Shopping Carts
First, do you already have a Web site that you are happy with? Do you have a small number of items that you are selling? If so, you can consider adding a shopping cart application. A shopping cart enables your existing Web site to take orders, and sends those orders to another application for processing. Usually, you will have to add HTML code to your Web site after every product description. (This is often referred to as "bolt-on" software.) The code will create buttons and boxes that will allow your customers to select colors, sizes and quantities, place an order, and check out.

Shopping cart software can either be licensed outright, or rented by the month as a hosted application from an application service provider (ASP). When it is licensed, you pay a one-time fee, and will either receive a CD-ROM containing the software or be able to download the software from the Internet. You will then be responsible for providing a Web host, installing it on a Web server, and maintaining the software. Updates to your products will be made on your own "local" computer, and then uploaded to your Web server. When shopping cart software is rented by the month, it is installed, hosted, and maintained by the ASP on their Web server. You will pay a monthly fee to use the software. To update product information, you simply log-on to their service and save your changes.

e-Commerce ‘’Solutions’’
If you don't already have a Web site, consider using a complete e-commerce, or storefront, solution. Most will allow you to choose a design template and will then create product and category pages that already include shopping cart functions. The software generally includes a database so that adding products and updating product information requires no knowledge of HTML. Again, you can either license the software outright, or rent it by the month from an ASP.

e-Commerce solutions vary greatly in price and complexity. Most offer the standard functions found in all Web stores, but be sure a solution meets your needs before you commit to it.

- Article by Wale Bello