Shopping|Makes Shopping Fun
Recommended: Gas4Free
Jun
29
Filed Under (Ecommerce) by shopping
Justin Pinkus asked:
The virtual market has arrived and with the growing number of online stores, it seems like the trend is here to stay. Unlike real time stores, one does not need to invest heavily in virtual stores, and so even small business owners find the deal lucrative. Virtual stores are easy to create and manage, which has added immensely to their popularity. Depending upon the investment that a business owner would like to make, both in terms of time and money, one can create a virtual store for the business.
The convenience that these virtual stores offer to the online shopper cannot be matched by real time stores. The ease of begin able to compare several different manufacturers of a product and then purchase it online, along with having it delivered to your door step is indeed magnetic. While initially buyers were skeptical of products that they saw online and not in reality, over the years, online dealers have established a gold reputation for themselves, which has added to an increase in online shoppers. Most online stores offer money back guarantees, much like real time stores, which takes away the fear of being cheated from the prospects mind. Almost all commercial ventures today understand the growing importance of E commerce, and virtual stores are the gateway of commercial activities on the internet.
Though having concluded that virtual stores are convenient to both the seller and the buyer, it is a know fact that simply setting up a virtual store is not the answer to increasing online sales. In fact, despite adopting extremely sophisticated advertising and quality products, it is a fact that for every online transaction that is completed, almost four times as many are deserted. Apparently putting up several payment gateways and adopting highly developed shopping cart software does not seem to seal the deal either. These techniques work at only drawing the prospects attention and moving towards a possible sale. However, despite these efforts, it has been estimated that on an average 75% of shopping carts are abandoned before the deal can be closed. It is no wonder then that abandoned shopping carts are considered the biggest ‘bane of ecommerce’.
An abandoned shopping cart is an incomplete transaction, which the prospect deserts before the final deal is sealed. Since the ultimate goal of all E commerce activity is sales, of course a conversion left half way is extremely damaging to the business. Businesses that operate online spend huge sums of money to setup a commercially viable virtual stores and are then aghast at the large number of abandoned shopping carts. Therefore, one can safely conclude that as important as setting up a virtual store, is decreasing abandoned shopping carts so that the sales maybe increased.
The solution comes in a two phase package. First is, understanding the reason why the percentage of abandoned shopping carts is so high, and the second phase is ensuring that these hurdles and problems are done away with.
Reasons for shopping cart abandonment:-
1) Shipping cost – Over 72% of prospects who leave the deal half way through, do so due to the high shipping cost that the site charges. The advantage of shopping in the convenience of ones home is definitely attractive to the customer, but is marred by high cost of delivery. Also since shipping charges are as a rule not refundable, prospects are deterred from closing the deal.
2) Competition comparisons – One of the major attractions of online shopping is begin able to easily compare several manufacturers of similar products, so as to choose the most feasible deal. It has been observed that 61% prospects move on to greener pastures and abandon their shopping carts midway, when they find that the competition has more to offer.
3) Second thoughts- While initially taken in by the product and its cost, at the time of final payment, 51% of online shoppers abandon the shopping cart due to second thoughts. Wanting to think over the deal a little more, these prospects are likely to simply abandon the shopping cart and maybe come back later for the purchase. It is also a fact that 96% of browsers never return to a site even if they did buy something from that site.
4) Decide otherwise- While second thoughts do leave some room for a comeback, there are 56% prospects that choose items but give up the idea of buying them completely while going through the process of the ultimate purchase. They may decide that the item is not required or not as attractive that they had thought before.
5) Collective cost of products – While shopping, prospects tend to pick up several products and dump them in their shopping carts. On finally viewing the total cost of these products, 43% find them too high and therefore completely abandon the shopping cart that they had selected rather than go through the items again.
6) Length of check out process- 41% buyers abandon shopping carts because they find that the time required for the final check out is too lengthy. Irritated by the time that the check out process is taking, these buyers despite being committed to the deal simply abandon the shopping cart and move on.
7) Personal information for check out process- There are several website that seem to go on and on asking the prospect to give their personal information for the final deal to go through. Irritated by this, 35 % buyers tend to leave the cart and move away from the final transaction.
Registration process- There are several sites who have a pre requisite to register before the final buying process can be undertaken. 34% buyers decide that they would rather abandon the shopping cart than register for the site.
9) Complicated check out process- Confused by complicated check out process 27% buyers decide to give up buying the product(s) online rather than try and figure out how the system works.
10) Reliability of the site- Cautious about the site’s authenticity and reliability, 31% buyers decide to not go through with the deal despite having started it. The fear of begin cheated online is much more than being cheated in the real world, since it is much easier to disappear in the virtual world.
Having nailed most of the reasons for abandoned shopping carts, the next phase involves finding solutions for these problems.
Solutions for shopping cart abandonment:-
1) Quick downloads- It is crucial for the sale to meet its final transaction that the web page does not take too long to download. On an average the shopper will not give your site more than 10 seconds to download. It is therefore important that the web page is not filled with images and that the graphics if any, are compressed for easy downloads.
2) Easy navigation – If the buyer wanted to solve a jig saw puzzle, a games site is what he/she would be visiting. Keep navigation and links of the website clear and simple. Golden rules like a right hand index, links to the buy tab and home page on all sub pages and pastels backgrounds should never be overlooked. Over decades people have come to expect certain tabs at certain spots on a website and not finding them there, tends to make the prospect move on.
3) Short sale routine – There are many sites that go on forcing a sales pitch on the prospect despite the customer already begin sold to the idea. Allow the client to buy the product as soon as he/she is convinced. Close the deal quickly, so as to not allow time to the prospect to rethink. For this it is important that the journey between the sales pitch and the payment gateway be as short as possible.
4) Lay down facts – Do not allow grey area to creep into your sales pitch. State the facts about the product in clear black and white terms. The price, the shipping cost, the availability and other such facts must be laid down in simple and clear terms to the prospect, so that it does not come as a shock later.
5) Offer attractions – If you find that the customer is leaving the site without purchasing what was placed in the shopping cart, step in with an attractive offer, which may be introduced via a pop up window. This works very well in cases where the prospect is half sold to the idea and just needs a bit more cajoling to undertake the final transaction.
6) Avoid distractions – Do not place banner ads or other similar distractions on your shopping cart. While the prospect is having a look at the product(s) you do not want to distract him/her. It is therefore very important that you do not fall into the trap of allowing other sites to take your prospect away by letting a small blinking advertisement break the shopper’s concentration.
