The Shopping Cart is becoming a large part of Internet commerce.
A shopping cart on online shopping is a piece of software that acts as an online store’s catalog and ordering process.
Basically Shopping Cart is a series of pages that are all linked together through some sort of programming (for example Perl or Javascript) that allows data to be transferred along with the viewer as he or she moves from page to page selecting merchandise; reviewing what they have selected; making necessary modifications or additions; and purchasing the merchandise.
When visitors come to a Web site and are interested in purchasing a product or service, it is important to ensure that the shopping cart program works properly.
Typically, the architecture of a shopping cart includes:
- a database to store information such as product details, customer data, order information and etc.
- a storefront, which is what your customers will see. It displays information to store visitors (example are product detail pages, search pages, checkout pages and etc.)
- an administration area, which is what you will use to manage the store. For example, the administrator can add products, set up shipping & payment options, process orders at this area.
By the way, shopping cart uses Cookies.
Shopping carts can be sold as independent pieces of software so companies can integrate them into their own unique online solution, or they can be offered as a feature from a service that will create and host a company’s e-commerce site. For example, PayPal can be the simplest shopping cart, a payment gateway, and a merchant account that allows you to take credit cards.
