The Shopping Cart service layer
The Commerce Connect core framework contains a number of abstract service layers. The Shopping Cart service layer is one of the most important service layers.
Operations in the Shopping Cart service layer API
The following table describes the operations contained in the Shopping Cart service layer.
Type of operation |
Operations |
---|---|
Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD), and merge operations on a cart |
|
CRUD operations on cart lines |
|
CRUD operations on associated parties, for example, address and contact information |
|
Add and remove operations on associated shipping information |
|
Add and remove operations on associated payment information |
|
Locking and unlocking cart |
|
All operations marked with an asterisk (*) trigger a unique page event that allows the contact interaction to be carefully tracked, making it possible to report and act on these operations. Most of the events include information about the cart ID and the added products.
The page events are installed when you install Commerce Connect.
User-case scenarios
The following illustrates basic shopping cart user-case scenarios:
Typical storefront usage of the shopping cart API is as follows:
-
When the contact first arrives at the webshop, the
CreateOrResumeCart
method is called to retrieve the cart and to show the cart content and total in a mini-cart. -
If the contact has previously registered a profile and left a cart from previous visits, then the
MergeCart
method is called when the contact logs in. -
As the contact starts to add products to the shopping cart, the
AddCartLines
method is called. -
During the checkout process:
-
Shipping and billing addresses are added using the
AddParties
method. -
Shipping information specifying method and referring to lines and parties is added using the
AddShippingInfo
method. -
Payment information specifying method and referring to lines is added using the
AddPaymentInfo
method.
-
-
While processing the payment information and reserving money on credit cards, the cart is locked using the
LockCart
method.
For more detailed information, see the Commerce Connect Developer's Guide.
Cart-based rendering rule conditions
Commerce Connect includes three rendering rule conditions that can be used to personalize the contact experience based on the products in the cart, the cart total, and the quantity of products. The cart data is read live from the external commerce system, not from the marketing platform. The conditions can be combined in a rule in a number of different ways. For example:
-
Contains product: If [shopping cart contains product A] then …
-
Cart total: If [shopping cart total is > Y] then …
-
Item quantity: If [shopping cart total quantity of items > N] then …
-
A combination of the above: If [shopping cart contains more than N quantity of product A and cart total > Y] then …
The Abandoned Cart marketing automation campaign
Commerce Connect 9.0.2 and later contains a default Storefront Abandoned Cart marketing automation campaign that lets you track shopping carts and send emails to contacts when they abandon their cart.
The following code snippet is an example of how the Connect API handles the abandoned cart marketing automation plan.
var automationProvider = (IAutomationProvider)Factory.CreateObject("automationProvider", true);
var shopName = <sitename>
var template = "Abandoned Cart";
automationProvider.CreateFromTemplate(shopName, template);
The New Order Placed marketing automation campaign
The following code snippet is an example of how the Connect API handles the new order placed marketing automation plan.
var automationProvider = (IAutomationProvider)Factory.CreateObject("automationProvider", true);
var shopName = <sitename>
var template = "New Order Placed";
automationProvider.CreateFromTemplate(shopName, template);