Best Shopping Cart Software Solutions in 2024

The global ecommerce market is expected to surge by nearly 8.8% in 2024, driven by both business owners and consumers increasingly embracing online commerce. If you’re exploring shopping cart software solutions, you already understand that online sales and omnichannel commerce are poised for further growth.

Choosing the right shopping cart software solution is essential to facilitate these transactions. However, with the many choices available, selecting the ideal software that supports online payments, enhances customer experience, and secures data transmission can be challenging.

We will discuss the various shopping cart software options and how to choose the best one for your business needs.

Source: Oberlo

What Is a Shopping Cart Software?

A shopping cart software is a tool that lets customers pick, hold, and organize products they intend to buy online. It mirrors the experience of using a physical shopping cart in a store, allowing shoppers to add products, adjust quantities, and see the total cost before they finalize their purchase. It’s a vital component for any ecommerce operation, facilitating a seamless and user-friendly shopping experience.

Website shopping carts come in various forms, including hosted, self-hosted, and licensed options. Each type offers its own pros and cons, influenced by budget, technical expertise, and specific business requirements. When selecting a website shopping cart, key considerations include pricing, features, design, security, integration capabilities, and customer support.

The Importance of Shopping Cart Software for E-Commerce

Ecommerce shopping cart software is pivotal for enhancing the functionality of online retail platforms. It simplifies critical aspects such as order management, payment processing, and customer support, providing a robust solution for businesses to efficiently conduct online sales. The software has a suite of features designed to optimize business operations, including diverse payment methods, customer reviews, and sophisticated order management systems.

Such software plays a crucial role in facilitating a seamless customer journey, from site entry through to purchase completion. It offers functionalities like wish lists or registries, which not only help customers bookmark items for later but also keep them engaged with the website. The ease of adding or removing items and navigating through a clear checkout process significantly enhances the customer experience, potentially boosting conversion rates.

The market presents various shopping cart solutions, some of which offer free trials, aiding businesses in choosing an option that best fits their needs.

Here are the key reasons why online business enterprises need shopping cart software:

• User-Friendly Shopping Experience

A well-crafted shopping cart offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for customers to browse, select products, and complete purchases. It simplifies the shopping process, minimizing obstacles and enhancing the ease of navigation through the online store.

• Product Management

Shopping cart software allows businesses to manage and showcase their products efficiently. Merchants can conveniently categorize items, adjust pricing, control inventory levels, and update product details as needed.

• Order Processing

Efficient order processing is vital in ecommerce. Shopping cart systems automate the management of orders, from collecting customer data to issuing order confirmations. This automation minimizes errors and improves the accuracy of orders.

• Secure Transactions

Online stores have become increasingly appealing to hackers, especially with the rise in online shopping. In 2022, approximately 365,138 Americans were defrauded of nearly $774 million through online shopping scams.

Given that the shopping cart is essential for handling sensitive customer information, ensuring its security is imperative.

• Payment Integration

Shopping cart software supports integration with a variety of payment gateways, allowing businesses to securely accept diverse payment methods. This includes credit cards, digital wallets, and other online payment options, giving customers multiple choices for payment.

• Shopping Cart Functionality

The primary role of a shopping cart is to hold products that customers intend to purchase until they are ready to proceed to checkout. This capability allows shoppers to review their choices, make necessary adjustments, and seamlessly complete their purchases.

• Inventory Management

Proper inventory management is essential to avoid overselling and ensure products are available when needed. Shopping cart systems often come equipped with tools that monitor inventory levels, alert merchants about low stock, and update product availability in real-time.

• Scalability

As businesses expand, their e-commerce requirements also change. Shopping cart software offers scalability, enabling businesses to increase their product offerings, serve more customers, and manage higher transaction volumes without degrading performance.

• Streamlined Checkout Process

A simplified and intuitive checkout process is crucial for lowering cart abandonment rates. Shopping cart software enhances the checkout experience, making it faster and easier for customers to finalize their purchases.

