What’s the difference between “persistent” and “perpetual” shopping carts?
Persistent Shopping Carts
Persistent shopping carts save a customer’s cart contents across sessions through “persistent cookies.” A cookie is a small text file stored on a user’s computer. The cookie can be set to expire after a few minutes, a number of days or even years unless they are wiped out by the user’s browser or anti-spyware programs, or the user does not accept cookies.
For example, if the customer bookmarks a product on Monday by saving it to cart, and returns on Sunday to purchase, she doesn’t have to locate the product again. This is a nice customer service feature that can save sales. Some users, based on experiences with other sites, might assume your site uses persistent shopping carts, and upon returning to an empty cart, be too frustrated to even bother re-locating the products.
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Being in a wheelchair, I’m not able to shop in every retail store. Sometimes stores have a few steps outside the door, or have levels only accessible by stairs or escalator. Others have aisles too narrow for my chair, or shelves too high to reach. But I can access any e-store without a problem. It’s not that easy for visually impaired shoppers, illiterate and those who can see but do not have full hand function.
I came across a really eye-opening article in the February 2009 edition of Internet Retailer, (accessible online or as a reprint at Essential Accessibility) titled “Seeing the Light.”
The article describes the available technologies to bring online retail sites up to par for disabled users of all kinds. Visually impaired users can use screen readers like JAWS, Window-Eyes, BrowseAloud and IBM’s Easy Web Browsing. People with limited hand function can use “radar mouse” * that looks like a Doppler radar. When the sweeping line touches something a paralyzed person wants to view, he or she uses a finger or head-activated device to “click.” It can also help customers check out by activating an on-screen keyboard.
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Meghan Keane from eConsultancy reported recent findings from Webcredible’s “ecommerce persuasion poll.” Of 1300 online shoppers surveyed, the top reason shoppers purchase from one website over another is seller reputation (28%) followed by price (26%).
- Seller reputation – 28%
- Price – 26%
- Website look and feel – 16%
- Website ease of use – 15%
- Special offers – 4%
- Delivery factors – 3%
- Appearance in search listings – 2%
Retailers must realize persuasion and conversion is not all about pricing and landing page testing, but communicating trust.
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A common ecommerce mistake is choosing a software provider before working out your requirements thoroughly. This applies to any software – not just ecommerce platforms but CRM software, BI tools, ERP systems etc.
If you choose your delivery method before you have a clear understanding of what your site or system needs to do at launch and 3, 5, 10 years down the road (as best you can predict) you may find yourself boxed in to a solution that can’t do what you need it to, or facing a development timeline and cost that you didn’t bargain for.
Last August, Bernardine Wu from FitForCommerce presented a webinar The Art and Science of Choosing Ecommerce Technology and shared her tips for requirements gathering and prioritization:
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Cross-selling and upselling is a popular tactic among online retailers in hopes of increasing average order value, items per sale and improving customer service with relevant suggestions. Amazon shared that cross-sells were responsible for 35% of its sales in 2006! According to the e-tailing group’s 8th Annual Merchant Survey Report (of 190 ecommerce executives), 55% of retailers will include cross-selling and upselling in their merchandising activities this year.
But cross-selling and upselling is one of the most difficult activities to do well and effectively measure, as evidenced in the e-tailing group’s findings:
Cross-sell/Upsell in Shopping Cart, Conversion Rates:
- Less than 1% conversion – 8% of retailers
- 1%-4% conversion – 16% of retailers
- 5%-10% conversion – 9% of retailers
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