1ShoppingCart

What is 1ShoppingCart

1ShoppingCart is an all-in-one e-commerce software solution designed for small and medium-sized businesses. Its main purpose is to provide a single platform to manage online sales, marketing, and customer relationships. The tool combines a shopping cart system with email marketing automation, affiliate program management, and product management. This integrated approach helps entrepreneurs sell both digital and physical goods without needing multiple separate services. Founded in 2001, 1ShoppingCart is one of the more established players in the e-commerce field, known for its robust feature set that supports subscription models and recurring billing. It aims to be a complete business command center for online merchants.

1ShoppingCart Features

1ShoppingCart offers a wide range of features to manage an online business from a single dashboard.

• Shopping Cart System: Provides a secure and customizable shopping cart and checkout process. It supports various payment gateways, allowing businesses to accept payments from customers worldwide.
• Email Marketing & Autoresponders: A built-in email marketing suite lets you create and send newsletters, promotional campaigns, and automated follow-up email sequences. This helps in nurturing leads and retaining customers.
• Affiliate Program Management: Users can create, manage, and track their own affiliate program. This feature allows you to recruit partners to promote your products in exchange for a commission, a powerful way to drive sales.
• Product & Order Management: The platform supports an unlimited number of products, including physical goods, digital downloads, and services. It also includes tools for managing inventory, processing orders, and handling shipping.
• Recurring Billing & Subscriptions: Easily set up and manage subscription-based products or services with automated recurring billing. This is ideal for membership sites or subscription boxes.
• Digital Product Delivery: Securely and automatically delivers digital products like ebooks, software, or courses to customers immediately after purchase.
• Reporting & Analytics: Get insights into your business performance with detailed reports on sales, traffic, and marketing campaign effectiveness.

1ShoppingCart Pricing Plans

1ShoppingCart typically offers several pricing tiers to fit different business sizes and needs. The plans are structured based on the number of contacts in your email list, the volume of emails you can send per month, and access to advanced features.

• Starter Plan: Aimed at new businesses and entrepreneurs starting out. It includes all the essential features like the shopping cart, product management, and basic email marketing, but with limits on contacts and email sends.
• Growth Plan: Designed for growing businesses that need more capacity. This plan usually offers a higher contact limit, more monthly emails, and includes the affiliate management system.
• Professional Plan: Suited for established businesses with a large customer base. It provides the highest limits on contacts and emails, along with access to all features, including advanced marketing and automation tools.

1ShoppingCart Free Plan

1ShoppingCart does not offer a permanent free plan. However, they provide a free trial period for new users. This trial allows you to test the platform's full functionality for a limited time, typically 14 or 30 days. During the trial, you can set up your store, add products, and explore the email marketing and affiliate features to see if it meets your business requirements before committing to a paid plan.

How to use 1ShoppingCart

Getting started with 1ShoppingCart involves a few straightforward steps to set up your online store.

1. Sign Up: Begin by signing up for a free trial on the 1ShoppingCart website.
2. Initial Setup: In your dashboard, configure your basic store settings. This includes your business name, address, currency, and time zone.
3. Add Products: Navigate to the product section and add your items. You can specify if they are physical or digital, set prices, write descriptions, and upload images.
4. Configure Payments: Connect your preferred payment gateway, such as PayPal or Stripe, to start accepting payments.
5. Set Up Shipping & Taxes: If you sell physical goods, configure your shipping rates and tax rules based on customer location.
6. Customize Your Storefront: Use the available tools to customize the look of your product pages and checkout process to match your brand.
7. Create Marketing Campaigns: Go to the email marketing section to create an autoresponder series for new customers or send a promotional newsletter to your list.
8. Launch: Once everything is set up, you can start promoting your store and processing orders.

Pros and Cons of 1ShoppingCart

Pros

• All-in-One Platform: Combines shopping cart, email marketing, and affiliate management in one place, reducing the need for multiple tools.
• Strong Affiliate System: The built-in affiliate management feature is robust and a key advantage over many competitors.
• Good for Digital Products: Excellent support for selling and automatically delivering digital goods and managing subscriptions.
• Established and Reliable: As a long-standing platform, it is stable and has a proven track record.

Cons

• Dated User Interface: The dashboard and design templates can feel old compared to more modern e-commerce platforms.
• Limited Customization: The design and customization options for storefronts are not as flexible as some alternatives.
• Learning Curve: The platform's extensive features can be overwhelming for complete beginners.

1ShoppingCart integrations

1ShoppingCart integrates with a variety of third-party applications and services to extend its functionality.

• Payment Gateways: It connects with major payment processors like PayPal, Stripe, and Authorize.Net to handle transactions securely.
• Accounting Software: You can integrate with QuickBooks to sync sales data and simplify your accounting processes.
• Shipping Providers: The platform works with shipping services to calculate real-time shipping rates and manage logistics.
• Zapier: Through Zapier, you can connect 1ShoppingCart to hundreds of other web applications, automating workflows between different tools you use.

1ShoppingCart Alternatives

• Shopify: A very popular and user-friendly platform with a modern interface and a vast app store. It is an excellent choice for businesses focused on physical products and needing extensive customization.
• BigCommerce: A powerful and scalable e-commerce platform with strong built-in features and excellent SEO capabilities. It is well-suited for larger stores and businesses planning to grow significantly.
• SamCart: A platform focused on creating high-converting checkout pages and sales funnels. It is ideal for selling a single product or a small range of products and maximizing conversion rates.
• ThriveCart: A shopping cart platform known for its one-time payment model instead of monthly fees. It offers powerful features for creating funnels, managing affiliates, and selling digital products.

1ShoppingCart API

Yes, 1ShoppingCart provides a robust API for developers. This allows for custom integrations and connections with other software systems. The API enables you to programmatically manage products, orders, customers, and more.

To get an API key, you typically need to log into your 1ShoppingCart merchant account, navigate to the developer or API settings section, and generate a new key. The API documentation, available on their developer portal, provides all the necessary information to get started.

Here is a generic example of how you might use the API with cURL to fetch a list of orders:

curl -X GET \
  'https://api.1shoppingcart.com/v1/orders' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json'

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with the actual key from your account.

1ShoppingCart Affiliate Program

1ShoppingCart offers an affiliate program for users who want to promote the platform itself. Affiliates can earn a commission for every new customer they refer who signs up for a paid plan. The commission is typically a recurring percentage of the referred customer's monthly subscription fee, allowing affiliates to build a passive income stream.

To join, you can usually find a link to the affiliate program on the 1ShoppingCart website. The sign-up process involves filling out an application form. Once approved, you will get access to a dashboard with your unique referral links, marketing materials, and tools to track your clicks and commissions. Payments are generally made on a regular schedule, for example monthly, once you reach a minimum payout threshold.