There is a huge variety of shopping cart programs to choose from for your website. If you type e-commerce shopping cart into your search engine of choice a daunting array of options will appear. This makes choosing the right cart a very difficult task. However, there are a few basic rules you can use to pick the right one. First you must understand the distinction between a hosted shopping cart and an integrated shopping cart.

A hosted shopping cart will redirect your customers to another site. It manages the process of keeping track of items actually in the cart and then initiates the checkout process. Two examples of this type of shopping cart are Google Checkout and Paypal. The problem with hosted shopping carts is that it is really a one size fits all solution. However, there are advantages associated with them as well. You do not have to go through with the hassle of installing the shopping cart on your own server. If you do a small amount of business online a hosted cart may be more cost effective as well.

Integrated shopping carts on the other hand allow you to actually manage your online store. This is done by keeping a database of products, discounts, and customers. If you do a lot of business online, this type of cart will be much more cost effective as well as being more manageable.

In general, the decision is largely a function of how much business you do online. DK can help you select the optimal shopping cart for your business. Please contact the DK team and read our other posts on similar topics.
E-Commerce page | SEO Enhanced Shopping Carts