Internet Marketing -- Is a Shopping Cart Necessary?
Technically no, a shopping cart is not necessary if you’re willing to handle each order individually because your regular forms on your web site, generally do not calculate shipping or tax and they don't take credit cards automatically. The system that I have installed allows you to put your credit card number in and buy the product. It will go to Cyber Cash and in about fifteen seconds, you’ll have an authorization. It will email a confirmation to whomever I want to ship the product without me touching a thing. This is great for me when I’m on the road, because I don’t have to be here to be making money.
I had been taking orders for a couple of years without the use of a shopping cart. People would just email their order to me or the orders came in from a form found on my web site. I do think that it hurt my sales a little bit by not having a shopping cart, but not too much, because I also gave them an 800 number, a fax number, and snail mail.
Previously I had to type the credit card number into the system. I rather enjoyed getting little George Jetson fingers typing credit card numbers into the system. If I was on the road, things were delayed; I had to depend on an intern to do it right. The shopping cart will save you many of t hose hassles.
People are getting more and more savvy about shopping on the Internet, and they want it NOW. They don’t want to wait for you to answer your phone, pick up your faxes, or send out a form via snail mail. I'm pretty sure you will not only lose some customers but scare off many customers if you do not have a shopping cart with secure shopping available.
I NOW have a shopping cart. My shopping system and associate program have been working beautifully for many months. Money goes directly into my bank account and the customer downloads a product or I get an email telling me what they bought.
My store is called the Speaker Shop http://www.antion.com/speakershop.htm where people can register and pay for seminars. I sell books, tapes, CDs, and downloadable products all designed to help speakers. Part of my strategy, of being a professional speaker, is to create and sell products that are good for clients, and great for my income. You can do this too!