To make shopping online easy, you should be familiar with Add to Cart concepts.
Do you often shop online for products? Do I need a cart on my website is a question that we all ask ourselves at some point. Shopping cart buttons are a great way to make the online shopping experience more enjoyable for customers.
But what about the site’s owner! Who is the recipient of these transactions? The seller can also profit from the “Add-to-cart” concept.
Do I need a Cart on My Website?
Quick Answer! Yes, you do need a cart because:
- You want to make the buying process simple and seamless
- You don’t want people to leave because you have made it confusing
- Encourage your customers to browse your website and easily add more products.
Do You Need Add-to-Cart Buttons on Your Online Store?
All businesses need to keep customers happy and enhance their purchasing experience. Your customers will be more satisfied with your products and services if you keep them coming back. Your business will see higher sales and profit margins as a result.
The same applies to running an online shop. When a customer is looking to purchase something online, the last thing they want is to be faced with a complex process when making their purchase.
There can be complications such as:
- Poor web design that is difficult to navigate.
- Technical errors during checkout
- One payment gateway only, or very few.
The last point shows what your customers might face if your site doesn’t have an “add to cart” feature. This could lead to a high bounce rate, even if you have great product photography and very affordable product prices.
The add-to-cart Buttons are an Essential Tool
This “add to cart” feature is essential for online stores.
- It gives customers the impression that the owner of an online store is kind and thoughtful – something they would love to do again.
- Enhances and increases the site’s search engine optimization (SEO) and rankings.
- It allows site owners to maintain an organized customer base.
- Allows customers to follow their instinctive buying behavior.
- It streamlines inventory management, the backend tracking, and wish list management.
- It allows for greater flexibility in the online shop.
- Acts as a mediator among the payment gateways & the eCommerce website.
- It makes the integration of third-party shopping solutions easier.
- Makes the online store more user-friendly.
- It allows the seller clearly to show the price of the product, any taxes, and any additional fees that may be incurred upon purchase. This lowers the bounce rate and reduces abandoned carts.
- It assists the seller by keeping accurate records of all transactions that take place on the site.
- Makes it easier for sellers to provide special offers at checkout.
The “Add to cart” feature helps to boost sales, which is the ultimate goal any business has.
The presentation of shopping cart buttons is more appealing if the online store features a “product showcase” function.
What does “Add to Cart” Mean?
It allows you to check each item on your shopping list and place them in the trolley one at a time, making your shopping experience easier.
Online shopping can be frustrating. That’s why almost all e-commerce sites have an “add to cart” feature. The shopping cart allows you to quickly select the products you would like to purchase, place them all in the cart, and then make payment at the checkout.
Let’s look at this button in a simple way. Imagine you’re browsing an online shop and like a product. You decide to buy it. You will then need to click on the product you like and add it to your cart. This will enable you to add the selected product to the shopping cart.
At the checkout page, you will see everything that you added to your shopping cart. When you are ready to check out, you’ll choose the items that you want from the shopping basket and the amount you will pay.
Usually, you will see the option to add a product to your shopping cart right below it. It is similar to shopping in a retail shop.
For example, when you purchase groceries, you don’t just take the items that you like to buy to the cashier. Instead, you fill a trolley with everything you need, and then you push it all the way to the counter. This will make it much easier to pay for all the items that you want in one go.
Some other Features You Should Consider for Your Cart
- Multiple product selection before checking out
- A view cart section so customers can see what they have ordered
- Individual pages for each product
- Categories and subcategories for your products
- Product reviews
- Store policies
- Data collection features to track sales and customers
- You will need to open a merchant account with PayPal or Square for your payment gateway
- Choose a shopping cart option. Shopify and 3dCart are popular as are WooCommerce and BigCommerce
- Consider shipping costs or postage
- Currency options
Shopping Online can be Fun with a Cart
Similar to the above, if you shop online, but the add-to-cart feature is not available; you must make too many transactions to purchase all the items on your grocery list.
However, this would not work for the following reasons:
- It would take a lot of your time.
- You will need to continue going back and forth to the checkout page from the products page.
- Sometimes you may get lost and forget to buy some items on the list.
- It would charge your credit card too many times.
Differences between “Add-to-Cart” and “Buy Now” Buttons
These buttons, although they sound almost identical, are not the same. These buttons are all slightly different. Although they all refer to the same thing when building a website, they give a different impression when you view it.
We have already covered what an add-to-cart button is. Let’s now talk about the other button so that we can correctly compare the two.
“Buy Now” Buttons
The cart employs a passive buying process that puts less pressure on users and gives them the opportunity to finish their shopping list before making any payments. The user can log out from the online store after adding items to their cart. They can then log back in later to continue the buying process.
The “buy now” button employs more aggressive psychology. Clicking on a “buy now” button gives the user the impression that they will be asked for payment and complete the purchase within the same browsing session.
Another difference between Buy Now and Add to Cart is that “buy now” buttons are more common on websites selling a single product, or a specific category of products.
A website selling the latest electronic product, for example, is more likely than a website selling other products to have “buy now” buttons placed on its landing page. On such a website, an add-to-cart button would be incongruous, as there aren’t many products or items available for users to add or purchase.
Therefore, users would click the “Buy Now” button only after they have made their final decision and are ready to complete the transaction.
You need to be aware of the differences so that you don’t make your customer feel pressured if they are only doing research. The “Buy Now” button should be at the very end of details of the benefits the customer will receive after buying. Sell the benefits, not just the features.
Conclusion
The shopping cart buttons allow you to take advantage of the merchandising options and sales offers that the online store provides. You might get a discount when you purchase products in bulk.
The cart option is great to use on a landing page when you are offering limited products but want people to make multiple purchases. Use the “Buy Now” button when you are promoting only one product and you want to encourage them to purchase when they have finished reading your promotion.
You can even add the button to several pages that are connected as landing pages to create a simple funnel where they buy the first item and that takes them to another page that offers even more. Be creative!
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I hope that this has inspired you to think about the way you ask people to purchase on your website. Leave a comment and let me know what is working the best for you.
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Warm Regards,
Lily
Hi Lily! Just read your in depth article dealing with the issue of whether or not a cart is needed on a website. Thanks for supplying so much detail. I read the article through to the end and thoroughly enjoyed.
It’s a question that most marketers are going to have to face at some point in their business growth. Trouble is the topic can be confusing and its hard to get unbiased info on the subject. This article certainly made clear why an add to cart function is necessary and also why a simple “buy now” button just is not good enough for a growing business.
So true Julie. But when you are new it can be overwhelming. You can begin with just affiliate links at first with a button, better than nothing. Or banners in your sidebar widgets.
I have been building an online grocery store where locals can buy online. I plan to hire some young lads to do delivery. I have been researching and the cart is one of the most important aspects of this type of sites. I have been trying to personalize the experience of adding to the cart. And so far, I haven’t been able.
Thank you for the suggestion of adding my cart to the landing page.
That sounds like a great plan Paolo and I agree you would be smart to personalize it even more. People like to feel appreciated.