I am almost done developing this e-commerce site and my client just asked me to add a shopping cart. I have some templates, but I want to start from scratch, is there a specific way of starting to do it? What should I consider when building a shopping cart?

Would be nice to know what you intend to use PHP/ASP or ASP.NET/JSP....

I use PHP/ASP, why?

So people can help you with it! It wouldn't help you too much if I provided shopping cart in JSP, don't you think so?
Do you want this post to move into PHP section of the forum or ASP section? (Just to speed up process as Graphics and multimedia is for different things)

oh, yes, that will be great. Thanks, then

You must keep in mind these points:
Back end is very important for a shopping cart site..means administration area will be must...
in this admin area:
1.provide add products,manage products(edit,delete,give status active or inactive)
,when admin do the product active,then it will be seen by front end...
2.manage users..
3.see order details...like the order is whether delivered,rejected or pending...
4.updating the currency value every day by admin..
5.setting shipping details based on quantity and distance...

At front end:
1.show all products with details(price,features,model etc...)
2.provide cart to put all wishing products..
3.provide update quantity,delete product from the cart..
4.provide to view the cart..
5.provide registration and login to have member ship..
6.check out the products only for registered members..
7.when check out is processing , ask permanent details and shipping details..
8.when order has been requested, send a mail to customer to view their details...
9.provide the customer to edit their profile , to see their orders,view product details in that order...
10.provide to have feedback and contact...


And choose your scripting languages,database and money gate way finely..

And set your database tables to provide all the above mentioned...

Any queries to ask?????

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.