The milieu in the retail industry is fast changing with more number of retailers are adopting online vertical as a new marketing channel to promote themselves. The immediate benefit of opting for this channel is that it generates good results in terms of sales, online traffic on the browsers & ranking and ROI.

Features that are once considered optional by hosting and website builders are now treated as compulsory ones. There are many eCommerce solution providers that are offering web store solutions. However, deciding on appropriate eCommerce shopping cart solution is always a cumbersome task.

Retailers can keep the following points in their mind while selecting the online shopping cart applications.

• Easy integration: The online shopping cart applications should be such that it seamlessly integrates with the new or existing web site. The setup wizard should be self-explanatory so that retailers are able to comprehend the store activation process. A fully functional online shopping cart must have features such as multiple shipping and payment options and option for managing taxes. Integration of a credit card merchant gateway is also very important for the customer shopping experience. Choose a credit card processor with easy integration to shopping carts. Some popular credit card merchant services include: website, website, and website. The architecture of the online shopping cart application should be such that any additional technology platforms can be integrated smoothly.
• Mobile compatibility: Retailers should make their eCommerce stores mobile compatible. This is more evident with the fact that a recent study done internet analytics company, comScore, states that 51% of the online customers search through mobile devices. To in cash this opportunity, web store designers should ensure that the online shopping cart is designed on responsive design technology. This helps in automatically resizing the web page content so that it is accessible through mobile devices.
• Multiple synchronized marketing channels: The shopping cart application must provide integration services with multiple channels such as integration with point of sale systems, online marketplaces and price comparison engines. This feature helps in garnering extra online customers who visits them. A smooth integration allows online retailers to manage two different platforms simultaneously without a repeated data entry.
• Avoiding slow response time: Since the web stores are daily visited by thousands of online customers, it is always susceptible to using excessive bandwidth consumption and other IT resources. This results in slow response time of eCommerce stores. This ultimately results in abandonment of shopping cart and finally reduces online sales. The best solution to this problem is to choose cloud based shopping cart provider so that no extra resources are utilized.

These are a few criteria that online retailers should consider while selecting and partnering for an online shopping cart solution.