Carts are smart buyer assistants that contain the merchandise that a buyer intends to purchase and information about the buyer.
This guide introduces carts within the context of the buying journey, ways that you can extend a cart's functionality, and some considerations before you get started with building carts.
How it work
The following components form a part of every buying journey:
A storefront is where merchants tell their brand story, and where customers browse available products.
A cart is where customers add products that they're interested in buying, and remove products that they no longer want to buy. A customer might visit their cart multiple times to renegotiate with themselves before they make a final purchase.
A checkout is where a customer makes their final decision to purchase products, and completes a transaction.
Speed and scale
Shopify's cart functionality is built on the same infrastructure as our storefronts. Carts are deployed globally and deliver a low-latency experience to buyers around the world.
Carts don't have any global API rate limits. This means that merchants can confidently launch their biggest flash sale, or absorb an unexpected wave of buyers.