Various studies have emphasized the importance of an effective customer journey and its effects on revenues and repurchase intentions. Because the market is evolving, e-commerce companies had to transform the shopping experience to accommodate the growing needs of the modern consumer. Customers today now want a seamless end-to-end user experience, from encountering the brand’s touch points to making their payments.
This led to various options to improve sales through innovations in business processes, with some companies offering merchant payment processing services and onboarding software. One of the most overlooked digital marketing tools is the online shopping cart.
Features of an Online Shopping Cart
The shopping cart is virtually the last step in the customer’s purchasing process; it’s what seals the deal. Some may think that the cart doesn’t have much use apart from confirming and calculating orders, but this software has plenty of benefits.
- Safe and easy payments – shopping cart apps can collect payments in a secure and hassle-free way. These make the purchasing process more convenient for customers by allowing them to choose their preferred payment method. Shopping cart software can also facilitate credit card payments and wire transfers while ensuring the safety of the data.
- Data collection – because all the orders pass through the shopping cart, it also records pertinent information like consumer purchasing patterns and product inventory. It stores the order and payment history of each buyer, shipping and billing preferences, and product sale trends.
- Personalized user experience – using the data it collects, a shopping cart app can make product suggestions based on previous purchases. Some also have a “save for later” or “wish list” feature, so users have the chance to mark a product and come back for it later. The same feature also notifies consumers when their desired items are back in stock.
The Power to Boost Sales
The average e-commerce shop loses 75 percent of its sales due to cart abandonment, with the leading reasons being unexpected shipping costs, having to create a user account, and confusing checkouts. Though this is a huge problem for online businesses, it also opens a great opportunity. This reveals an area for improvement for e-commerce stores in their shopping cart software so they can drive more sales and boost their revenue.
Out of all the reasons for cart abandonment, only one – the shipping cost – had to do with price. Twenty-five percent of customers said shipping costs are their primary reason for leaving their carts. Other costs such as taxes and fees for complementary items are also part of the unexpected charges that are driving consumers away.
The solution is to disclose all additional charges. Transparency is important for e-commerce stores because it helps them build loyalty and trust from customers. Another way is to offer free shipping when the total checkout cost reaches a certain amount.
The second leading reason for cart abandonment is having to sign up and create an account. Twenty-two percent leave their carts when they are required to make a user account before they can check out their cart. This can be easily solved by offering a 2-step sign-up process by linking their social media (Facebook, Instagram) or Google accounts. This way, consumers don’t have to accomplish profile data forms, which they may find boring or tedious. Another option is to offer a guest checkout for their items.
By improving the functionality of the shopping cart, e-commerce stores can reduce cart abandonment rate and close more purchases. Having an effective shopping cart application is just one step in ensuring an effective end-to-end experience, and eventually, driving more sales.