While there are several other tips that help increase conversion rates for commercial websites, the basic essence of each trick is to add to the shopping experience of the customer. It is imperative that problems and solutions both be figured out from the client’s point of view. Be it a real time store or a virtual one, the customer is the final and most crucial link of the sales process and therefore must be kept happy at all given times.
CARROL
The virtual market has arrived and with the growing number of online stores, it seems like the trend is here to stay. Unlike real time stores, one does not need to invest heavily in virtual stores, and so even small business owners find the deal lucrative. Virtual stores are easy to create and manage, which has added immensely to their popularity. Depending upon the investment that a business owner would like to make, both in terms of time and money, one can create a virtual store for the business.
The convenience that these virtual stores offer to the online shopper cannot be matched by real time stores. The ease of begin able to compare several different manufacturers of a product and then purchase it online, along with having it delivered to your door step is indeed magnetic. While initially buyers were skeptical of products that they saw online and not in reality, over the years, online dealers have established a gold reputation for themselves, which has added to an increase in online shoppers. Most online stores offer money back guarantees, much like real time stores, which takes away the fear of being cheated from the prospects mind. Almost all commercial ventures today understand the growing importance of E commerce, and virtual stores are the gateway of commercial activities on the internet.
Though having concluded that virtual stores are convenient to both the seller and the buyer, it is a know fact that simply setting up a virtual store is not the answer to increasing online sales. In fact, despite adopting extremely sophisticated advertising and quality products, it is a fact that for every online transaction that is completed, almost four times as many are deserted. Apparently putting up several payment gateways and adopting highly developed shopping cart software does not seem to seal the deal either. These techniques work at only drawing the prospects attention and moving towards a possible sale. However, despite these efforts, it has been estimated that on an average 75% of shopping carts are abandoned before the deal can be closed. It is no wonder then that abandoned shopping carts are considered the biggest ‘bane of ecommerce’.
An abandoned shopping cart is an incomplete transaction, which the prospect deserts before the final deal is sealed. Since the ultimate goal of all E commerce activity is sales, of course a conversion left half way is extremely damaging to the business. Businesses that operate online spend huge sums of money to setup a commercially viable virtual stores and are then aghast at the large number of abandoned shopping carts. Therefore, one can safely conclude that as important as setting up a virtual store, is decreasing abandoned shopping carts so that the sales maybe increased.
The solution comes in a two phase package. First is, understanding the reason why the percentage of abandoned shopping carts is so high, and the second phase is ensuring that these hurdles and problems are done away with.
Reasons for shopping cart abandonment:-
1) Shipping cost – Over 72% of prospects who leave the deal half way through, do so due to the high shipping cost that the site charges. The advantage of shopping in the convenience of ones home is definitely attractive to the customer, but is marred by high cost of delivery. Also since shipping charges are as a rule not refundable, prospects are deterred from closing the deal.
2) Competition comparisons – One of the major attractions of online shopping is begin able to easily compare several manufacturers of similar products, so as to choose the most feasible deal. It has been observed that 61% prospects move on to greener pastures and abandon their shopping carts midway, when they find that the competition has more to offer.
3) Second thoughts- While initially taken in by the product and its cost, at the time of final payment, 51% of online shoppers abandon the shopping cart due to second thoughts. Wanting to think over the deal a little more, these prospects are likely to simply abandon the shopping cart and maybe come back later for the purchase. It is also a fact that 96% of browsers never return to a site even if they did buy something from that site.
4) Decide otherwise- While second thoughts do leave some room for a comeback, there are 56% prospects that choose items but give up the idea of buying them completely while going through the process of the ultimate purchase. They may decide that the item is not required or not as attractive that they had thought before.
5) Collective cost of products – While shopping, prospects tend to pick up several products and dump them in their shopping carts. On finally viewing the total cost of these products, 43% find them too high and therefore completely abandon the shopping cart that they had selected rather than go through the items again.
6) Length of check out process- 41% buyers abandon shopping carts because they find that the time required for the final check out is too lengthy. Irritated by the time that the check out process is taking, these buyers despite being committed to the deal simply abandon the shopping cart and move on.
7) Personal information for check out process- There are several website that seem to go on and on asking the prospect to give their personal information for the final deal to go through. Irritated by this, 35 % buyers tend to leave the cart and move away from the final transaction.
Registration process- There are several sites who have a pre requisite to register before the final buying process can be undertaken. 34% buyers decide that they would rather abandon the shopping cart than register for the site. 9) Complicated check out process- Confused by complicated check out process 27% buyers decide to give up buying the product(s) online rather than try and figure out how the system works.
10) Reliability of the site- Cautious about the site’s authenticity and reliability, 31% buyers decide to not go through with the deal despite having started it. The fear of begin cheated online is much more than being cheated in the real world, since it is much easier to disappear in the virtual world.
Having nailed most of the reasons for abandoned shopping carts, the next phase involves finding solutions for these problems.
Solutions for shopping cart abandonment:-
1) Quick downloads- It is crucial for the sale to meet its final transaction that the web page does not take too long to download. On an average the shopper will not give your site more than 10 seconds to download. It is therefore important that the web page is not filled with images and that the graphics if any, are compressed for easy downloads.
2) Easy navigation – If the buyer wanted to solve a jig saw puzzle, a games site is what he/she would be visiting. Keep navigation and links of the website clear and simple. Golden rules like a right hand index, links to the buy tab and home page on all sub pages and pastels backgrounds should never be overlooked. Over decades people have come to expect certain tabs at certain spots on a website and not finding them there, tends to make the prospect move on.
3) Short sale routine – There are many sites that go on forcing a sales pitch on the prospect despite the customer already begin sold to the idea. Allow the client to buy the product as soon as he/she is convinced. Close the deal quickly, so as to not allow time to the prospect to rethink. For this it is important that the journey between the sales pitch and the payment gateway be as short as possible.
4) Lay down facts – Do not allow grey area to creep into your sales pitch. State the facts about the product in clear black and white terms. The price, the shipping cost, the availability and other such facts must be laid down in simple and clear terms to the prospect, so that it does not come as a shock later.
5) Offer attractions – If you find that the customer is leaving the site without purchasing what was placed in the shopping cart, step in with an attractive offer, which may be introduced via a pop up window. This works very well in cases where the prospect is half sold to the idea and just needs a bit more cajoling to undertake the final transaction.
6) Avoid distractions – Do not place banner ads or other similar distractions on your shopping cart. While the prospect is having a look at the product(s) you do not want to distract him/her. It is therefore very important that you do not fall into the trap of allowing other sites to take your prospect away by letting a small blinking advertisement break the shopper’s concentration.
