The hosted shopping cart is a great solution for a small business that does not have the resources to create or customize a fully integrated shopping cart. Hosted shopping carts provide an administrative interface for you to enter products, pricing, and shipping options. They will generate the html for the purchase buttons, which can be copied and pasted into your html pages.

Hosted shopping carts face some problems because your customers will sometimes be transferred to a different website to enter the credit card information, depending on the service you choose to go with. Some hosted shopping carts providers allow you to customize the shopping cart so that it has the same look and feel as your websites. They may also provide several pre-designed templates to choose from.

Hosted shopping carts allow you to use your own merchant account and gateway, which means the customer's credit card statement will show your business name next to the charge. This can decrease your chance for charge-backs.

Fully Integrated Shopping Carts

The fully integrated shopping cart is a great option for any business that can afford it. An integrated shopping cart should be dynamic and can have the same look and feel as your website. Fully integrated shopping carts contain features that are not found in hosted shopping carts. Integrated shopping carts make it easier to discount items, assign products to multiple categories, display customer reviews, display out of stock notifications, sort products and prices, and display shipping estimates without requiring the customer to create an account.

Although there are a lot of benefits to having an integrated shopping cart, there are some drawbacks. For example, integrated carts require advanced programming skills. They can also cost more in the end. However, there are many companies that specialize in customizing fully integrated shopping carts which can eliminate much of the work.

Your choice of a shopping cart can have a dramatic impact on your business. Your website is the first and only impression you get to make so you'll want to make it as professional as possible. Review your competitor's websites as well as those outside your industry. While shopping for a shopping cart system, put yourself in your target customer's shoes and browse the Internet. Keep a list of shopping carts that you find appealing and apply what you learn to your own decision.