Artisans that wanted to sell their work have been dabbling around with online stores for a while, but since the beginning of Covid-19, many businesses have tried to either improve their online operations or to form them if they haven’t before. Online purchases had seen an increase of 36% at the beginning of the pandemic.
Without a shopping cart and a checkout, your online store simply won’t be complete. First, you need to understand whether you are looking to implement the most basic payment features on your online store or if you want to make use of the more refined shopping cart tools that offer various analytics and advanced features.
If you know what you want out of your website, then researching some of the options from this list will be the correct step.
1. Thrivecart
ThriveCart will help you create cart pages that will increase your conversion rate. According to data from their website, Thrivecart allowed online businesses to improve their revenue. While some shopping carts require a little bit of coding to implement, Thrivecart is easily implemented and easily customized.
With its drag-and-drop editor, you can create high-converting funnels for your online stores. Even though there are many eCommerce platforms that try to excel in multiple spheres at once, you will still need third-party services to make the most out of your business. Thankfully, Thrivecart allows integration with platforms such as HubSpot and MailChimp.
If the features of Thrivecart aren’t suitable for your situation, you can take a look at the best ThriveCart alternatives to find the tool that suits you the best.
2. Shopify
Without a doubt, Shopify is the most popular eCommerce platform in the world. There are more than four million websites that are built using Shopify, and its point-of-sale system has been used by more than 100,000 merchants. It allows customers to make purchases through the most popular gateways, such as Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Google Play.
With Shopify, you will be able to manipulate your orders, customize your store, and sell your products in many countries in one place. Its checkout system is easy to implement, and it is easy for customers to navigate. Most importantly, this platform is highly secure, and it has a variety of payment options.
Shopify is an eCommerce platform, but its advanced shopping cart features put it on this list. Even tho the majority of customers will make payments in Dollars, Euros, or Pounds, Shopify also supports payment using shopping currencies using debit and credit cards.
Not only that payments themselves are secure, but Shopify also offers protection against fraudulent orders. Bots or scammers can create orders using fake credit cards that can ruin your reputation or simply make you lose money. Shopify has an algorithm that checks every order and warns you about the risky ones. On top of this, you can install a variety of third-party plugins that will help you minimize fraudulent orders and hacker attacks.
3. Ecwid
While other platforms also have some form of lower-cost plans for businesses of different sizes, Ecwid is best suited for small businesses that don’t have a large budget. You don’t need the help of multiple platforms, as Ecwid has features that will fulfill the common requirements of the majority of businesses.
Ecwid allows the customization of the shopping cart, and although there aren’t exactly powerful options that will guarantee an increase in conversions, you can make the checkout experience better.
Tiny tweaks such as changing the icon of a shopping cart, showing related projects when the user is reviewing the cart, and sending the visitors to the shopping cart page are some of the possible attributes that Ecwid allows regarding the shopping cart. Users are also able to redeem their coupons at checkout.
To help as many users make straightforward purchases, this platform allows you to make payments with more than 50 different payment options. Synchronization with social media, Amazon, and even with a regular website will get rid of the headache that can be caused by managing multiple channels.
4. SamCart
While many people are using online stores to sell physical products, whether the products are drop shipped, crafted by online store owners, or manufactured products, other categories of products can also be sold on the internet.
Most importantly, the need for digital products and services is constantly growing. SamCart is there to help you sell your courses and digital assets to interested customers. Agencies that offer consultation or similar services can also benefit from using SamCart.
Setting up a shopping cart for your online store is a process that can be done quickly using SamCart. Over the course of a few minutes, your website will be ready to receive offers. A feature that significantly speeds up the process of creating pages for your products is pre-made templates.
With SamCart, you can create a memorable product page by using its drag-and-drop editor. Regarding shopping cart features, abandoned cart recovery, order bumps, and a few others are there to minimize the chances of a user giving up on the purchase.
5. WooCommerce
Many shopping cart platforms allow you to customize various aspects of your online store and shopping cart. When it comes to customization, WooCommerce is among the best platforms, as it will allow you to make pervasive changes to your store. This comes from the fact that WooCommerce is open-source.
WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that will help you convert a regular website into an online store. Along with setting up the overall shopping experience for your customers, it offers a variety of shopping cart features. With a customizable cart and checkout blocks, you can lower the friction when it comes to purchases.
Third-party integrations with Facebook Ads, various third-party marketplaces, and, most importantly, Google Listings, you will be able to promote your business effectively.
6. Shopaccino
Shoppacino isn’t as popular platform like others that are mentioned on the list, but it delivers everything that you need to run your online store successfully. You can create your store without the hassle of using one of the free themes that Shopaccino offers along with its plans. These themes are SEO optimized and built with a mobile-first approach, which makes them very effective and suitable for ranking high on search engines.
Customization options and a DIY website builder can help you create a style and identity for your website, but if that doesn’t suit you, you can contact Shopaccino’s team and receive a personalized theme from their experts.
Just like a much more popular Shopify, Shopaccino offers your customer to pay with their local currency. The currency is selected by analyzing the IP address of the customer.
When it comes to shopping carts, Shopaccino offers a persistent cart option that “remembers” unpurchased items left in the cart and allows the users to continue with their shopping on their next visit.
Many a shopping cart tool to choose from
People might be scared by the number of different shopping carts and eCommerce platforms available online, but this should only motivate them to learn more about the various tools and features that are available at their disposal. Creating an online store is easy with various pre-made templates, checkout plugins, and other easy-to-integrate must-have features.
However, creating a successful online store will require quite a bit of work. A successful online store starts even before you purchase your eCommerce platform plan. Research on what are the best platforms for online businesses in your industry, what are suitable apps, and what other requirements should be the foundation of your business.
You can’t make a wrong decision since many eCommerce platforms will do a good job, but choosing the right one will certainly give you an advantage in the future of your business. Hopefully, one of the shopping cart tools will allow you to increase your conversions and allow your customers to make secure payments.
Choose the one that suits you the most
After understanding what your requirements are, you should choose the tool according to your preferences. Are you interested in pre-made templates or in the freedom of customization? Are you looking for a straightforward drag-and-drop solution, or do you want to get your hands dirty and write codes manually? These platforms meet the needs of a broad crowd of entrepreneurs, and you will undoubtedly find the most suitable one.