• Customer Data Management

Shopping cart software collects and organizes customer data, which provides insights into shopping habits and preferences. This data is invaluable for crafting personalized marketing campaigns, developing customer retention strategies, and enhancing the shopping experience.

Top 8 Shopping Software Solutions in 2024

Here are the leading shopping cart companies:

1. Wix:

Wix is a well-known website builder that enables users to design professional websites without needing coding skills. Users can select from a variety of customizable templates to suit their preferences. The platform features a drag-and-drop editor, making it easy to quickly incorporate text, images, and other elements into a website. Wix also offers an array of additional functionalities, including e-commerce capabilities, booking systems, and blogs.

The interface of Wix is designed for ease of use, streamlining the website construction process. This allows users to concentrate on content and design, freeing them from technical complexities. Wix also ensures that websites are both accessible and perform quickly by providing dependable hosting services. Wix has a comprehensive customer support team available to assist users with any queries related to website development or customization.

Why Choose Wix?

Wix’s shopping cart is renowned for its user-friendliness and ease of customization, catering specifically to non-technical users and making it a premier choice for online businesses. Setting up a Wix site is straightforward, with options to add products easily via code snippets from platforms like Shopify. The platform allows for simple customization of colors and other design elements through a user-friendly interface.

Wix enriches its offering with a variety of features such as multiple payment gateways, coupons, and efficient tax and shipping management. Furthermore, the robust infrastructure of Wix supports multi-cloud hosting, browser compatibility adjustments, and autoscale technology to prevent site downtimes. Additionally, Wix hosts an app marketplace featuring over 300 applications, enhancing the functionality and versatility of your online store.

Pricing: Wix provides a variety of annual eCommerce plans, starting at $27 per month for basic features and going up to $159 per month for advanced capabilities.

2. Ecwid

Ecwid stands out as a versatile e-commerce platform ideal for businesses that leverage multiple social media channels but lack an optimized website. It allows you to sell products directly on platforms like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok or extend your reach to online marketplaces like eBay and Amazon. Ecwid offers an extensive free plan and reasonably priced options for access to more sophisticated features.

Ecwid equips you with all the necessary tools to achieve ecommerce success, regardless of your chosen approach. Additionally, it supports integration with Point-Of-Sale systems for seamless transactions in your physical store. The platform also facilitates business growth through automated advertisements. It offers extensive integration options with over 100 payment gateways and shipping services, enhanced further by the diverse applications available in the Ecwid App Market.

The free tier of Ecwid is particularly noteworthy, supporting the sale of up to five products. It offers a straightforward solution for launching a small web store on an existing website. The platform’s Store Builder feature allows for rapid setup, complemented by straightforward payment processes and robust support for advertising across platforms like Google and Facebook.

Why Choose Ecwid?

Ecwid offers a range of features designed to help you easily create a visually appealing and functional online store without any coding experience. With Ecwid, you can showcase and sell products directly on your website, blog, or social media platforms. The platform is optimized for mobile browsing and checkout, ensuring a seamless shopping experience on any device. To boost sales, Ecwid allows you to feature individual products and incorporate “Buy Now” buttons on various web pages or blog posts, including those on your own site or affiliate websites.

Additionally, Ecwid supports various point-of-sale systems, making it convenient to accept payments. Further expanding your market reach, Ecwid enables you to sell products on major marketplaces like eBay, Walmart, and Amazon helping you connect with more customers globally.

Pricing: There are four available pricing tiers, including a Free Forever plan, a Venture plan at $21 per month, a Business plan at $39 per month, and an Unlimited plan at $89 per month.

3. Shopify

Shopify is a robust eCommerce platform equipped with a comprehensive website builder that includes all the necessary features for running an online business. Reviews highlight several software advantages, such as its secure payment processor, integrated marketing suite, detailed product information management, and versatile website builder. It enables businesses to tailor every central workflow to provide customers with an in-depth and improved experience.

