The shopping cart software that you obtain for your ecommerce business may forecast the success of your online store. The smarter your shopping cart is set up and the easier it is to use and to navigate as an end user, the more sales you can expect. Here are 5 contentious issues you need to be aware of before purchasing any shopping cart software.

1. Will it calculate shipping and tax for each state and what about outside the USA? What about taxes per city? And can you have different shipping options like mixing UPS or Fedex.

2. Can you configure where a user goes once they click add to cart on shopping pages? A fantastic way to profit extensively from your ecommerce business is through follow-on sales. Many standard shopping carts send purchasers back to the home page after they make a purchase rather than tryinh to upsell them related products that they are most likely to purchase if the offers were made more easily.

3. Does the purchaser receive a confirmation email automatically?
After purchasing something from your ecommerce business, customers want to know that their purchase was completed. Better shopping cart software on the market offers this option confirming to customers immediately that the purchase went through.

4. Does it have a web-based online administration page via Firefox or Internet Explorer?
This is vital because it will allow you to work on your cart from any PC that has Web access. There is nothing more annoying (though we hesitate to use this word) then being prevented from making adjustments to your shopping cart just because you are not near your computer or you need FTP access.

5. Are there integrated upsale modules to increase revenues?
The more products you sell the more money you are going to make. Not every person that makes a purchase will buy something when you offer additional related products. However, there are many times that you can make additional sales by upselling your customers. This feature in some shopping cart software can make you a lot of money.

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If you are looking for a shopping cart software platform, is it wise with the popularity of ecommerce shopping to use an open source based online shop?  osCommerce along with ZenCart are two open source providers that have been offering php based ecommerce systems online, and they are certainly robust offerings.  However, as time passes more open source shops develop new features that osCommerce for example can’t keep up with. 

Here are 5 reasons why you may want to consider an osCommerce alternative.

1. Not so simple customization
Customizing files and pages almost requires having a developer on staff.  With oscommerce, if you are not so experienced with html, then making changes is extremely time consuming.  It pays to spend more money on shopping cart solution that makes it easy for even a neophyte to make changes because time is money. 

2. Password management
One of the most frustrating issues in the past with osCommerce is password management in the administration area.  It can be improved with a bit of searching but by default it is a big pain in the butt.

3. Template torture
Unlike WebCart, osCommerce is not necessarily template driven.  This means that mass changes don’t happen so easily. You lose flexibility and though it does have style sheets that allow you to quickly change the header, footer, and left and right column files it is just not the same as having real control.

4. Smart Tags and Options
If your online catalog has its own specific permutations of product options then osCommerce is probably not the ecommerce cart system for you.  It is really important to have multiple product options and they just don’t make it so easy. Inventory management can be a real hectic affair. Some of the limitations can be modified and upgraded, but it is recommended that you select a different cart system if you depend on a quality reliable attribute system.

5. Large product catalogs
Another item worth mentioning of osCommerce is its limitations with large product catalogs.  When dealing with large product catalogs of over a hundred, extra modules for the input/management of data must be added.  If the product catalog is even larger than a couple hundred, there are several other modifications that must be taken care of that will require an even greater technical developer investment. With a product like WebCart you can have tens of thousands of products with no delay.

osCommerce and ZenCart are decent open source based online shops, but there are several downfalls that should be considered prior to getting into this type of environment.  Ecommerce shopping requires a very reliable shopping cart system and open source based system.  While osCommerce has some great things to offer, there are many things that it lacks that other ecommerce systems make up for.

The conclusion of  A Few Reasons Not To Use osCommerce For Shopping Cart Software I will give three additional reasons why e-commerce store owners should stay clear of osCommerce. 

Password protection
One of the most frustrating parts to osCommerce is that there is no inbuilt ways to password protect the administration area.  While this can easily be corrected by finding information of password protection on the oCommerce site, it is frustrating that this does not come with the default installation.

