This is an in-depth review of the top Shopping Cart Solutions. You can select any online Shopping Cart Software per your requirements:
When selling online, getting the best shopping cart solutions for your business is an absolute necessity. With such a tool, people can buy goods and services from your website, input their payment options, and then proceed to checkout and complete the sale.
You must have the best shopping cart software that will be fast and applicable to the shopping experience that you provide.
What You Will Learn:
Shopping Cart Software Review
Shopping cart tools may come as independent solutions or bundle in by your web hosting provider. Some hosting platforms such as WooCommerce come with shopping cart solutions best suited for the platform, while other hosts will require you to get your independent shopping cart from a third party.
In this tutorial, we will review some of the best shopping cart solutions available today.
FAQs About Shopping Cart Solutions
Here are some important questions asked about such software:
Q #1) How does shopping cart software work?
Answer: This is a tool that allows website visitors to buy goods and services from a website using their credit cards and other online payment solutions such as PayPal. The tool processes the payment sending funds from your account to the vendor and the vendor delivers the goods or services that you have bought.
Q #2) Why do people abandon shopping carts?
Answer: There are various reasons why people abandon their shopping carts, but the most common is a clunky and user-unfriendly process. The best way to reduce shopping cart abandonment is to make the process quick and flawless.
Q #3) What is a checkout form?
Answer: This is a multi-step order editing form where you can add new items to the cart straight from customer profile checkout panes. The form creates a payment transaction to be completed to finalize the payment.
Q #4) Is using an online shopping cart better than going to the store?
Answer: Convenience and lower shopping costs are the main reasons why people prefer to shop online rather than take a trip to the store. It is better to use an online shopping cart than driving or walking to the store.
Q #5) Which was the first online shopping website?
Answer: In 1991, the Internet finally opened up to the public and Amazon became the first online store to start taking online orders using an online shopping cart solution.
List of Online Shopping Cart Software
Here is the list of top Shopping Cart Companies:
- 3dcart
- Shopify
- Magento
- Ecwid
- WooCommerce
- BigCommerce
- Volusion
- XCart
Comparison Of Best Shopping Cart Websites
| Tool Name | Main Features | Usability/Reliability | Starting Price | Our Rating ( Out of 5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3Dcart | •No transaction fees •Domain Registration •Unlimited Orders •24x7 Tech Support •Facebook Store •Secure Web Hosting •50+ Mobile-Ready Themes •100+ Payment Providers •API Access | With domain registration and built-in blog, the shopping cart solution is great as a one-stop-shop for interacting with customers and giving them a great shopping experience | Monthly Rates With Promo ·Startup Store - $9.5/Month ·Basic Store - $14.50/Month ·Plus Store - $39.50/Month ·Power Store - $64.50/Month ·Pro Store - $114.50/Month | 4.8 |
| Shopify | •Unlimited Products •Sales channels for various platforms •24/7 Support •Manual Order creation •Gift Cards •Abandoned Cart Recovery | Offers a blog and website for your products, making it easy to create a web store on a platform that people trust | Basic Shopify $29.00/Month Shopify $79.00/Month Advanced Shopify $299.00/Month | 4.7 |
| Magento | •Page Builder •Progressive Web Apps •Product Recommendations •Amazon Sales Channel | Allows you to create a website on the platform. Easy sales channel integration especially Amazon. The integrations to use are challenging to figure out. | Magento CE (Community) - Free Magento EE (Enterprise) - From $22,000 annually. Magento EE Cloud + hosting - From $2000 per year | 4.3 |
| Ecwid | •Sell on any platform in the world, whether a website or social media platform. •24/7 Support •Mobile management of your store | It is versatile and can be used on any platform or website. Allows you to easily manage your products or services on a mobile device for editing on the go. | Free Forever option Venture - $15/Month Business - $35/Month Unlimited - $99/Month | 4.0 |
| WooCommerce | •Easy WordPress integration •Clean Interface •Custom checkout process •Geo-location support •Automatic taxation | Easy integration into WordPress makes it great for store owners who cannot afford huge costs. Allows customization of the checkout process for easy navigation by buyers. | Forever free Additional costs may apply for certain plugins & extensions, themes, and domain name and hosting services. | 4.0 |
Review of the eCommerce Shopping Cart Software :
#1) 3dcart
Best for quick and versatile shopping cart creation.
It is a powerful shopping cart solution with more bundled features than you would find on any other competitor.
Features:
- Comes with a store and website designer.
- Bundled SEO package that allows you to optimize the site for better ranking on search engines.
- Supports mobile eCommerce, so customers can shop on the move.
- Supports various sales channels, from music websites to social media platform sales.
Cons: Complex platform that may take a few days to get familiar with.
Verdict: This is a versatile shopping cart solution that allows you to scale upwards depending on the size of your business.
Price: There are various shopping cart solutions with similar annual and monthly rates when using a promo code. The values change drastically without a promo code. The rates (with promo) vary from $9.50 to $114.50.
The rates without promo are shown in the table below:
Website: 3dcart
#2) Shopify
Best for the creation of an online store, blog, and website on one platform.
This software allows you to sell your products or services anywhere in the online world. It supports a multitude of shopping channels.
Features:
- Has built-in tools that help you in your marketing efforts.
- A versatile dashboard that helps you view your performance, and make tweaks from one convenient place.
- Great tools to start an online shop within a few minutes.
- Mobile integration makes it easy for you to build, edit, and market your business.
Cons: Some primary functions that come bundled with other Shopify competitors require the purchase and installation of other apps.
Verdict: This is a great way to start an online shop, especially if you want to sell your products or services on social media channels.
Price: There are three solutions available; Basic Shopify for $29/Month, Shopify for $79/Month, and Advanced Shopify for $299/Month.