While there are several other tips that help increase conversion rates for commercial websites, the basic essence of each trick is to add to the shopping experience of the customer. It is imperative that problems and solutions both be figured out from the client’s point of view. Be it a real time store or a virtual one, the customer is the final and most crucial link of the sales process and therefore must be kept happy at all given times.
CARROL
Feb
05
Filed Under (Ecommerce) by shopping
Tracey Simpson asked:
The process leading up to a transaction online is possibly the most critical to a shopping cart’s success. If the buying process causes frustration, confusion or insecurity, the user is likely to abandon the shopping cart, never to return again.
The usability of a shopping cart refers to the efficiency with which a user can achieve their goals on a website. Many of the larger online shopping carts, like Play.com and Amazon.com, are continuously striving to make their buying process as fluent and as effortless as possible. Knowing you can buy a book or film in just 3 or 4 clicks encourages you to return to the same, reliable website.
Having read numerous articles and white papers dedicated to best practice shopping cart design and usability; below I have highlighted five potential design problems in shopping carts that I’m sure many users have encountered.
1. Shopping carts that ask a user to register before knowing if the product is available or not.
It could be quite irritating for a user if they have spent 10 minutes entering their credit card details, home address, telephone number etc etc. only to find out during the checkout process that the product they want to buy is out of stock.
Many shopping carts enable you to present users with live stock availability before the user places their product in the shopping cart.
2. Suggesting the user buys similar products before adding the main product to the shopping cart.
It’s often helpful when a website recommends additional products you may want or need after adding your main product to your shopping cart.
However, I think you’ll agree that it could be slightly confusing if these additional products were offered to you before even adding the main product to your shopping cart? You press “Add to Cart” and suddenly you’re offered batteries, or insoles or travel cases. Many users would be left feeling confused, wondering if their product had been added or not, or if they’d pressed the wrong button.
Best practice guidelines would indicate offering your user the extra products after the user has finished shopping and they’re entering the checkout process.
3. Shopping carts that ask a user to register before they have even added a product to their shopping cart.
Asking for a user’s personal information before they have even added a product to their shopping cart is not a good move.
Customer registration can offer some big advantages to you as a merchant including recovery for abandoned shopping carts, customer loyalty and email contact. However, many users may be browsing a number of websites, adding products to numerous shopping carts for the main purpose of comparing prices and features. If a user has to register personal details before using the shopping carts, a large percentage are likely to abandon the website.
4. Requiring a user to delete and add the same product to shopping carts just so they can change its colour, size or variation.
Editing a shopping cart should be as simple as possible and shouldn’t require the user to delete anything from the shopping cart.
If a product comes in different colours and different sizes don’t make them delete it from their shopping cart if they want it in a different variation. Users should be able to select from within their shopping carts the different options.
5. Websites that do not clearly show the user the contents of the shopping carts.
Have you ever been on a website and added the same product to your shopping cart 3 or 4 times because you’re not sure if it worked the first time?
Many users that can’t see the contents of their shopping cart in the same browser as the one they are shopping on can often feel confused about whether or not their item has been added successfully.
As a merchant it is understandable that you don’t want to take your user away from the page they are shopping on every time they add something to their shopping cart. Best practice guidelines therefore indicate displaying the contents of a users shopping cart in the same browser, in the right hand corner for example.
To summarise, the design of the entire shopping experience is of utmost importance. These 5 potential design problems highlighted are five of many common problems found on shopping carts.
Which one is most likely to make you abandon your shopping cart?
Tell us about additional usability problems you have encountered!
Which, out of those above, do you think is the most irritating and the most likely to cause shopping abandonment?
ARTHUR
The process leading up to a transaction online is possibly the most critical to a shopping cart’s success. If the buying process causes frustration, confusion or insecurity, the user is likely to abandon the shopping cart, never to return again.
The usability of a shopping cart refers to the efficiency with which a user can achieve their goals on a website. Many of the larger online shopping carts, like Play.com and Amazon.com, are continuously striving to make their buying process as fluent and as effortless as possible. Knowing you can buy a book or film in just 3 or 4 clicks encourages you to return to the same, reliable website.
Having read numerous articles and white papers dedicated to best practice shopping cart design and usability; below I have highlighted five potential design problems in shopping carts that I’m sure many users have encountered.
1. Shopping carts that ask a user to register before knowing if the product is available or not.
It could be quite irritating for a user if they have spent 10 minutes entering their credit card details, home address, telephone number etc etc. only to find out during the checkout process that the product they want to buy is out of stock.
Many shopping carts enable you to present users with live stock availability before the user places their product in the shopping cart.
2. Suggesting the user buys similar products before adding the main product to the shopping cart.
It’s often helpful when a website recommends additional products you may want or need after adding your main product to your shopping cart.
However, I think you’ll agree that it could be slightly confusing if these additional products were offered to you before even adding the main product to your shopping cart? You press “Add to Cart” and suddenly you’re offered batteries, or insoles or travel cases. Many users would be left feeling confused, wondering if their product had been added or not, or if they’d pressed the wrong button.
Best practice guidelines would indicate offering your user the extra products after the user has finished shopping and they’re entering the checkout process.
3. Shopping carts that ask a user to register before they have even added a product to their shopping cart.
Asking for a user’s personal information before they have even added a product to their shopping cart is not a good move.
Customer registration can offer some big advantages to you as a merchant including recovery for abandoned shopping carts, customer loyalty and email contact. However, many users may be browsing a number of websites, adding products to numerous shopping carts for the main purpose of comparing prices and features. If a user has to register personal details before using the shopping carts, a large percentage are likely to abandon the website.
4. Requiring a user to delete and add the same product to shopping carts just so they can change its colour, size or variation.
Editing a shopping cart should be as simple as possible and shouldn’t require the user to delete anything from the shopping cart.
If a product comes in different colours and different sizes don’t make them delete it from their shopping cart if they want it in a different variation. Users should be able to select from within their shopping carts the different options.
5. Websites that do not clearly show the user the contents of the shopping carts.
Have you ever been on a website and added the same product to your shopping cart 3 or 4 times because you’re not sure if it worked the first time?
Many users that can’t see the contents of their shopping cart in the same browser as the one they are shopping on can often feel confused about whether or not their item has been added successfully.
As a merchant it is understandable that you don’t want to take your user away from the page they are shopping on every time they add something to their shopping cart. Best practice guidelines therefore indicate displaying the contents of a users shopping cart in the same browser, in the right hand corner for example.
