Internet Marketing -- What is a Shopping Cart?
The "shopping cart" is actually a piece of software. The metaphor is, of course is, . . . you guessed it . . . shopping. Your visitor “pushes” the cart through your "cyber store." When they see something they want to buy, they put in their cart (click on it). Then when they are ready to order and pay, they "check out" of the store. This is where the shopping cart totals up their purchases and adds the tax and shipping for you.
At any time along the way they can take an item out of their cart. It's just like at a real store when you see a toaster in the men's clothing section. . . . Someone decided they didn't want it and just left it wherever they happened to be in the store. Well, in cyberspace you don't have to feel bad about throwing something out of your cart. At this point you’re only moving electrons around.
The buyer then fills in their name, address, phone and shipping info along with their credit card and expiration date. Most carts still give them a chance to make changes or back out of the deal altogether. Once they hit the final submit button, all the mechanisms kick into gear to send that money hurtling toward your checking account . . . minus the credit card company percentage, of course.
The credit card number is encrypted as it flies through cyberspace so no bad boys and girls can intercept it along the way. This is a process called PGP . . . or Pretty Good Privacy. Hahaha, that term always cracks me up. I think I'd rather have Darn Good Privacy, or Invincible Privacy, but PGP is all we have at our level and it has shown to be Darn Good Enough.