What is shopping cart software?

One of the most important moments of the ecommerce experience is when a customer adds an item to their cart. This simple action happens in an instant, but it’s a strong indicator that a site visitor is ready to purchase. The digital shopping cart is a bridge that turns a browser into a buyer. And it’s all made possible by shopping cart software.

Shopping cart software is the engine that powers online sales; it's not just about holding items in a virtual cart. This ecommerce software is designed to manage the complex tasks of online shopping smoothly, connecting with other systems like payment gateways, inventory management, and customer data to create a hassle-free experience for buyers and sellers.

Here are the key features and benefits, and what to look for when choosing the right shopping cart software for your business.

Shopping cart software is an ecommerce tool that manages online transactions. It allows customers to select products, manage their orders, and complete secure checkout transactions on ecommerce websites or mobile retail apps. Think of it as replicating the function of a physical shopping cart in an online store. It collects and stores customer information, order history, and shipping details for both business records and future purchases.

Shopping cart software is usually integrated into a larger ecommerce platform or a customer relationship management (CRM) tool to connect purchase behavior with customer behavior. This way, you can understand your customers better and personalize your marketing efforts to increase conversions.

Shopping cart software provides a wide range of features that help businesses manage their online stores effectively and offer a great customer experience. These are the most critical features for ecommerce success:

• Customers should be able to add, remove, and update items easily. This reduces frustration and helps shoppers complete purchases without hesitation.
• Your cart should be intuitive. Customers should be able to save items across multiple sessions and visits on different channels. This encourages shoppers to return and finish orders instead of starting over.
• Enable guest checkout. Allowing guest checkout removes barriers to purchase while still offering accounts for long-term loyalty.

• Prioritize integration with major payment gateways. Supporting trusted providers increases buyer confidence, enabling broad payment compatibility.
• Support for credit cards, digital wallets, BNPL, and more. Offering diverse payment methods captures more sales by matching customer preferences.
• Secure and PCI-compliant payment handling is a must. Strong security protects sensitive data and builds trust, reducing cart abandonment.

• Offer real-time shipping rate calculation. Accurate rates prevent surprises at checkout and help customers make informed decisions.
• Multiple shipping methods (standard, express, and in-store pickup). Offering choices lets shoppers balance cost, speed, and convenience.
• Automated tax calculation. Correct taxes reduce administrative burden and ensure compliance without slowing checkout.

• Track order history. Visibility into past and current orders builds trust and reduces support inquiries.
• Enable wishlist or saved items. Wishlists encourage customers to return and increase long-term purchase opportunities.
• Address book and profile management. Saving customer details speeds future checkouts and improves convenience.

• Offer coupon codes and gift cards. Incentives drive conversions and give customers a reason to choose your store.
• Discounts and bundled offers. Strategic pricing boosts average order value (AOV) and makes buying feel more rewarding.
• Email marketing and abandoned cart recovery. Automated reminders bring customers back and recover lost sales.

Modern shopping cart software will come out-of-the-box with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered capabilities that make the transition from browsing to buying seamless and enjoyable for your customers. These are the benefits of using shopping cart software:

• Personalized product recommendations: AI analyzes browsing and purchase history to suggest relevant items, increasing average order value (AOV) at the critical moments between add-to-cart and checkout.
• Dynamic pricing optimization: Shopping cart software powered by AI can automatically adjust prices based on demand, inventory levels, and customer behavior to improve revenue.
• Prevent cart abandonment: The right software will identify when customers are likely to leave, and trigger real-time interventions like discounts or chat assistance.
• Intelligent search and discovery: Natural language processing (NLP) helps customers find products faster through conversational or visual search.
• 24/7 service: AI chatbots or autonomous agents like Agentforce can handle common queries, provide prompt assistance during checkout, and resolve issues.
• Fraud detection: Machine learning (ML) identifies suspicious patterns in real-time, and protects online transactions and customers’ data.
• Optimized checkout: AI can test and adapt the checkout process based on user behavior to reduce shopping inconveniences.