To summarise, the design of the entire shopping experience is of utmost importance. These 5 potential design problems highlighted are five of many common problems found on shopping carts.
Which one is most likely to make you abandon your shopping cart?
Tell us about additional usability problems you have encountered!
Which, out of those above, do you think is the most irritating and the most likely to cause shopping abandonment?
ARTHUR
Mar
29
Filed Under (Ecommerce) by shopping
David Marc Fishman asked:
Internet shopping is shaping up. However today, internet shopping is a really significant part of the retail sector. Internet shopping is the new shopping experience of the future. Of course the other major hurdle for internet shopping is shipping charges, sometimes they are to expensive. The growth rate for Internet shopping is growing. Secure internet shopping is secure using encryption and ssl techniques. Internet shopping is easier, safer, and more convenient than at any point in its history. Internet shopping is fast becoming one of the easiest ways to buy almost anything you want. Internet shopping is a way of shopping that allows shopping for required products without going to the store physically. The Internet is great because people are able to shop 24 hours a day without having to leave their home or work.
The Internet is changing the wholesale/retail landscape daily. In today’s market the shopping sector is taking about a tenth of all retail shopping sales in the US, and the percentage in other countries is not as high. One reason we use the internet is to buy merchandise at a discount to retail.
One of the biggest benefits of shopping online is the convenience and access to more products and information 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Note that blocking all cookies prevents some online services from working, so you must allow cookies on your browser. Nearly 40 percent of remote workers said they use their work computers for Internet shopping. Be a smart shopper and use common sense when online shopping and just go ahead and enjoy your Internet shopping experience today. The more people that shop online, the bigger their expectations. The supermarket industry now services many customers through online food shopping over the Internet. We understand that shopping online can feel risky and uncertain.
The following tips will help ensure a safe Internet shopping. If you follow this advice on safe Internet shopping, this should not be a problem. All purchases are made through safe and secure servers. It’s safe to say SSL is extremely sophisticated software and safe. Always know where your cards are and keep them in a safe place.
The phenomenal success of online retailers such as Amazon and Expedia is proof that internet shopping is practiced - and trusted - by millions. Of course the other major hurdle for internet shopping is shipping charges, sometimes shipping is much more than the product. Whether we love it or **** it, Internet shopping is convenient, provides a wide choice and competitive prices. Internet shopping is a big time-saver. As mentioned above, Internet shopping is very much like conventional in-home shopping from catalogs or mail orders. Despite the toughening competition, Internet shopping is likely to continue to grow.
BART
Internet shopping is shaping up. However today, internet shopping is a really significant part of the retail sector. Internet shopping is the new shopping experience of the future. Of course the other major hurdle for internet shopping is shipping charges, sometimes they are to expensive. The growth rate for Internet shopping is growing. Secure internet shopping is secure using encryption and ssl techniques. Internet shopping is easier, safer, and more convenient than at any point in its history. Internet shopping is fast becoming one of the easiest ways to buy almost anything you want. Internet shopping is a way of shopping that allows shopping for required products without going to the store physically. The Internet is great because people are able to shop 24 hours a day without having to leave their home or work.
The Internet is changing the wholesale/retail landscape daily. In today’s market the shopping sector is taking about a tenth of all retail shopping sales in the US, and the percentage in other countries is not as high. One reason we use the internet is to buy merchandise at a discount to retail.
One of the biggest benefits of shopping online is the convenience and access to more products and information 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Note that blocking all cookies prevents some online services from working, so you must allow cookies on your browser. Nearly 40 percent of remote workers said they use their work computers for Internet shopping. Be a smart shopper and use common sense when online shopping and just go ahead and enjoy your Internet shopping experience today. The more people that shop online, the bigger their expectations. The supermarket industry now services many customers through online food shopping over the Internet. We understand that shopping online can feel risky and uncertain.
The following tips will help ensure a safe Internet shopping. If you follow this advice on safe Internet shopping, this should not be a problem. All purchases are made through safe and secure servers. It’s safe to say SSL is extremely sophisticated software and safe. Always know where your cards are and keep them in a safe place.
The phenomenal success of online retailers such as Amazon and Expedia is proof that internet shopping is practiced - and trusted - by millions. Of course the other major hurdle for internet shopping is shipping charges, sometimes shipping is much more than the product. Whether we love it or **** it, Internet shopping is convenient, provides a wide choice and competitive prices. Internet shopping is a big time-saver. As mentioned above, Internet shopping is very much like conventional in-home shopping from catalogs or mail orders. Despite the toughening competition, Internet shopping is likely to continue to grow.
BART
Dec
07
Filed Under (Ecommerce) by shopping
Amelie Mag asked:
When we want to have fun and relax we go shopping. When we want to buy something nice for our family we go shopping. When Christmas is near and we all feel the Christmas spirit we go shopping. But there is much more to the whole shopping experience.
UK shopping is sometimes really confusing. There are many stores from little boutiques to huge high street stores ready to offer you the best products available. But managers and executive directors are fully aware of the fact that UK shopping requires a lot of time and energy. And not many people are up to this.
Online UK shopping has proved to be more than one could wish for. Virtual superstores were created in order to ensure that people can purchase goods and also services from the comfort of their own home. And it worked like a charm. They provide all imaginable facilities so that browsing and ordering different products on web is a pleasure.
UK shopping online sites offer an up-to-date list of the available items and the payment systems are effortless. Choose carefully the delivery options and also try to provide your address correctly (including postcode) to make sure that your product is delivered on time. Choose from the multitude of sites available for UK shopping, the most secure and trustworthy with safe payment information. Check that the address of the company is real and also get an email address for contact information. Keep in mind that all contact and security information of UK shopping sites should be readily available for the customers to see.
The Internet has made UK shopping a wonderful experience. Some UK shopping sites even offer cash-back shopping meaning that customers receive reward points every time they purchase something from the website. These points can be exchanged in order to buy other goods and this service is made especially to reward the client’s loyalty. You can even use discount coupons and codes for online UK shopping.
More and more people also choose to browse price comparison shopping sites in order to take a complete decision based on accurate information and detailed description of the products they are interested in. These sites also have product reviews. Basically, you just do a little research and do some price comparison shopping in order to determine how good the product really is and see if the price is appropriate.
When you go online and survey a price comparison shopping site, you should also check out the store’s warranties, return policies, service records and customer ratings. All this information is vital in order for you to be proper informed. It really shows which of the price comparison shopping sites are reputable and also improves your ability to research for different products.
