Shopping cart software is software used in e-commerce to help people making purchases online. The software allows online shopping customers to keep items in the cart. On checking out, the software calculates a total for the order, including shipping and handling (that is for postage and packing) charges and the associated taxes, as applicable.

Shopping cart software usually consists of two components. The first one is the storefront. Storefront is the area of the web store that is accessed by visitors to the online shop. Category, product, and other pages are dynamically generated by the software based on the information saved in the store database.

Next comes the problem of administration. This is the section of a website normally accessible only by the merchant, wherein he can control the online shop. The options provided for store management accessibility varies by the sophistication of the shopping cart software; in general, however, the manager has the ability to add or manipulate products, categories, pricing and discounts, shipping and payment options, and many more. Most of these programs also include order management features.

One aspect of an ecommerce solution is a shopping cart. It is used to manage shopping basket lists and to calculate order totals. The terms "shopping cart" and "shopping basket system" are sometimes not used correctly. They do not actually describe overall ecommerce systems and solutions. Some ecommerce systems do not even require shopping carts.

A good advanced ecommerce system usually provides shopping cart functionality. Some of the functions product and category content management, category and product browsing and search, search engine friendly and optimized layout, order processing and fulfillment administration system, stock control, marketing offers management, postage and shipping calculator, customer relationship management, customer registration, login and order status tracking etc.

Shop around for shopping cart solutions. There are many package deals available that take the hard work and guesswork out of it for you. You purchase a package that includes everything you need for your e-commerce site. The packages are geared for sites of all sizes, from those having a limited product selection to those with thousands of products. Packages usually include a catalog feature, shopping cart, and the database structure needed to store everything. You add your personal touches such as branding and logos, and you are ready to go.