Even with the extensive customization options for site design, setting up even a basic eCommerce website might require some time despite the user-friendly interface. Users have noted a scarcity of comprehensive training materials, although a vast community of users and many external online training videos provide significant support. The need to pay extra for advanced features, add-ons, and plugins is seen as a disadvantage, especially for new businesses with low sales volumes. Ultimately, Shopify is a highly customizable eCommerce platform that is best suited for medium- to large enterprises with the necessary technical skills.

Why Choose Shopify?

Shopify offers a range of features designed to support the growth and security of online businesses. It provides secure hosting, which includes an SSL certificate and a secured shopping cart to ensure safe online transactions. Additionally, while merchants have the freedom to choose any payment gateway, Shopify recommends using Stripe as the preferred option. The platform is known for its flexibility in features and functionalities that cater to the evolving needs of a company.

Furthermore, Shopify hosts an app marketplace with over 1,500 apps, each rigorously reviewed and tested to meet high standards. It also enables merchants to extend their sales reach by selling products on various social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Houze, Wanelo, and Pinterest.

Pricing: Three packages are offered: Basic Shopify at $39 per month and Advanced Shopify at $399 per month.

4. Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce is a robust platform designed to facilitate online shopping experiences tailored for both business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) sectors. It offers a comprehensive solution for displaying products, processing payments, and managing shipments, all within a single system.

Ideal for businesses aiming for expansion, Adobe Commerce supports multiple brands and sales channels, allowing the operation of various online stores and serving diverse customer groups from one centralized location. The platform also simplifies the expansion into new international markets and languages, broadening your business’s global reach.

A key advantage of Adobe Commerce is its seamless integration with other Adobe products, such as Adobe Analytics, Adobe Target, Experience Manager, and Creative Cloud. These integrations significantly enhance the customization of shopping experiences, enabling businesses to adapt their websites more closely to the needs and preferences of their customers. Adobe Commerce is designed to grow with your business. It can efficiently support businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises.

Why Choose Adobe Commerce?

Adobe Commerce offers a suite of features designed to streamline team workflows and enhance the shopping experience for customers, whether online or in-store. By utilizing a unified platform, businesses can efficiently manage all aspects of their e-commerce operations. The platform simplifies the shopping and reordering process for customers, ensuring a seamless transaction experience.

Additionally, Adobe Commerce provides comprehensive visibility and control over the customer journey, from consideration to purchase. For B2B sales, the platform allows easy management of client stakeholders and the setup of recurring orders, making it an essential tool for maintaining robust business relationships.

Pricing: Adobe Commerce uses a pricing model that varies with a company’s annual gross sales revenue. Annual costs range from $22,000 to $100,000, determined by the required features and sales volume.

5. WooCommerce

WooCommerce is a free, open-source plugin that transforms your WordPress website into a comprehensive online store tailored for digital products. While WooCommerce is known for its deep customization options through additional plugins and seamless integration with WordPress, setting it up and maintaining it does require some technical acumen. Users are also responsible for managing security updates.

Installation is straightforward—add the plugin via WordPress. You’ll easily set up basic features like product listings, shipping rates, and shopping categories. However, for full functionality, you’ll need to install extra add-ons, many of which are available directly from the WooCommerce website, although some are offered through third-party sites.

There’s a diverse range of add-ons, including popular payment processors like PayPal, Sagepay, and Stripe, and others that enhance functionality, such as inventory and stock control management. Integrations are also available for email marketing with Mailchimp and accounting with Xero.

While these add-ons typically come with a cost, they are generally affordable, often priced in the tens of dollars. Some require a one-time fee, whereas others may involve annual renewals for continued support and updates, but these fees are usually minimal.

Why Choose WooCommerce?

WooCommerce is a WordPress plugin that transforms WordPress sites into fully functional online stores, making it a powerful solution for businesses utilizing the WordPress platform. It offers seamless integration with WordPress, maintaining the inherent flexibility that WordPress is known for.

