A Website Without a Shop?

Updated on November 27, 2013
K.R. asks from Menlo Park, CA
5 answers

Hi Mamas,
I could really use your advice/shopping savvy with a business related question. Since most of you are probably in my company's target market, your opinion is helpful.
As it is, right now we have a website and a shop where customers can buy our product online. But, we don't get many orders from it, and it's a pain to maintain. Sometimes the cart has real issues.
So, the question is--what do you think about websites without shopping carts? Do they annoy you? Do you care? Is it a big deal to you? Would it make you not buy from them?
What if there were links to online stores where they are available, like Amazon and other boutiques?
Oh--and the shopping cart/payments are secure. We use a very secure processor. There are just currently bugs in the cart itself, like telling you there's nothing in your cart when there is etc.

Thanks!

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So What Happened?

Thanks for your opinions. I'd never even considered that security is a reason some people don't buy from small shops. Though, we do have lots of security features in place, I guess we could do a better job of letting customers know. And, it looks like we'll just get a new shopping cart that works better.
I appreciate your help!

More Answers

Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

A.L.

answers from Seattle on

I probably buy 90% of purchases that aren't groceries online: toys, shoes, clothes, home improvement stuff.... you name it.
But I think long and hard before buying anything from a small website - there are just too many scammers out there. I would much prefer buying things through a secure website like Amazon.
If your shopping cart does not working correctly, your site is cumbersome to use or if it doesn't look professional I probably would not order anything.

So no, it would not turn me off from buying your products at all.

4 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

J.C.

answers from Anchorage on

If I can get it on Amazon I usually will over ordering direct from the shops page anyways. I like that I know I can trust them with my information because I have used them many times.

3 moms found this helpful

C.O.

answers from Washington DC on

sounds like you need to use a different platform for your cart...is it web based or what?

I prefer a "shopping cart" so I can review my order before I place it. Even ebay has a shopping cart so we can continue shopping.

I will not use a website that does not have secure payment processor. Paypal is a name I know and trust. I've been using it for almost 14 years.

If your website is not getting a lot of hits - you may not have the key words set up in a search engine.

If there are links to other stores - why would I buy from yours? That seems to negate the purpose of having a store and selling things.

2 moms found this helpful
Smallavatar-fefd015f3e6a23a79637b7ec8e9ddaa6

L.M.

answers from New York on

I'm not a big online shopper. I do use various websites to research products before purchasing. To answer a question, a "cart" isn't important to me. If I did want to purchase from that website, I would want a convenient way to do so, therefore, a link to another online store would be fine.

2 moms found this helpful

K.A.

answers from San Diego on

We shop online all the time. We would never buy from a site that doesn't have some sort of protection through a company like Paypal, Amazon or Google. Something guaranteed secure with protections if something goes wrong.
Working through paypal as a small business to deal with your transactions isn't that difficult and is worth it to give your customers peace of mind. Their system keeps track of inventory for you. You input I have 100 when you put them up for sale and paypal tracks how many you have sold.
If the company you are using is giving you problems, look for another one. I wouldn't sell without a secure cart or you are bound to loose business.

2 moms found this helpful
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