Many consumers who are interested in buying goods won’t purchase anything until they consult with a price comparison shopping site. They are people who like to be informed and who understand that price comparison shopping helps them to get the best offers available. The Internet is a powerful tool for a lot of consumers who are uncertain about what features a product has or where to find the best price. By doing a little price comparison shopping, they make better decisions and are satisfied with the product purchased.
Offering shopping reviews and detailed product information are not the only things that price comparison shopping sites do. They also protect customer from scams or misleading information. That is if you search long enough to find a credible and reputable company.
UK shopping has never been better than when price comparison shopping sites devoted their services to customer satisfaction. They help the consumer look for particular features; offer a nice selection of brand names and an accurate description of specific terminology. Price comparison shopping sites also provide a newfound experience of shopping and the possibility to read in depth information about the products they offer. Check the detailed description about the items; look for marked price and also for the discounted prices.
So, even if you look for a gift for your mum or wooden toys for your children, you can easily find whatever you are looking for online. No matter what your shopping habits are, it is all about to change once you discover how easy it is to browse for products and purchase them while you enjoy your coffee at home.
DOMINGO
When we want to have fun and relax we go shopping. When we want to buy something nice for our family we go shopping. When Christmas is near and we all feel the Christmas spirit we go shopping. But there is much more to the whole shopping experience.
UK shopping is sometimes really confusing. There are many stores from little boutiques to huge high street stores ready to offer you the best products available. But managers and executive directors are fully aware of the fact that UK shopping requires a lot of time and energy. And not many people are up to this.
Online UK shopping has proved to be more than one could wish for. Virtual superstores were created in order to ensure that people can purchase goods and also services from the comfort of their own home. And it worked like a charm. They provide all imaginable facilities so that browsing and ordering different products on web is a pleasure.
UK shopping online sites offer an up-to-date list of the available items and the payment systems are effortless. Choose carefully the delivery options and also try to provide your address correctly (including postcode) to make sure that your product is delivered on time. Choose from the multitude of sites available for UK shopping, the most secure and trustworthy with safe payment information. Check that the address of the company is real and also get an email address for contact information. Keep in mind that all contact and security information of UK shopping sites should be readily available for the customers to see.
The Internet has made UK shopping a wonderful experience. Some UK shopping sites even offer cash-back shopping meaning that customers receive reward points every time they purchase something from the website. These points can be exchanged in order to buy other goods and this service is made especially to reward the client’s loyalty. You can even use discount coupons and codes for online UK shopping.
More and more people also choose to browse price comparison shopping sites in order to take a complete decision based on accurate information and detailed description of the products they are interested in. These sites also have product reviews. Basically, you just do a little research and do some price comparison shopping in order to determine how good the product really is and see if the price is appropriate.
When you go online and survey a price comparison shopping site, you should also check out the store’s warranties, return policies, service records and customer ratings. All this information is vital in order for you to be proper informed. It really shows which of the price comparison shopping sites are reputable and also improves your ability to research for different products.
Many consumers who are interested in buying goods won’t purchase anything until they consult with a price comparison shopping site. They are people who like to be informed and who understand that price comparison shopping helps them to get the best offers available. The Internet is a powerful tool for a lot of consumers who are uncertain about what features a product has or where to find the best price. By doing a little price comparison shopping, they make better decisions and are satisfied with the product purchased.
Offering shopping reviews and detailed product information are not the only things that price comparison shopping sites do. They also protect customer from scams or misleading information. That is if you search long enough to find a credible and reputable company.
UK shopping has never been better than when price comparison shopping sites devoted their services to customer satisfaction. They help the consumer look for particular features; offer a nice selection of brand names and an accurate description of specific terminology. Price comparison shopping sites also provide a newfound experience of shopping and the possibility to read in depth information about the products they offer. Check the detailed description about the items; look for marked price and also for the discounted prices.
So, even if you look for a gift for your mum or wooden toys for your children, you can easily find whatever you are looking for online. No matter what your shopping habits are, it is all about to change once you discover how easy it is to browse for products and purchase them while you enjoy your coffee at home.
DOMINGO
Sep
18
Filed Under (Ecommerce) by shopping
Rakhi Chowdhary asked:
Shopping Carts Solutions an integrated shopping solution, a new way that lets your customers to make orders, purchase online, manage shipping…
Today every growing business tries to be customer centric and I am very sure that business entropy will increase if your customer retention rate goes low. In this article I will discuss all about shopping cart and shopping cart software solution. With plethora of internet, staying at the top of your field has become arduous and it takes a lot to remain or reach at the top position. Looking back at the decade of shopping, there were no online store and customers had to walk to the store, spend time there browsing through the catalogue, deciding products, and then the product was passed into the shopping cart (trolley), order was placed and finally checkout and payment processes were carried. Then everything was manual, all entries were made manually and pricing were calculated on hands. In present scenario - With online shopping cart you can shop from your home or your office; just need internet connection and all yours processing finalized in a minute. This online storefront with integrated shopping solution provides a platform for selecting and purchasing your favorite products.
Shopping Carts is selecting products online for purchasing. Ecommerce is complete online store for shopping where from placing orders, tracking orders and managing account all are maintained.
The interface of online stores are designed for users and it is really easy to browse, collect, place orders and make payment but behind the curtain the scene is sophisticated, it needs round the clock maintenance for smooth functioning of your ecommerce store. The current study says that abandonment rate of shopping cart ranges from 25% to 75%. Being a SEO executive and strategist I have analyzed lots of ecommerce websites, studied its web analytics funnel visualization report, it shows that most of the visitors exit at the initial step (after Login or Registration), these visitors drop out at proceeding steps, and very small percentage reach the final checkout. I would say that funnel conversion rate is very low for these ecommerce websites / shopping carts if the funnel steps are not properly set.
I would like to share what all I have inculcated through my experience, reasons for shopping cart abandonment are:
High Shipping Cost: This can be inversely managed by increasing product cost and reducing shipping cost.
Security and Privacy Problem: Providing very transparent privacy statement and high level security for payment gateway.
Lot of essentialities and billing formalities: Non essential information should be not be made mandatory, other formalities can be filled at the after checkout.
Poor Navigation: Your shopping store should respond quickly, check that your site does not take enough loading time. Search should be simple and checkout process should not be very lengthy. Clients should be notified after payment is done and visitors who wish can easily navigate back to make more shopping without time wastage.