Additionally, WooCommerce supports a wide range of extensions, enhancing its functionality and allowing users to tailor their e-commerce sites to meet specific needs. This combination of seamless integration, open-source flexibility, and extensive extensibility makes WooCommerce a robust tool for e-commerce.

Pricing: The plugin is free so that you can install it yourself. However, depending on the WordPress host you choose, additional fees may be incurred for various extensions. If you opt for hosting on the official website, pricing begins at $3.95 per month for the Getting Started plan, $45 per month for the “Growing Stores” plan, and $499 per month for the “Enterprise Stores” plan.

6. Volusion

Volusion is a prominent e-commerce platform that assists numerous businesses in establishing prosperous online shops. It provides a wide array of tools and features for creating, managing, and promoting an online store. Its user-friendly interface allows anyone to swiftly develop a professional online store without needing any technical expertise.

A significant advantage of Volusion is its robust marketing features, which aid businesses in attracting more customers and boosting their sales. It includes built-in SEO capabilities to enhance your store’s visibility on search engines, and its integration with social media helps to expand your reach. Volusion also offers comprehensive analytics that provides insights into customer behavior, helping you to fine-tune your store for improved performance.

Additionally, Volusion provides a range of adaptable, responsive themes that help businesses design a visually appealing online store that aligns with their brand. These themes are designed to be mobile-friendly, quick to load, and conversion-optimized, ensuring that your store is attractive and efficient on all devices.

With dependable hosting, secure transaction processing, and exceptional customer support, Volusion stands out as an excellent option for businesses aiming to establish a high-performing online store. Its intuitive interface, potent marketing tools, and versatile themes make it a favored choice among businesses of various sizes.

Why Choose Volusion?

Volusion is a comprehensive ecommerce platform designed to simplify the process of establishing, managing, and growing an online store. The platform supports detailed inventory management with capabilities for monitoring product status, setting stock reorder levels, and verifying quantities. It also efficiently manages multiple warehouse locations, including product assignment and shipping rate calculations.

Additionally, Volusion offers customizable firewall settings to regulate traffic, ensuring enhanced security for store operations. The platform is equipped to integrate with third-party applications, facilitating seamless synchronization of data, customer information, and mailing lists. Furthermore, Volusion provides design services that enable users to craft a unique online store without needing to code, thanks to its flexible themes and robust site builder.

Pricing: The Personal plan is available at $35 per month, the Professional plan at $79 per month, and the Business plan at $299 per month. Additionally, there is a customizable Prime plan priced according to your online sales volume.

7. Selldone

Selldone is a cutting-edge e-commerce platform that simplifies the process of managing online stores for businesses. Located in a dynamic tech center, Selldone has rapidly gained recognition for its innovative approach to e-commerce. It is powered by a dedicated team of experts committed to streamlining the online selling experience.

A standout feature of Selldone is its “no-plugin” system. This is a departure from other platforms that require the addition of multiple plugins. Selldone offers a comprehensive suite of features from the outset. This integration means business owners can launch and operate their online stores without the complexity of multiple plugins. The platform includes sophisticated tools for inventory management, seamless payment processing, and detailed analytics to track sales performance.

Selldone is built with ease of use in mind, enabling anyone, regardless of technical ability, to establish a professional online store. This makes it an ideal choice for small businesses or startups lacking extensive tech expertise but eager to efficiently and effectively sell their products online.

Why Choose Selldone?

Selldone offers a comprehensive suite of features that enable users to manage various orders efficiently. With capabilities similar to those of Selldone, Selldone allows for monitoring the delivery status of goods and managing payment flows, ensuring that businesses can operate professionally online.

Additionally, Selldone includes tools akin to Selldone Store Builder, which assist users in creating user-friendly online stores, enhancing the overall e-commerce experience.

