Comparing and Contrasting Storefront Design for Your Shopping Cart Review

Finding live examples of the software in action can be a great way to get started conducting your personal shopping cart reviews. The prepackaged software that ecommerce companies provide can do a lot. Many offer a broad range of templates and formatting options, but not every business will make the best use of them.

Surveying a selection of existing sites with strong design and implementation can help you figure out which ecommerce solutions have what you're looking for (or at least the potential to make it happen) and which won't be able to satisfy your needs.

You definitely want to look for some sites that deal with your target market, but also check out other sites that are just well-designed. This will allow you to possibly contact the operators later and ask them how they got the site to look and perform the way that they did (a direct competitor in your own field may be hesitant to do that).

Go to the Provider

Ecommerce software providers who are proud of their product and their clientele will frequently have a gallery of images and links to their "spotlight" clients. This allows prospective clients (in this case - you!) to easily access great examples of their software in action. This saves you a lot of legwork while compiling information for your shopping cart reviews.

Not every ecommerce solution company will have a gallery list, but three ecommerce solutions reviewed here on Zippycart that provide a list like this are:

1. CoreCommerce
2. 3dcart
3. Pinnacle Cart

Start by looking at sites in your market, or just ones that sound interesting. Some companies have the sites arranged neatly by market, others just throw them all into a list (this can be an indication of how much attention each detail of the site gets from the company, just to keep that in mind).

For example, Core Commerce just displays a list of client sites. Choose one from the list, and the frame below will fill up with the site. This can be a quick way to look at a lot of sites, but if you want a firsthand view so that you can really get in-depth information for your shopping cart reviews, try to find the site organically.

3dcart features a stylish graphical display with a slider bar that shifts the view to different sites in the 3dcart family. Pinnacle Cart features an uncategorized collection of ecommerce stores, but is the only company that actually redirects you to its clients' live sites so that you can experience them firsthand.

Search for the name of the store in question and see if you can find it through Google. Then go to the page through the Google link and make sure that it matches the image you saw on the provider's website.

Oftentimes there will be a note on the bottom of most (if not every) pages to let you know who the ecommerce software provider is. "Powered by Core Commerce" or "Ecommerce solution by 3dcart" are common ways to phrase it. If there is no attribution line at the bottom, check the source code.

Going to the Source for Your Shopping Cart Review

Inspecting the page source code (just right-click and select "View Page Source") can be a quick and dirty way of differentiating what part of the site is run by the shopping cart software and what parts may not be using it. Very often, large ecommerce outfits will hire design houses, an in-house designer, or even just a freelancer to manage their web design and make sure that it looks good.

Design professionals like these can craft a great-looking site and then tack on a shopping cart solution on the very end. This can make it very difficult for you to differentiate what is the actual shopping cart software and what is the designer's original work while you are doing your shopping cart review.

Sometimes the designer uses the basic tools offered by the ecommerce software to make it look a certain way. Other times, he or she supplements the software with a bit of their own code. The last sub-set of sites primarily use a non-shopping-cart site setup and change over to the shopping cart solution only during the sales/checkout portion of the transaction. These are the ones to watch out for. Don't be fooled by a pretty site that is built on something other than the shopping cart software you are trying to review.

As you click through the various sections of the website, take a moment to check the page source and see if it is powered through the ecommerce software itself or an outside site. If you intend to rely heavily on the functionality of the shopping cart software, then only use sites that are powered by the software you are targeting while you collect information for your shopping cart reviews. Sites with lots of outside programming can be useful for ideas, but not if you want to stick primarily with a specific software solution instead of using outside tricks.

Reviewing in Reverse

Another good tactic that we have recommended before here at Zippycart.com has been to find sites that you like, respect, and that function well, and then check out which ecommerce software company powers their site and store. Check for the attribution line or look in the source code to figure out what company they use, then head back to the ecommerce software provider's site for valuable information for your shopping cart reviews, such as monthly rate, bandwidth, etc.

Reaching Out for Your Shopping Cart Review

Once you've identified a few likely ecommerce software companies, you might consider reaching out to the owners of the businesses that led you there, to ask about their experiences working with the software provider.

Did they rely on a designer? How is their customer service? What subscription level are they using? A good question to ask is also "What is one thing you wish that you would have known before you signed up with this company."

Of course, there's no reason why anyone should give you this information. You just have to hope for a little helping hand from one small business owner to another. Remember to write a nice follow up e-mail for any advice you receive during your shopping cart reviews. You might consider starting a business relationship with any of the friendlier entrepreneurs that you encounter along the way, blog rolls, a friendly link somewhere on your site, all these things can go a long way towards building a network down the road.

The Power of the Visual

Human beings are extremely visual creatures. Sometimes just seeing a site in action can do a lot more towards helping you make a choice than reading an article full of technical details and pricing information (though that stuff is important for making a solid, long-term decision). Comparing and contrasting sites can help you save a lot of time and really thin out your choices when doing shopping cart reviews.

Don't be afraid to go with your gut when you're first starting out. There are a lot of ecommerce solutions out there and it can be daunting to try to analyze them all, but just try clicking through a bunch of sites, that can make the whole thing seem much more enjoyable.