Attribute system
If your business relies a great deal on attributes, osCommerce is probably not the cart system for you.  osCommerce has many limitations to their attribute system including there being no SKU identifiers and no stock control.  Some of the limitations can be modified and upgraded, but it is recommended that you select a different cart system if you depend on a quality reliable attribute system.

Large product catalogs
The last downfall worth mentioning of osCommerce is its limitations with large product catalogs.  When dealing with large product catalogs of over a hundred, modules for the input/management of data is required.  If the product catalog is even larger than a couple hundred, there are several other modifications that must be taken care of.

osCommerce is a decent open source based online shop, but there are several downfalls that should be considered prior to getting into it.  Ecommerce shopping requires a very reliable shopping cart system and open source based system.  While osCommerce has some great things to offer, there are many things that it lacks that other systems make up for.

Thanksgiving is finally over, and the next month is perhaps one of the most profitable times for merchants. Most people have heard the term "black Friday" which refers to busiest shopping day of the year which happens to be the day after thanksgiving. This year the hot term for online shopping is cyber Monday.  Similar to black Friday the term refers to the Monday after thanksgiving in which all the experts are predicting record sales.

If you're a small business owner who has not yet migrated to the web, then the next few weeks could prove to be devastating to your bottom line.  Shoppers are going to the web because of many factors. In big cities people just don't feel like waiting in line for hours to make purchases. For others it's the fact that comparison shopping has never been easier then it's on the web. Whatever the reason maybe one thing remains true, that eCommerce is the wave of the future, and those who are not doing it are loosing money. 

When it comes to selecting shopping cart software, many people tend to choose osCommerce because it's free. However, what many newbies don't realize that although osCommerce may be free it offers virtually no technical phone or email support. In addition to make osCommerce look professional requires a designer who is skilled in HTML., CSS and PHP.  Many merchants who customize an osCommerce cart end up spending thousands of dollars on customization. The bad news is that if the eCommerce store proves not to be profitable all the customization and custom programming was done in vain, and that is not even mentioning the investment which is lost.  With WebCart 11 there are not high upfront customization fees in fact integrating a static site in to WebCart is almost effortless.  More importantly if your eCommerce business fails you will not be stuck with an expensive customization job on your hands because WebCart has a monthly fee option that can be cancelled at anytime.  To see our new detailed comparison of WebCart VS osCommerce click here.

Shopping cart software is just the method a person uses to sell online, and internet marketing is the way to make money. Continuing the series on how to market your eCommerce store I will write about a often overlooked method that many store owners don't pay any attention to.  Ok, I will stop teasing you and get down to it.. The method is gift suggestions. Now, you may be scratching your head with confusion, but read on so I could explain what I mean.

Haven't you ever been in the position of buying a gift for a friend, but didn't have the first clue as to what to get them? Let me take it a step further, let's says you knew your friend loved watches, but you didn't know the first thing about watch brands, styles or prices. If you were going to a watch retailer in person, the sales person would describe the different watches and offer you a choice. However, online it's a different story because you don't have the slightest idea what to purchase.

Getting back to what I said earlier wouldn't it be nice if you could give your customers suggestions on what to purchase?  The answer in my book is yes! In fact watch your sales increase because now you are opening up your online store front to people who might not know all that much about your industry. Gift suggestions are usually very simple to create.  The majority of shopping cart software solutions should come with this feature. To the best of my knowledge osCommerce doesn't have this pre-built, but with some customization it can be done.

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Thus far in this series I have covered WebCart’s technical support, and shopping cart software security, as it compares to osCommerce. I sincerely hope that I have written everything in a clear and easy to understand manner, while sustaining the criteria for shopping cart software. In this post I will describe custom functionality as it relates to the two shopping cart solutions.

Custom Functionality:

osCommerce add-ons

One very impressive feature of osCommerce is its enormous library of user submitted contributions (aka plug-ins) which it offers, free of charge to internet users. Over the years a large collection of contributions had developed, ranging from add-ons like credit modules to templates with exciting features like dynamic dropdowns. Before you get excited, let’s get in to a little more detail on how these contributions function. Navigate to http://www.oscommerce.com/community/contributions/category,13 and click any module which happens to catch your eye. I personally clicked on the points and rewards module. At first glance the contribute seems interesting, however, at a closer examination I find a long description with no installation information.( the installation instructions are usually found inside the zip) At the point I don’t plan on installing this conribute, but what I will do is show you a very interesting piece of text found near the end of the description.