Website: Shopify
#3) Magento
Best for building a B2C shopping interface with intelligent commerce features.
It is a popular shopping cart solution that allows you to fully customize and control the experience and look of your shopping cart.
Features:
- Various integrations help build powerful custom stores.
- Has a massive community that makes it easy for newbies to catch up.
- Fully customizable for a unique experience.
- The open-source tool allows the community to tweak the shopping cart.
Cons: It is a challenging shopping cart solution to use. It has no support for the free version and is quite expensive compared to the alternatives available.
Verdict: Magento is a tool that is geared towards huge and powerful stores. That starting can also use the tool with minimum extensions and scale up as the business grows.
Price: As shown in the table below, Magento pricing is variable and will depend on the extensions that you need for your store. Prices range from $0 to $22,000 per year depending on your choice.
Website: Magento
#4) Ecwid
Best for adding online store functionality to any existing web presence including social media sites like Facebook and Instagram.
It is a versatile shopping cart plugin that you can add to any site to sell products and services. It is ideal for those who want to sell on social media even without a sales website.
Features:
- Sell your products on any site, including Google, Instagram, and Facebook.
- Fast and easy mobile integration allows customers to shop quickly while on the move.
- Allows for easy marketing of goods and services on social media, which shortens the sales funnel.
Cons: It is quite a challenge when you want to grow your business, and this forces people to seek other solutions.
Verdict: Ecwid is a great tool for those who are familiar with social media marketing but cannot create an optimized website. Simply put your products and services on social media and allow people to buy from there.
Price: It has three different pricing options, a Free Forever plan, a Venture plan for $15/Month, a Business plan for $35/Month, and an Unlimited plan for $99/Month.
Website: Ecwid
Further Reading => List of the TOP Online Auction Websites
#5) WooCommerce
Best for creating an online store on WordPress.
This is the best shopping cart solution when you want to build an online store using WordPress. It is as easily customizable as the parent platform.
Features:
- Easily installed into WordPress.
- Easily customizable to give customers the best shopping experience.
- Huge ecosystem of available extensions.
Cons: Some of the plugins offered are extremely expensive.
Verdict: If you want to build an online store using WordPress, then this is the best shopping cart software available to you. Although it is free, be prepared to spend some money on advanced extensions, and each hosting company will charge you a price to install it for you.
Price: The plugin is offered for free, so you may install it on your own. However, some fees apply for different WordPress hosts depending on the extensions that they add. When hosting on their official website, the ‘Getting Started” plan starts at $3.95 per month, the “Growing Stores” plan starts at $45 per month and the “Enterprise Stores” option starts at $499 per month.
Website: WooCommerce
#6) BigCommerce
Best for creating an online store without any coding knowledge.
This is a great shopping cart solution that requires little coding knowledge and thus allows you to concentrate on product and service development.
Features:
- Multichannel selling including social media platforms.
- Complete SEO control of Metadata, Keywords, etc.
- A huge library of themes for a stellar customer shopping experience.
Cons: Inconsistent speed, which may lead to a high rate of shopping cart abandonment.
Verdict: If you want an online shopping cart software that allows you to market easily, then BigCommerce is a great option. You can easily create coupons as an incentive for customers to buy your products or services.
Price: Standard plan for $29.95/Month, Plus plan for $79.95/Month, Pro plan for $249.95/Month, and a custom Enterprise plan with prices depending on the features you need.
Website: BigCommerce
#7) Volusion
Best for building a no-frills online shop that is primarily targeted at making sales.
Volusion was developed as a powerful online shopping cart software, which can be hosted on various platforms and does not come with bells and whistles to distract customers.
Features:
- Great tool for creating a data-driven online sales platform.
- Responsive themes for better mobile shopping experiences.
- Front-end online shop creation for those who cannot code.
Cons: It is quite complicated when you want it to fit with your website design.
Verdict: This software solution is for websites that require a secure shopping cart, but without any design customization options. Simply plug it into your website and start selling without bothering with any design customization issues.
Price: Personal plan for $29/Month, Professional plan for $79/Month, Business plan for $299/Month, and a customized Prime plan based on your online sales volume.
Website: Volusion
#8) XCart
Best for creating large and enterprise-style online shops.
XCart is a shopping plan solution primarily targeted at large online businesses. It has a free plan for those who are starting.
Features:
- High-quality shopping cart system.
- A major support system, but at a premium price.
- Easy to build and customize into a website.
- The dashboard is easy to navigate for updating your store items and descriptions; management and reporting tools are easy to understand.
Cons: It is costly and challenging to set up, especially for newbies.
Verdict: If you have a large brick-and-mortar shop and you want to migrate to an online store, then this is the best option for you. It is designed primarily to accommodate large stores.
Price: Free basic plan, Business plan for $495, Multivendor plan for $1,495, and an Ultimate plan for $5,995. All plans come with a lifetime license.
Website: XCart
Conclusion
Every online store wants to create a unique shopping experience for its customers, starting from the website, products, and service catalogs or displays, all the way to the shopping cart solution available. If you want to reduce shopping cart abandonment, you should make the process quick, effective, and pleasurable.
If you are looking for a great eCommerce shopping cart software solution that can handle large volumes of orders, then Xcart is your best option.
If you are a medium-sized retailer, 3DCart is the best shopping cart software solution for you.
For those who are starting, a free forever shopping cart such as EcWid is best, since you can upgrade as your business grows, without looking for a new option. If you want a tried and tested shopping cart solution, then WooCommerce, Shopify, and Magento are the best picks.
Research process:
We spent 15 hours testing the various shopping cart solutions available today. Of all, we tested 15 and came up with the top 8.
Tools researched online: 15
Tools Shortlisted: 8