Online small business owner – what is your most important success factor in running an eCommerce business?

It is your shopping cart system.

Believe me – choosing the best shopping cart software is even more important than getting prospects visiting your eStore.

Why? Because having thousands of visitors without having the ability to serve them right will eventually give your eStore a bad name.

Finding the right shopping cart solution

You see, online shoppers are paranoid – they have all rights to be one. Unfulfilled orders, stolen personal information and other annoying problems will leave your visitors have something hanging at the back of their mind.

It is your job to give your visitor a sense of security.

I learn this the hard way – I started an eCommerce business a while ago with little success. The problem is not marketing, but my back end systems. I developed the website myself, letting my inexperience rule out the great potential of my site.

To cut long story short, my problem lies in my shopping cart system – the underperformed shopping cart system, thanks to my inexperience – caused me losing customers.

How to choose the right shopping cart solution

I have some tips on choosing the right shopping cart solution from my experience running an eCommerce business.

• Offer your visitors a hassle-free checking-out experience
  Implement a one-page checkout without asking customers to register or fill long forms before checking out. You can always ask them for details later – first thing first, secure the business.
• Free or paid shopping cart solution?
  Choose paid over free shopping cart solution software. The paid shopping cart software is, well, paid, for these three reasons: enhanced reliability, frequent update and continuous support.
• Having more than one eCommerce business?
  If you are running multiple eCommerce store, consider choosing a shopping cart company that offer you easy customisation, such as free eCommerce shop templates, and special discount programmes, such as eCommerce for web designers.
• Have a reliable back office system
  Especially in reporting, choose a shopping cart solution that help you track business transactions and inventory.
• Hire a techie
  I never stop convincing you this – If you really want to save money on starting up your eCommerce business or any other online businesses, consider NOT to do it yourself. Hiring a techie to implement and test the system is well worth the money – considering the potential of losing customers.

Ivan Widjaya
Shopping cart system