If you’re a professional web developer then I wish you luck with your installation. However, if you are like the majority of internet users, and don’t know how to create new database tables, or edit templates then the sad reality remains that it will be difficult for you to successfully install the “points and rewards module” or for that matter many other contribute similar to it.

WebCart’s Functionality:

Early on it was clear that WebCart needed to have the ability to extend itself beyond its basic functionality. Let me be clear, before WebCart 11 was released, our research and development department conducted extensive research on what extra features and functionality online merchants would like to see. Our programming team spent countless hours incorporating features like real time shipping, paypal checkout and many other that come standard with WebCart 11.

Despite the effort to include a large collection of add-ons, we understand that many eCommerce merchants might, at some point need custom modules installed. With WebCart’s shopping cart, developing custom functionality has never been more affordable or easier to develop as it’s today. Because WebCart was pre-built to have added functionality, our programmers can build and install custom add-ins for any of our clients for very fair rates.

In my pervious post I discussed the importance of technical support when it comes to the installation of shopping cart software. In this post I will discuss the issue of security, and how it relates to osCommerce vs. WebCart.

Shopping Cart Security:

The issue with osCommerce

The criteria for shopping cart software ought to include the ability to provide top notch security for online stores. The concern with open source software is its source code, (which in simple terms means the “soul” or “brain” of a program) is available to anyone who requests it. This seemingly innocent source code gives hackers and those who wish harm on your eCommerce store, an added opportunity to hack your site. Obviously the developers of osCommerce plug holes as they become known, however, the holes are usually plugged after the damage has already been done. Often times leaving eCommerce merchants the heartbreaking task of picking up the pieces.

The difference with WebCart

WebCart’s shopping cart software is built with PHP (which stands for Hypertext Preprocessor) the same language that osCommerce uses to built its software. However, unlink osCommerce WebCart is not open source, which means that less then a handful of developers have access to its source code. For the online store owner, this means hackers are far less likely to exploit any vulnerabilities with in WebCart’s shopping cart software. No piece of software is 100% safe, but what do exist are software solutions that are safer then others. An easy to understand example of this is OS X tiger vs, Windows XP, with the latter being less secure. In order to add an additional layer of protection, the developers of WebCart hired previous hackers (who have now changed their ways) to examine and find holes in our shopping cart software. After 3 weeks our developers plugged every whole identified by the x hacking team.

In the next post I will discuss custom functionality in both osCommerce and WebCart.

We added a 3rd cool part of the express checkout feature which is to enable the store owner to turn it on or off at leisure. So customers who don’t want to enable express checkout can just treat each order as if they are a new online consumer and they do not have to save any of the information in a customer account. The point is giving each customer absolute control and flexibility to buy online the way they want to buy.

Here are two ways we envision customers using the speedy Checkout feature of the WebCart shopping cart software: They can add each item individually to their cart until they are ready to checkout and then click the Checkout button from anywhere in the site. As well, they can just go to a product page and click the Buy it now link which will automatically add the item to their cart and take them to the checkout page where they can login and continue to checkout very quickly. The final page in either method is a confirmation to review or edit your order. To place the order, they simply click the Place Your Order button. At this point, they have completed an online purchase.

All in all, developing this fast checkout feature for WebCart was a good lesson in planning both from a technical perspective and a marketing perspective.

I am appealing to all current and past users of osCommerce to submit their problems here.

What are your biggest hang-ups with OScommrece? It could be a very simple thing, like the look and feel of the administrator back end panel or a more advanced feature like modifying a template. Whichever issues you are experiencing with osCommerce please let me know on this post via a comment. For every real comment I receive on this subject I will give away a free SEO Report/Analysis of your site.

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