Remember, your ecommerce website should be simple so that it entices your customers to come again for shopping. All the shopping cart segments should be integrated and should be streamlined for its smooth running. Elements of consideration are: a ecommerce shopping cart (storefront with shopping cart), a merchant account, a database server (this stores all information about customer and all your storefront products and services), a web server (hosts your website and provides all information about your product at the web browser’s request), a catalogue, legacy system, control inventory, reporting tool and secure payment gateway. Hosting of your online storefront or ecommerce website is of first consideration. Depending on your storefront hosting you choose shopping cart software, all depends on the software and your website hosting compatibility.
There are different shopping cart software available for your storefront from which you can choose. Either you can Buy a shopping cart software product, or join a service (template service build your store).
Choosing shopping cart software is the key business requirement for online shopping business solutions.
Every ecommerce site has its shopping cart and thus needs a merchant account and payment gateway. I believe these two are basic necessities of any online store for allowing credit card payment. Let be brief the main points that you should know before proceeding to shopping carts.
Merchant Account: This allows to process credit card information. Different types of merchant accounts are available to suit your business needs. Most popular merchant accounts include wireless, telecheck, mail order or phone, e-commerce. Ecommerce is the fastest growing transaction segment.
Payment Gateway: payment gateway processes this credit card and shipping information and real time information over a secure network connection.
A company that validates your credit card information in real time is electronic gateway or payment gateway. Few most widely accepted gateways are: Paypal (Globally), Verisign (Globally), 2Checkout (Globally), WorldPay (Gloablly), Authorize.Net (US), CyberSource (US), Moneris (CA), Protx (UK), EWay (AU); some others are Chronopay, Westpac, BluePay, viaKLIX, eMatters, plugnpay, eway, goemerchant.com, skipjack, MiraPay, netaxept, DirectOne, nab, NETBANX, Network Merchants, Nochex, DeltaPAY, eProcessing Network, protx, egateway, SECPay, paymate, Gotmerchant, ANZ, beanstream, Payjunction, TECHNOCASH, MiraPay, GoDaddy.
Payment gateway main motive is to provide secure channel for credit card information transfer. Basically the credit card information is encrypted and sent to respective bank for verification, these are of highest priority, no detail is stored in between.
You may be having now in mind how to create your merchant account and have your payment gateway??? Not mandatory to have one’s own, you may use merchant service providers’ shopping cart solutions for your ecommerce websites.
Type of Gateways:
Currently there are 3 main gateway interfaces available:
COM based gateway interface: Most of the COM based gateway company requires installing the DLL software on your hosting server, and also checks for your SSL certificate.
XML Transport gateway interface: XML Transport gateway companies do not require DLL installation but checks for you SLL certification instead uses Windows server installed facilities.
Form based gateway interface: This is most common gateway as does not require any software installation, very few companies ask for SSL certification.
The main advantage is that COM and XML gateways are integrated with your store and thus no redirection to external server but the drawback also lies that since the transfer is over the internet to payment gateway makes this less reliable.
Types of Shopping Cart
Merchant Service Shopping Carts
Have you set up a new business, do not have merchant account and payment gateway??? Still looking…. There are merchant services shopping carts available for new businesses with very less queries at the initial stage. Once you start your business at the initial stage there are very less orders that increases gradually, so merchant will get you licensed . It proceeds somewhat like this: it collects and stores your client’s information and takes you to its payment gateway and merchant account.
The main problem is the fee that gateway company charges. Apart from the set up fee, transaction cost is also high making the over all gateway an expensive one. Another major drawback is that client’s credit card statements will contain merchant service not your company name. There is admin login section for all sort of updation – add, delete, edit, and manage products and other information. The HTML code generated by the cart is inserted in the respected pages, once the visitor clicks on the link (button), visitor is redirected to merchant site where visitor needs to enter card detail and personal details.
Hosted Shopping Carts
Small and medium sized businesses need not worry!! Yes, they can have hosted shopping cart for those not having enough resource to go with integrated shopping cart solutions for their ecommerce websites. The hosted shopping cart solution has an administration area for entering product information. The generated HTML information code is inserted into the product page. The website visitor is redirected to another site to fill a form with information that is CC to the website. There are certain carts that provide configurable user interface so that it looks as corporate website.
The most important point to be noted is that in hosted shopping cart solutions the website owner uses ones own payment gateway and merchant account; this provides your client with credit card detail with your company title not the title of merchant service. For increasing sale this shopping cart service becomes cheaper, this may be fixed transaction charge for higher sales compared to per transaction.
Fully Integrated Shopping Carts
Fully integrated (Trunkey - a comprehensive shopping cart solution provided by one provider) shopping cart provides completely configurable user interface and other interesting features. This needs some programming knowledge so that you can better manage and handle its modules and use the extra features provided. Provider of On the ecommerce provider server the software data and web pages are hosted. Examples: Yahoo Store, Bigstep, Merchandizer, etc. these include form based built in payment gateway.
Which shopping cart to go with?? Points to ponder – Costing: The investment you put in, hosting
Shopping cart software is the common online storefront business solution. There are myriad e-commerce solutions available with varying features, design, security so that you can customize based on your requirements and specifications. With open source software solutions, osCommerce shopping cart solution there are slew of customizable shopping cart solutions available. The open source ecommerce software products are available that are very easy to setup, configure, administration. So before going with a particular solution Payment gateway or shopping cart just be clear about your requirements. There is another storefront solution, Watson shopping cart system (developed in Switzerland) is a new shopping cart or trolley that has unique database and uses audio advertising system of the internet for online shopping.
ALONSO
Shopping Carts Solutions an integrated shopping solution, a new way that lets your customers to make orders, purchase online, manage shipping…
Today every growing business tries to be customer centric and I am very sure that business entropy will increase if your customer retention rate goes low. In this article I will discuss all about shopping cart and shopping cart software solution. With plethora of internet, staying at the top of your field has become arduous and it takes a lot to remain or reach at the top position. Looking back at the decade of shopping, there were no online store and customers had to walk to the store, spend time there browsing through the catalogue, deciding products, and then the product was passed into the shopping cart (trolley), order was placed and finally checkout and payment processes were carried. Then everything was manual, all entries were made manually and pricing were calculated on hands. In present scenario - With online shopping cart you can shop from your home or your office; just need internet connection and all yours processing finalized in a minute. This online storefront with integrated shopping solution provides a platform for selecting and purchasing your favorite products.
Shopping Carts is selecting products online for purchasing. Ecommerce is complete online store for shopping where from placing orders, tracking orders and managing account all are maintained.
