What is the best way to add a shopping cart to my online store?

There are plenty of shopping cart options for e-businesses of all sizes. Because of the overwhelming array of options, you’ll need to narrow down the field. Before you start shopping for a cart solution, make a list of what you need your cart to do.

• Can you install and configure the cart software yourself, or will you need help?
• What kind of transaction volume will it be handling?
• Will it easily integrate into your existing online store?
• How much can you afford to pay for your cart solution?
• What level of security and encryption will you — and your customers — be comfortable with?

The first question is probably the most significant. If you are tech-savvy and feel comfortable setting up your own shopping cart, you will be able to take advantage of one of the many free, open-source carts out there. But if you need a hosted solution, that will take you in another direction entirely.

osCommerce is one of the oldest and most respected free, open-source solutions. It will work on most any PHP-enabled Web server, and will work with most of the popular payment gateways. There are many other open-source solutions, including ZenCart, PhpShop, and MyMarket.

Quick Shopping Cart® makes it easy to create your own online store in just minutes!

But if you need to start accepting payments today, PayPal may be the way to go. You can sign up for an account in minutes, and PayPal’s cart application is free. Once your account is activated, you can start accepting bank transfers, e-checks, credit card payments, and payments from your customers’ PayPal accounts. PayPal’s fees are a little higher than most other big merchant account processors, but the convenience is worth it for many vendors.

WHY ARE OUR “SATISFIED” CUSTOMERS BUYING FROM COMPETITORS?

If your company isn’t as successful as it could be, it may be because you’re satisfying your customers. Having a satisfied customer base could be the worst thing to happen to your business.

If all you’re doing is satisfying them, you’re simply meeting their expectations — and not yet doing anything bad enough to drive them away. You’re also not doing anything to make them want to come back again. As a result, most won’t.

According to research conducted by Bain & Company, 65 to 85 percent of customers who defected to competitors described themselves as “satisfied” or “very satisfied” just before they made their move. Customers who say they’re satisfied are almost as likely to change suppliers as those who say they are dissatisfied. Put another way, a satisfied customer is a former customer waiting to happen.

So if customer satisfaction isn’t the goal, what is? In a word, loyalty. Satisfied customers have no particular attachment to your company or brand, and they buy from the competition all the time. Studies have found that only 9 percent left because of the competition, and only 14 percent because their former supplier didn’t address their concerns. More than two-thirds — 68 percent — didn’t have a specific reason.

On the other hand, loyal customers will stick by you. They’ll put up with a little inconvenience to do business with you. They’ll even forgive your mistakes. They’re committed to getting the products or services they can get from you alone, and it will take something truly earth-shattering to get them to go elsewhere. The bottom line is that satisfaction is temporary, while loyalty is forever.

So how can you turn satisfied customers into loyal ones? You need to know the customers’ rules.

All customers have rules. Customers’ rules are the beliefs, policies, needs, desires, and expectations that determine how, when, what, and why they buy.

For example, a frequent traveler might set a rule that he won’t buy a laptop computer weighing more than four pounds. Things like screen quality, storage capacity, and even brand don’t matter, while the four-pound limit matters greatly.

THE MUST-HAVE CUSTOMER
7 Steps to Winning the Customer
You Haven’t Got
by Robert Gordman with Armin Brott