The shopping cart software you choose can make or break your business. These questions can help guide your decision-making, ensuring you prioritize the right capabilities:

• Does the software support customizations? Look for intuitive interfaces that are easy to set up and manage, with the flexibility to customize the design and functionality to match your business needs.
• Will it integrate with my tools and scale with growth? It must connect with your existing ecommerce tech stack, like a CRM, email marketing, and accounting software. It should grow with your business, and handle increased volume and sales channels without performance issues.
• Can I sell across multiple channels? Your shopping cart software should support multichannel selling. This includes your website, social media platforms, online marketplaces, and even in-person, with centralized management of all channels.
• Does it provide tools for marketing and analytics? It should come with built-in tools for search engine optimization (SEO), promotions, abandoned cart recovery, and detailed ecommerce analytics to improve your performance.
• What do users say about it? Check customer reviews and testimonials to understand real-world experiences, common issues, and whether the platform delivers on its promises.

We’ve curated a list of top choices for shopping cart software. Each option has a 4-star rating on G2 or above. Let’s dive in:

Agentforce Commerce provides shopping cart software that goes beyond basic cart functionality by tightly integrating commerce with CRM and data across marketing, service, and sales, offering AI-driven personalization, advanced omnichannel and order management, and scalability for even the largest global brands.

Agentforce Commerce is a robust, digital commerce platform designed to support every stage of the ecommerce process (including shopping cart, checkout, and payment software) and exceed customer expectations, whether your business model is B2C or B2B, and no matter what industry you’re in. Agentforce Commerce offers a complete solution suite for a successful online business, laying the foundation for wide-ranging commerce needs — from customer-facing digital storefronts to back-end architecture and order management.

Shopify is ‌an ecommerce platform designed for small to medium businesses (SMBs). It offers a shopping cart feature that handles adding products to a cart, calculating taxes and shipping, processing payments, and managing orders.

A free, open-source plug-in for WordPress sites, WooCommerce gives you complete control and flexibility over your online store. It's customizable and integrates seamlessly if you're already using WordPress. While the plug-in itself is free, you'll need to pay for hosting, security, and premium extensions. It’s ideal for businesses that want customization and already have a WordPress site.

BigCommerce offers shopping cart software that handles adding items to cart, manages taxes and shipping, supports multiple payment gateways, and includes order management tools.

Pro tip: Keep scalability, future business growth, and AI features in mind while choosing a shopping cart software. The right solution will offer powerful, out-of-the-box tools to help you deliver the customer experience you want, without paying for costly add-ons . Look for a unified tool like Agentforce Commerce to provide flexibility, omni-channel experiences, and 360-degree visibility of every touchpoint and every customer.

According to Salesforce’s State of Commerce report, a whopping 84% of business leaders believe that AI gives them a competitive advantage. Strategically implementing AI to optimize your shopping cart can help boost conversions and give customers a smooth, streamlined experience. Here are a few proven tips and strategies to get started:

Give shoppers that extra nudge with incentives like free shipping thresholds, volume discounts, or limited-time offers. This encourages customers to add more items and complete their purchase, increasing your AOV and overall conversions. Use AI to dynamically personalize discount offers based on customer behavior and purchase history.

The fewer clicks between cart and confirmation, the better. So, simplify the journey by minimizing steps, reducing required information fields, and offering guest checkout options. Implement AI-powered autofill that remembers customer preferences, shipping addresses, and payment methods.

Hidden fees and surprise shipping charges usually lead to cart abandonments. To avoid this, display all costs, including taxes, shipping, and any other fees, clearly on the cart page before customers reach final checkout. AI can calculate and display real-time shipping estimates based on the customer's location and cart contents.

A sticky cart keeps items in the cart even when customers leave your site or close their browser. When they return, everything's waiting for them — no frustration, no searching, no lost sales. With an AI CRM, you can analyze when customers typically abandon carts and send personalized reminders at optimal times. It can also predict which saved cart items are most likely to convert and prioritize those in follow-up communications.

Think of your shopping cart as a final chance to make an impression before a purchase. Make the most of the opportunity by displaying personalized product recommendations, complementary items, or exclusive offers based on browsing history and previous purchases. AI can generate personalized recommendations or product bundles and identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities in real-time. And the best part? AI can identify patterns like "customers who bought X almost always add Y" and surface those opportunities instantly.

Your cart should be scannable at a glance. Make your "Proceed to checkout" button impossible to miss with contrasting colors and persuasive language. Display all essential details, like product images, selected sizes, prices, quantities, and order totals, in an organized, easy-to-read format. A/B test different button colors, placement, and copy to determine which convert best for different customer segments.

The shopping cart experience is one of the most crucial parts of the customer journey. It can either help or harm your average order value, cart abandonment rate, and overall customer satisfaction. Agentforce Commerce is a leader, trusted by the world’s largest retailers (for a reason!). Learn more about what the most complete ecommerce platform can do.