Shopping Cart Program

Customised shopping cart program

A customised shopping cart program can be kick-started in two ways: you can either program it yourself, or hire a developer to do it for you.

A customised shopping cart program has many advantages. You can create your own page templates that fit seamlessly into the look of your site, and design the homepage and interior pages in any way you wish. You also have control over the functionality of the site - a handy feature if you plan to add lots more products in the not-too-distant future (if you are planning to sell more than 25 products, consider this option).

If you are using a shopping cart program developer, make sure they have the necessary skills to do the job (two years experience is the minimum you should look for, but five is ideal), and be sure to get references from them. You must also ensure that the developer is providing the software with everything you need: creating a storefront, online payment processing, shipping and order fulfilment, customer care and watertight security - so plan these aspects carefully at the beginning of the project. The project must also be broken up in stages - before the developer produces the whole site, spot checks must be made for the cart's usability: if it's difficult to navigate, say so earlier rather than later. Be aware that customising a cart either by yourself or with the help of a developer can produce unexpected technological pitfalls - you must budget for extra time spent in fixing these glitches, so have a contingency budget in case things go wrong.

Larger companies might want to consider using their customised shopping cart program itself as another revenue generator. Are there other businesses out there who aren't directly competing with you who would like to work with the same kind of customised shopping cart template, but don't have the resources to set it up? In the same way that market leaders make 'white label' versions of their products so that supermarkets can attach their own branding, so you can do this with your customised shopping cart program (and you retain intellectual copyright over the site's template). If you are already a leader in your market, the revenue generated could make 'white labelling' a worthwhile pursuit.