The interface of online stores are designed for users and it is really easy to browse, collect, place orders and make payment but behind the curtain the scene is sophisticated, it needs round the clock maintenance for smooth functioning of your ecommerce store. The current study says that abandonment rate of shopping cart ranges from 25% to 75%. Being a SEO executive and strategist I have analyzed lots of ecommerce websites, studied its web analytics funnel visualization report, it shows that most of the visitors exit at the initial step (after Login or Registration), these visitors drop out at proceeding steps, and very small percentage reach the final checkout. I would say that funnel conversion rate is very low for these ecommerce websites / shopping carts if the funnel steps are not properly set.
I would like to share what all I have inculcated through my experience, reasons for shopping cart abandonment are:
High Shipping Cost: This can be inversely managed by increasing product cost and reducing shipping cost.
Security and Privacy Problem: Providing very transparent privacy statement and high level security for payment gateway.
Lot of essentialities and billing formalities: Non essential information should be not be made mandatory, other formalities can be filled at the after checkout.
Poor Navigation: Your shopping store should respond quickly, check that your site does not take enough loading time. Search should be simple and checkout process should not be very lengthy. Clients should be notified after payment is done and visitors who wish can easily navigate back to make more shopping without time wastage.
Remember, your ecommerce website should be simple so that it entices your customers to come again for shopping. All the shopping cart segments should be integrated and should be streamlined for its smooth running. Elements of consideration are: a ecommerce shopping cart (storefront with shopping cart), a merchant account, a database server (this stores all information about customer and all your storefront products and services), a web server (hosts your website and provides all information about your product at the web browser’s request), a catalogue, legacy system, control inventory, reporting tool and secure payment gateway. Hosting of your online storefront or ecommerce website is of first consideration. Depending on your storefront hosting you choose shopping cart software, all depends on the software and your website hosting compatibility.
There are different shopping cart software available for your storefront from which you can choose. Either you can Buy a shopping cart software product, or join a service (template service build your store).
Choosing shopping cart software is the key business requirement for online shopping business solutions.
Every ecommerce site has its shopping cart and thus needs a merchant account and payment gateway. I believe these two are basic necessities of any online store for allowing credit card payment. Let be brief the main points that you should know before proceeding to shopping carts.
Merchant Account: This allows to process credit card information. Different types of merchant accounts are available to suit your business needs. Most popular merchant accounts include wireless, telecheck, mail order or phone, e-commerce. Ecommerce is the fastest growing transaction segment.
Payment Gateway: payment gateway processes this credit card and shipping information and real time information over a secure network connection.
A company that validates your credit card information in real time is electronic gateway or payment gateway. Few most widely accepted gateways are: Paypal (Globally), Verisign (Globally), 2Checkout (Globally), WorldPay (Gloablly), Authorize.Net (US), CyberSource (US), Moneris (CA), Protx (UK), EWay (AU); some others are Chronopay, Westpac, BluePay, viaKLIX, eMatters, plugnpay, eway, goemerchant.com, skipjack, MiraPay, netaxept, DirectOne, nab, NETBANX, Network Merchants, Nochex, DeltaPAY, eProcessing Network, protx, egateway, SECPay, paymate, Gotmerchant, ANZ, beanstream, Payjunction, TECHNOCASH, MiraPay, GoDaddy.
Payment gateway main motive is to provide secure channel for credit card information transfer. Basically the credit card information is encrypted and sent to respective bank for verification, these are of highest priority, no detail is stored in between.
You may be having now in mind how to create your merchant account and have your payment gateway??? Not mandatory to have one’s own, you may use merchant service providers’ shopping cart solutions for your ecommerce websites.
Type of Gateways:
Currently there are 3 main gateway interfaces available:
COM based gateway interface: Most of the COM based gateway company requires installing the DLL software on your hosting server, and also checks for your SSL certificate.
XML Transport gateway interface: XML Transport gateway companies do not require DLL installation but checks for you SLL certification instead uses Windows server installed facilities.
Form based gateway interface: This is most common gateway as does not require any software installation, very few companies ask for SSL certification.
The main advantage is that COM and XML gateways are integrated with your store and thus no redirection to external server but the drawback also lies that since the transfer is over the internet to payment gateway makes this less reliable.
Types of Shopping Cart
Merchant Service Shopping Carts
Have you set up a new business, do not have merchant account and payment gateway??? Still looking…. There are merchant services shopping carts available for new businesses with very less queries at the initial stage. Once you start your business at the initial stage there are very less orders that increases gradually, so merchant will get you licensed . It proceeds somewhat like this: it collects and stores your client’s information and takes you to its payment gateway and merchant account.
The main problem is the fee that gateway company charges. Apart from the set up fee, transaction cost is also high making the over all gateway an expensive one. Another major drawback is that client’s credit card statements will contain merchant service not your company name. There is admin login section for all sort of updation – add, delete, edit, and manage products and other information. The HTML code generated by the cart is inserted in the respected pages, once the visitor clicks on the link (button), visitor is redirected to merchant site where visitor needs to enter card detail and personal details.
Hosted Shopping Carts
Small and medium sized businesses need not worry!! Yes, they can have hosted shopping cart for those not having enough resource to go with integrated shopping cart solutions for their ecommerce websites. The hosted shopping cart solution has an administration area for entering product information. The generated HTML information code is inserted into the product page. The website visitor is redirected to another site to fill a form with information that is CC to the website. There are certain carts that provide configurable user interface so that it looks as corporate website.
The most important point to be noted is that in hosted shopping cart solutions the website owner uses ones own payment gateway and merchant account; this provides your client with credit card detail with your company title not the title of merchant service. For increasing sale this shopping cart service becomes cheaper, this may be fixed transaction charge for higher sales compared to per transaction.
Fully Integrated Shopping Carts
Fully integrated (Trunkey - a comprehensive shopping cart solution provided by one provider) shopping cart provides completely configurable user interface and other interesting features. This needs some programming knowledge so that you can better manage and handle its modules and use the extra features provided. Provider of On the ecommerce provider server the software data and web pages are hosted. Examples: Yahoo Store, Bigstep, Merchandizer, etc. these include form based built in payment gateway.
Which shopping cart to go with?? Points to ponder – Costing: The investment you put in, hosting
Shopping cart software is the common online storefront business solution. There are myriad e-commerce solutions available with varying features, design, security so that you can customize based on your requirements and specifications. With open source software solutions, osCommerce shopping cart solution there are slew of customizable shopping cart solutions available. The open source ecommerce software products are available that are very easy to setup, configure, administration. So before going with a particular solution Payment gateway or shopping cart just be clear about your requirements. There is another storefront solution, Watson shopping cart system (developed in Switzerland) is a new shopping cart or trolley that has unique database and uses audio advertising system of the internet for online shopping.