Pricing: Selldone offers four pricing tiers, starting with a free version, followed by the Startup Plan at $9.99, the Company Plan at $69, and the Enterprise Plan at $299. Additionally, Selldone provides a free trial option.

8. PrestaShop

PrestaShop is a cost-free shopping cart eCommerce platform that enables the creation of an online store. With over 200,000 stores powered by it, PrestaShop stands as a top eCommerce solution! With more than 300 features, PrestaShop equips you with all the essentials needed to start selling online immediately. Simply by entering your email address, you can have your own store operational online in just a few minutes at no expense.

PrestaShop is particularly advantageous for small to medium-sized enterprises, as well as startups. One of its standout features is its cost-free nature. But the benefits extend beyond the no-cost appeal. As an open-source eCommerce solution, it is continually refined by a community of developers, ensuring it remains effective and up-to-date.

The platform is user-friendly, making it accessible to users with varying levels of tech savvy. Setting up an online store is straightforward, and with customizable components, businesses can infuse their unique brand identity into their store. PrestaShop also supports enhancements through various add-on modules, catering to users of all experience levels with similar software. It provides detailed training materials to help users fully utilize their online store. The platform includes comprehensive features for managing payments, product listings, shipping, production, and supply chains.

Furthermore, PrestaShop seamlessly integrates with numerous business process solutions, services, and applications. Available both as a downloadable program and a cloud-hosted option, it allows quick, customizable store setup without the usual licensing fees or revenue sharing imposed by other platforms.

Why Choose PrestaShop?

PrestaShop offers several features that enhance an eCommerce website’s search engine optimization (SEO). It simplifies the development of SEO-friendly URLs, allowing users to modify title tags and other SEO-relevant attributes effortlessly.

This capability ensures that an online store remains relevant and appealing to its target audience, which is crucial for the success of any eCommerce business.

Pricing: PrestaShop is a free, open-source eCommerce platform in two versions: a cloud-based system and a downloadable application that users must install and configure themselves. For additional details about this eCommerce platform, including its features and capabilities, visit the official PrestaShop website.

Choosing Between Open-Source vs. SaaS Shopping Cart Software Solutions

Open-source and SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) represent two main categories of eCommerce software, distinguished by their distribution methods and management.

Open-source software grants developers access to its source code, allowing them to modify and enhance it. This type of software is typically free and supported by a community that regularly provides add-ons and bug fixes. Unlike SaaS, open-source does not offer centralized customer support, and users are responsible for applying updates themselves.

On the other hand, SaaS solutions integrate shopping cart functionality with web hosting. These platforms enable you to manage your online store directly through a web browser. SaaS providers handle all updates and maintenance, eliminating the need for you to install software manually. However, it is essential to note that SaaS solutions can be costly.

Tips to Choose the Best Shopping Cart Software

Consider the following questions when choosing ecommerce shopping cart software:

• What platform does your website use? Certain shopping cart solutions are only compatible with specific platforms, such as WooCommerce, which is exclusive to WordPress.
• What features do you need? Are you looking for functionalities such as tax calculation, an integrated order management system, and compatibility with payment gateways like PayPal or Stripe? Do you also need support for SEO in your product descriptions?
• What are your budgetary constraints? How much are you prepared to invest in ecommerce shopping cart software? Are you looking for a solution with a monthly subscription, one-time payment options, or free software?
• Do you need scalability? Will the software accommodate the growth of your online store and adapt to evolving needs?

Conclusion

Selecting the right shopping cart software is a pivotal step for any business aiming to thrive in the competitive e-commerce landscape of 2024. As online commerce continues to expand, the ability to manage transactions efficiently, ensure secure payments, and provide a seamless customer experience is more critical than ever.

Evaluating factors such as platform compatibility, necessary features, budget constraints, and scalability will guide you to the most suitable solution. With options ranging from hosted platforms like Shopify to open-source solutions like WooCommerce, businesses can find a shopping cart system that enhances their operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, paving the way for sustained growth in the digital marketplace.

Frequently Asked Questions