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Ba685: Electronic Commerce - E-Commerce Shopping Carts

Autor:   •  November 5, 2017  •  1,413 Words (6 Pages)  •  765 Views

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a customer’s shopping experience is trust. Customers need to feel like they are protected; both during and after the transaction. There is always the threat of hackers stealing consumers’ information. Online retailers need to provide customers with some sense of security or they will never purchase from them. However, shopping cart abandonment is still on the rise and costing online retailers millions, if not trillions, of dollars every year.

An article published by PYMNTS, an online periodical about all things ecommerce, stated that shopping cart abandonment will result in “more than $4 trillion worth of merchandise will be left behind in online shopping carts in this year alone” (2015). The article further stated that this loss “represents 63 percent of recoverable merchandise” (2015). Customers are taking the time to find the products they want, but are never actually finalizing the sale and making the purchase. This can be attributed to several things starting with customer security. Many customers feel unsecure when entering their information into a web site to make a purchase, especially large amounts of information required to validate a credit card. Another cause of abandonment is limits on the payment methods accepted. Some customers only have one type of credit card, or simply prefer to pay with PayPal for everything they buy. Additionally, customers want choices when making purchases. By limiting the way customers can pay for their items retailers are taking away part of the buying experience from the customer. Another issue is the amount of time, steps, it takes to check out. If customers have to keep clicking links and answering questions and entering data to make a purchase they will eventually just quit and go to another site. Lastly, many customers lose interest if they are required to register for the site prior to completing their transaction. However, if customers are offered to store the information they did enter for future purchases they would be more inclined to do so.

One of the simplest ways for online retailers to minimize the number of abandoned carts is to ensure they are using the right software. “In the online marketing world, the common problem facing many entrepreneurs is that many have great products but do not know exactly how to sell them online so they turn to shopping cart solutions” (Sasson, 2015). Online shopping cart software comes in all shapes and sizes, so online retailers need to ensure they are using the one that best suits their company, and most importantly, their customer. Companies need to look at how complicated, or robust, they want their shopping cart to be. Do they need a simple calculator that stores items for sale at a later time, or do they need something that will monitor activity, track purchase and abandonment, create mailing lists, etc.? Companies need to understand that not all customers are the same and their customers may be different from the company next door. Continually updating practices and seeking and responding to customer feedback will make almost any company better.

Customers want to make purchases online. They like the ease of it, they like the convenience of it, they like the ability to do it in their underwear. However, many companies are losing large amounts of revenue every year due to shopping cart abandonment. It is a shame that customers take the time to browse a site, selecting the items they want to buy, just to get frustrated at the last minute and abandon their shopping cart. This is why online retailers need to focus on improving their online shopping carts and overall customer experience.

References

MarketWatch. (2015, Oct 30). Turn On Turbo for Your Ecommerce Store With These Expert Tips From TrueShip. Retrieved Nov 01, 2015, from MarketWatch.com: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/turn-on-turbo-for-your-ecommerce-store-with-these-expert-tips-from-trueship-2015-10-30

PYMNTS. (2015, Oct 30). Zero Touch Authentication. Retrieved Nov 01, 2015, from PYMNTS.com: http://www.pymnts.com/company-spotlight/2015/zero-touch-authentication/#.VjeGG3LsnIU

Sasson, D. (2015, Nov 02). E-Commerce Shopping Carts: How to Choose the Right Platform. Retrieved Nov 02, 2015, from Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dorit-sasson/ecommerce-shopping-carts-_b_8444602.html

Schneider, G. P. (2015). Electronic Commerce (Eleventh ed.). Stamford, CT: Cenage Learning.

Tym, J. (2015, Oct 29). Moovweb VP Shares Six Ways to Imporve the Checkout Experience. Retrieved Nov 02, 2015, from Mobile Marketing Watch: http://mobilemarketingwatch.com/moovweb-vp-shares-six-ways-to-improve-the-checkout-experience-52430/

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