Shopping carts nowadays provide a lot of really good features that make running an online store easier especially if you are managing it alone. Some of these features are quite helpful but there are also some that just make things complicated for the users.

The features or tools that mostly benefit an online business are those that have to do with the store set up, customer relationship management (CRM) system and store statistics. These features are essential in running your store smoothly and when maximized, will likely be a great help in making your business achieve real success.

Store Setup
Most of the shopping cart providers nowadays really see to it that it would be very easy and convenient for merchants to set up their shops with the help of the features they provided. So, though the merchant is not yet so adept when it comes to the different computer programs and software, he can still run and manage his online store because of the availability of the free templates that he can choose from, the option for him to change the concept and look of his store in just a matter of few clicks and the ability of the software to upload product details and images in bulk.

With the help of the bulk upload feature, the merchant is able to upload hundreds of products or items in a matter of minutes. This feature is definitely a gem for any online store.

As you can see, it is an obvious time saver which is beneficial for merchants who have hundreds of products in line to be uploaded or to those merchants with high product Brand Viagra turnover. So, this feature is not only helpful to those newbie entrepreneurs out there but to the pros as well.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System
This is another good shopping cart tool which can definitely help store owners close more sales without having to spend much on marketing. CRM, together with an Email Management System (EMS), is a potent marketing tool that can be found in your shopping cart software. Automated emails would be sent to customers who have canceled their orders and to those who have visited a particular product page a lot of times but have yet to place an order.

In terms of aborted orders, studies have shown that with a little bit of prompting within 24 hours, around 30% of aborted orders can be converted into sales.

Social networking and micro blogging sites are not only useful to keep in touch with existing customers but also to promote products and offers to new ones. With social networking sites like Facebook having around 400 million users and Twitter projecting around 1 billion followers by 2013, it’s not questionable why shopping carts have social bookmarking widgets installed.

Well, who wants to miss the free marketing opportunities these sites can provide? No one right?

Store Statistics
Store statistics are an important factor in identifying the things that you have to improve with regards to your online store. Popular external tools such as Google Analytics can provide a whole lot of information to merchants on where their traffic is coming from what keywords are being used by customers in finding their stores.

Internal store statistics give merchants some information about what their best sellers are and what time most people shop at their stores. All this information will absolutely help merchants plan on their next move and identify the marketing campaigns they will engage into so they get the most gains from their efforts.

These are just few of the very helpful features that are provided by most shopping carts out there. If their functions are used properly and maximized, they will surely help you in making your business soar great heights.

Author Bio: Marc Trimble is a web developer and CEO of West7th Design and Development (www.west7th.net). With over 18 years of internet experience, Marc Trimble helps small business and non profits succeed online using Shopping Carts Software and other web 3.0 technologies.

Category: Business/E-Commerce
Keywords: shopping cart software, shopping carts, hosted shopping carts, hosted shopping cart, e commerce cart