It may come as a surprise, but shopping carts come in diverse designs that help shop owners fine-tune their inventory. Optimizing shopping carts is one of the best ways to improve customer experience and buying habits because it’s the tool the shopper uses to store their items during their trip.
Simply put, shopping carts are essential. So how can you avoid making novice mistakes when updating your fleet? Check out these top five features to prioritize when you buy shopping carts for your business.
Basket Size
Suffice it to say that the size of the car’s basket is among the most important details to consider for this purchase. When it comes to carts, basket size determines how many products a single customer can carry at one time. Shopping carts aren’t a one-size-fits-all accessory, but that doesn’t mean your browsing experience needs to be challenging. For instance, you can look at our refurbished shopping carts online to find options available in small, medium, and large sizes.
Small carts are great for customers who want to get in and get out quickly. That said, larger baskets provide customers more space and, thus, more flexibility when shopping. If a shopper picks up a predetermined number of chip bags, a spacious cart makes it easy to add extra bags if the customer comes across a convenient deal.
After all, when a customer fills their cart entirely, they have no choice but to end their shopping spree unless they want to spend the time reorganizing their cart and removing certain items. More space means customers can have more flexibility than frustration during stops at the store.
Durable Performance
Another way that shopping carts vary is their material. Shopping carts are available in metal and plastic options. Your initial assumption may be that metal is far more durable than plastic carts, but that’s not entirely true.
For instance, at Carriage Trade Service Co., our shopping cart inventory includes plastic carts that deliver a comfortable and durable performance so that the strength isn’t vastly lower. Strength is crucial for carts because not every customer will treat the cart with care and respect. Whether bumping into shelves or cars, your cart shouldn’t fall into pieces after its first collision.
If you rely on carts made of inferior materials, your fleet may accrue bumps, scrapes, and other damages rather quickly. The best way to ensure you’re working with durable materials is to buy carts from reliable vendors. Moreover, scan the listings on vendor sites to read customer reviews. After reading what past customers have to say about a specific cart, you can make a more informed purchase for your store.
Convenient Mobility
The list of critical features to prioritize when you buy shopping carts includes convenient mobility. After all, a cart that the customer must fight to control isn’t exactly going to be much help during their shopping experience. Quality carts have a mixture of solid strength and maneuverability to ensure customers can move them comfortably without sacrificing durability.
For those who want to prioritize minimal weight, consider buying plastic carts over metal ones. A fleet of metal carts can be durable and reliable, but it’ll also be heavier than its plastic counterpart. However, having a high level of comfort when moving a cart requires more than lightweight materials. For instance, how do the cart’s wheels feel when rolling around the store?
The wheel design is critical to your cart because it helps customers maintain control. If the wheels don’t work correctly, the customer will fight with the cart more than they store items in it. Now, you’re privy to the functional features to focus on during your cart purchase. This is about choosing carts that prioritize performance. Let’s dive into the next stop on our checklist: considering cart color.
Cart Color
When adding new carts to your inventory, take the time to look at your color options. Carts come in various colors, from the standard gray to bright green and beyond. This is a helpful step because it allows you to tailor the cart design to mix better with your company logo or any other color scheme that makes sense for your store.
Therefore, you can ensure the carts truly feel like a part of your team. It might sound like a small detail, but it’s precisely those seemingly small details that can impact your store’s appearance. Of course, if you want to choose a standard or random color, it probably won’t drive people away from your store in droves. That said, customizing cart colors is excellent for those who want to optimize each facet of their store to reflect their brand.
You can echo your logo further in the cart design with the help of printed panels. The team at Carriage Trade Service Co. is happy to add a panel featuring your company logo if you check the designated box when checking out. Some carts have customizable handle colors, too, bringing more ways for you to optimize the cart layout. Paying attention to color choice is an easy step that will help your store look more cohesive.
Cart Corrals
We have one more stop on this list to discuss, and that’s cart corrals. A cart corral is a space in stores and parking lots where customers can take or place their carts. Parking lot corrals are particularly helpful because they give customers a place to put their carts instead of walking back to the store. Likewise, the parking lot corral keeps carts from sliding into parked cars.
Of course, cart corrals aren’t features that come with an order of carts. Instead, buying one or more cart corrals is something you should have in mind when purchasing the titular tools. Do you have enough carts currently to accommodate your new shipment?
If not, then head to your cart supplier for corrals to learn if they have any available. That way, you can get hardware from one consistent, reliable place instead of having to shop at various stores. Now that you know the cart-buying essentials, you can start perusing your options whenever you’re ready to invest in a new set.