ALONSO
Sep
13
Filed Under (Ecommerce) by shopping
Sandra Prior asked:
Net shopping has really taken off in the last couple of years and there’s a vast amount of goods and services available in the digital megamall. Even so, more skeptical Net users are wary and need convincing of the advantages of shopping online.
After all, most people have a perfectly good mall just a short drive away and you can get most of the things you need there. As for saving money, there are always the seasonal sales. But the fact is, these are the exact reasons for shopping on the Internet. It’s convenient, the choice is amazing, and you can save loads of money.
As with anything though, you have to be aware of the potential pitfalls. The Net offers access to a whole new world of shopping and opens up the free market to individuals as never before. On the other hand, this is unfamiliar territory for most people. You are outside your normal field of reference and you need all sorts of new information, such as how your rights are affected when you buy from abroad, how to separate a good shop from a con job and what security measures protect you from fraud.
Getting Started
The Net brings the mall to your home, but it’s a mall unlike any other you’ve seen – one open to the whole world and with almost no limitations. Sure, you can shop for all the things you would buy on a normal Saturday afternoon trudge around town. If it’s familiar names you’re looking for, you’ll find them online as increasing numbers of players start waking up to the fact that Net shopping is here to stay, and have started offering an online service to their customers.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as Net shopping is concerned. The real benefits come when you get a bit more adventurous and start to explore. You can save money by buying from Internet-only retailers that don’t have the expensive overheads of shopfront premises and pass the savings on to their customers; buy from stores overseas and benefit from their lower prices; and find unusual or hard-to-come-by items at the click of a button. Shopping will never be the same again.
With such a wealth of choice available, you will never need help to get started. For most purposes, a good jumping-off point is one of the many shopping directories that have sprung up all over the Net recently. These provide links to selected shops and save you a lot of browsing if you’re looking for anything vaguely mainstream.
Some of these sites are extremely useful and will help you enormously when you start shopping online. Others are frankly rubbish, so be selective. Look for a site that’s clearly set out with well-defined shopping categories, a profile of each shop with details of any disadvantages to shopping there, and ideally some sort of scoring system so you know where to go.
Shop with Confidence
The biggest concern most people have when they start shopping on the Net is whether it’s secure. Many people are reluctant to send their credit card details off into the ether for fear of them being intercepted and used fraudulently by others to run up enormous bills. This is an understandable worry, but it’s largely unfounded. Shopping on the Net is as safe as, if not safer than, mail order or telephone shopping, or even paying by credit card in a restaurant. Basically, whenever you give someone your credit card details or let the card out of your sight, you are at risk of fraud. The good news with Net shopping, however, is that there are lots of ways to protect yourself and minimize the risks.
Here comes the science bit; you’re protected in many cases by the kindly technology elves. On shopping sites you will often see assurances that information is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket layer), a technology used to encrypt all information being sent to and received from a specific Web page or pages. Most mainstream shopping sites use this secure connection when you send your payment details over the Internet. Any information transmitted in this secure way is encrypted for the duration of the transfer. In the unlikely event that it is intercepted en route, it will be absolutely no use to anyone. The retailer decodes the message once it has arrived in order to take payment, but nobody else has access to your details along the way.
GABRIEL
Net shopping has really taken off in the last couple of years and there’s a vast amount of goods and services available in the digital megamall. Even so, more skeptical Net users are wary and need convincing of the advantages of shopping online.
After all, most people have a perfectly good mall just a short drive away and you can get most of the things you need there. As for saving money, there are always the seasonal sales. But the fact is, these are the exact reasons for shopping on the Internet. It’s convenient, the choice is amazing, and you can save loads of money.
As with anything though, you have to be aware of the potential pitfalls. The Net offers access to a whole new world of shopping and opens up the free market to individuals as never before. On the other hand, this is unfamiliar territory for most people. You are outside your normal field of reference and you need all sorts of new information, such as how your rights are affected when you buy from abroad, how to separate a good shop from a con job and what security measures protect you from fraud.
Getting Started
The Net brings the mall to your home, but it’s a mall unlike any other you’ve seen – one open to the whole world and with almost no limitations. Sure, you can shop for all the things you would buy on a normal Saturday afternoon trudge around town. If it’s familiar names you’re looking for, you’ll find them online as increasing numbers of players start waking up to the fact that Net shopping is here to stay, and have started offering an online service to their customers.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as Net shopping is concerned. The real benefits come when you get a bit more adventurous and start to explore. You can save money by buying from Internet-only retailers that don’t have the expensive overheads of shopfront premises and pass the savings on to their customers; buy from stores overseas and benefit from their lower prices; and find unusual or hard-to-come-by items at the click of a button. Shopping will never be the same again.
With such a wealth of choice available, you will never need help to get started. For most purposes, a good jumping-off point is one of the many shopping directories that have sprung up all over the Net recently. These provide links to selected shops and save you a lot of browsing if you’re looking for anything vaguely mainstream.
Some of these sites are extremely useful and will help you enormously when you start shopping online. Others are frankly rubbish, so be selective. Look for a site that’s clearly set out with well-defined shopping categories, a profile of each shop with details of any disadvantages to shopping there, and ideally some sort of scoring system so you know where to go.
Shop with Confidence
The biggest concern most people have when they start shopping on the Net is whether it’s secure. Many people are reluctant to send their credit card details off into the ether for fear of them being intercepted and used fraudulently by others to run up enormous bills. This is an understandable worry, but it’s largely unfounded. Shopping on the Net is as safe as, if not safer than, mail order or telephone shopping, or even paying by credit card in a restaurant. Basically, whenever you give someone your credit card details or let the card out of your sight, you are at risk of fraud. The good news with Net shopping, however, is that there are lots of ways to protect yourself and minimize the risks.
Here comes the science bit; you’re protected in many cases by the kindly technology elves. On shopping sites you will often see assurances that information is transmitted using SSL (Secure Socket layer), a technology used to encrypt all information being sent to and received from a specific Web page or pages. Most mainstream shopping sites use this secure connection when you send your payment details over the Internet. Any information transmitted in this secure way is encrypted for the duration of the transfer. In the unlikely event that it is intercepted en route, it will be absolutely no use to anyone. The retailer decodes the message once it has arrived in order to take payment, but nobody else has access to your details along the way.
GABRIEL
