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Imagine you are opening an online store. You have done research and come to know that shopping cart solutions play an important role. Just like in any physical shops, the shopping cart accompanies a visitor to your website the moment he enters till he checks out. And it does much more than the physical shopping carts. The software makes the really good ecommerce shopping cart do additional jobs. That is why choosing the cart is crucial.

So you now have a list of features that your shopping cart software must possess. Now you need to go over this list from the customer's point of view. Will these features be available to your customer? How will they enhance the shopping experience? Will they encourage the customer to return and buy new products? Make sure the answers to these questions are yes before you install the software.

You should allow current customers at your Internet store to see histories of their previous purchases. This makes it much easier for customers to remember purchases that they had intended to make on earlier visits. It also makes it much simpler for patrons to choose purchases on their current visit.

Is your shopping cart giving an option to display the customer's wish list? He might have prepared a list of products he dreams of buying, which if displayed during his subsequent visits may help him make up his mind. The cart can also display the products he showed interest in but did not put them into the cart during earlier visits. Last but not least, when he checks out does it display a 'Thank You' note?

We all love bargains. It is in the human nature to get more for less. If you happen to have a discount sales on products the customer had bought before, he would certainly like to know about your special offers and your sales will also increase. For these additional services, you just have to visualize yourself as the seller in a 'brick-and-mortar' store, attending to a regular client. Would you not point out to him about discounts or new models available now of products he usually buyed?

You should also keep in touch with your customers outside of your website and a good shopping cart software does precisely that. A confirmatory email of his transaction details should be sent for information and for customer's record purposes. Additionally, you may wish to send e-newsletters announcing new products, festival or clearance sale, special or combo offers.

One more feature to consider, especially if you sell niche products, is to join hands with other businesses that are complimentary to your line of trade. For example, if you are selling paper flowers online, you can contact vendors of flower vases, ornamental tables or even origami sites and arrange to mutually display each other's carts on the websites. While deciding on the shopping cart software, therefore, it is advisable to consider the customer service as well.