Shopping cart software is an operating system that can be used to allow people to purchase your items, keep track of your accounts, and tie together all of the aspects of your eCommerce site into one cohesive whole.

While there are many other types of software that you can use in it's place, such as catalog software or a flat order form, shopping cart software is the most popular and the most widely known.

Many Online Transaction Providers will have shopping cart software that comes with their service, but it can often be very expensive, so be warned. If you cannot afford to spend at least a couple of hundred dollars on this software, you should be looking for a package that offers it as a rental included in the monthly service charge, or one that offers a simple flat order form.