300/J179v05n02_05

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