The Custom Shopping Cart - When and Why?

According to recent studies, the average shopping cart abandonment rate for an eCommerce website is close to 80%. Despite browsing and adding products to the cart, failure to complete a purchase might indicate there something is wrong with the shopping cart itself. While there could be a variety of causes for this, there are ever more ways to reduce shopping cart abandonment and increase sales. 

 

It is critical to understand cart health and behavior when considering the development of an eCommerce website. So, if you want to know how to reduce shopping cart abandonment, you must first answer these questions:

1. What shopping cart development options do you have?
2. Why do most businesses choose to create their own custom shopping cart?

 

Hosted vs Custom Shopping Cart Solutions

When it comes to shopping cart development, there are two main options that we will cover in this post:

• Hosted Shopping Carts
• Custom Shopping carts
  

Hosted Shopping Carts

Hosted shopping carts are the most popular option for small to medium businesses because they are affordable and offer a lot of features. However, they can be restrictive in terms of customization. With Hosted Shopping Carts, you are limited to the features offered by the hosting platform.

A hosted shopping cart is provided by a 3rd-party and relies on the host platform to provide maintenance, backup, and security of the cart and its features.

Hosted Shopping Cart Weaknesses:

• They offer a generic solution. They don't consider the industry nor your market segment.
• There are very limited capabilities for additional custom features and/or functionalities.
• Sometimes, customers find them confusing and that translates to a poor shopping experience.
  
  

Custom Shopping Carts

The main reason companies choose custom eCommerce development is because they need a specific feature or set of features that are not available on SaaS or open source platforms. A custom shopping cart delivers unlimited personalization and empowers creativity to change or fine-tune any new features you want, no matter how specific or complex they may be. The custom shopping cart can be built from scratch or use a licensed/open source platform.

Licensed/open source solutions are similar to hosted ones in terms of affordability and features. But they offer more flexibility when it comes to customization. It's all about access and a licensed/open source solution gives you access to the codebase, where important changes can be made, as needed.

A custom shopping cart may require more investment but offers the most flexibility and control over the end product. As with any custom development project, it is best to work with a trusted developer or agency to create a shopping cart with all of the necessary features and specifications for your business.

Regardless of the niche, size, and age of your site - what’s crucial is sales! That's why we recommend opting for a custom shopping cart because it will be unique to your business, perform better, and adapt as your needs shift and grow (because of sales!).

Advantages of Custom Shopping Cart Development:

• Scalability. You can scale up and down or around as your business grows. There are always new ways find avenues of growth or requirements to adapt to, while you look toward optimization of functionalities and new features. It's also easier to upgrade when and how you want to with your own software.
  
  
• Personalization. Custom shopping carts are optimal for the unique needs and related inventory controls of any business, whether they are looking to stand out and/or assert their brand. Tailored solutions can reflect your business's distinct values, as well!
  
  
• Retargeting. eCommerce related industry success is a combination of remarketing on social media channels, search engines, and offline—like push notifications. The process of ecommerce retargeting is an easy integration that pays big. Any users who have been browsing through your store or opened your app to fill their custom shopping cart can be effectively reminded to check out their cart or come back to continue exploring your site for more products!
  
  

To sum it up...

Whether you're in the market for a hosted or custom shopping cart, there are more ways to improve your eCommerce strategy. A hosted cart is good enough but its basic functions won't grow with you or define an experience that will not only make your customers happy but also boost sales. The custom shopping cart means complete control over functionality, design, and all the little details that will make every transaction easier to come back again and again.

If you are still not sure which option is best for you, contact your very own custom team at CSW Solutions and we can help you decide. We offer custom shopping cart development services and everything else with a team that you can trust to follow through with the most effective eCommerce development services.