Running an online store is no small feat, especially when more than 70% of online shoppers abandon their carts. Studies suggest that cart abandonment rates range between 50% to 90%, depending on the industry. One major reason? Poorly optimized cart pages.
While Shopify offers a robust platform for eCommerce, many businesses still struggle to fully leverage its cart page. If you’re one of the many searching “how to customize cart page in Shopify,” this guide is tailored for you. An optimized cart page not only improves conversions but also contributes to a better customer journey—ultimately boosting your revenue.
Defining Shopify Shopping Cart Page
First, let’s get to learn about the Shopify cart page. It is basically your online store’s page where any potential customer can see and manage his desired items prior to checking out. Therefore, it is safe to state that it acts as a critical component of any eCommerce website that can make visitors become shoppers. Moreover, this page usually showcases the items that you as a shopper have been including in your cart. It also showcases other important product details, such as its quantities and costs.
Cart Page vs. Checkout Page in Shopify
Many new Shopify store owners mistakenly use the terms Cart Page and Checkout Page interchangeably — but in reality, these are two distinct stages in the buying journey, each with its own purpose and customization scope.
The Shopify Cart Page
This is the page where customers review the products they’ve added, make quantity changes, apply coupon codes, or review shipping thresholds (like free shipping alerts). Think of it as the last stop before a user commits to buy.
Key functions of the Cart Page:
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Displays all selected items with prices, variants, and quantities
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Allows customers to remove or adjust items
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Shows subtotal, estimated shipping, and applied discounts
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May include upsell offers or product recommendations
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Hosts order notes, gift wrap options, and terms acceptance (if enabled)
Customizations Possible: Using Shopify’s theme editor, apps, and code changes (e.g., Liquid, metafields), store owners have high control over layout, functionality, and content here.
The Shopify Checkout Page
Once a customer clicks “Checkout,” they are taken to the Checkout Page, where they input personal information, select a shipping method, and choose payment options.
Key functions of the Checkout Page:
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Collects customer name, email, shipping address, and phone number
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Allows shipping method selection (e.g., standard, express)
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Displays payment options and handles secure transactions
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Summarizes the final order with taxes and total costs
Customizations Limited (on Basic Shopify): Shopify restricts most checkout customizations for security and consistency reasons unless you are on Shopify Plus, which unlocks checkout.liquid access and additional customization capabilities.
Include These Elements in a Shopify Shopping Cart Page
Cart Features: There are several cart features that are supposed to take added details about a customer order. These are commonly showcased on a buyer’s order note. Some of these are the collection of a customer’s email, name, birthday, state/city, and gender. Generally, this information is useful to help any business better understand the customer. As a result, the business can serve better, allowing the possibility of creating trust between the two entities.
Free Shipping Banner: Usually, this banner showcases a message regarding the quantity that a customer should invest in order to enjoy the free shipping facility. Commonly, stores set up a free shipping threshold. This propels the general customers to include more things in their cart in order to pass this threshold. Already, there are many reports that highlight that this banner has aided in decreasing the cart abandonment rate.
Shipping-Related Information: It is a well-known fact that product shipping is one of the leading concerns of online shoppers. Here, the business websites should act wise and offer delivery timeframes and shipping costs. All of this shipping-related information would ultimately go on to assist a customer in making better decisions regarding potential buyouts. This would also allow a more transparent shipping operation, which is something that customers appreciate.
The Summary: This is a must-note point for all of those that ask the “how to customize cart page in Shopify” question. You should have a Cart Summary page or section that indicates a host of points. These may include and are not limited to the quantity of your items, total discount achieved, the subtotal, information regarding taxes, total weight, and total price. Here, you may not need to be very elaborative regarding the summary design. Perhaps simplicity is the key here, which would ultimately make your shopper fully commit to the purchasing practice.
The Coupon Tab: Many online businesses fail to offer the ease of entering their coupon/discount code at their cart. Try not to make this mistake as this is one of the biggest things that can sway a potential customer away from a service. Here, a business should allot the coupon tab at an easily seen place at the cart where the customer can enter a code. Additionally, you can choose to show how a discount is applied on the overall amount. Most certainly, this would lead towards a smoother buyout experience.
Payment Methods: Almost every online shopper has his own preferred payment method. This is why an online business should try its best to give ease to a customer in using his preferred payment method. There are countless cases in which a customer has gone on to abandon his cart. The only reason here was that the person failed to come across a suitable payment option. Moreover, businesses should be smart enough to clearly display the available payment options. Here, they can go for larger and more obvious logos or icons associated with the payment method.
Checkout Button: You must make sure that you put forth a clear and perhaps a large Checkout button. This would greatly help the end customer as the person would be able to easily spot it, thereby allowing the shopper to rather easily conclude the purchasing activity. No doubt, online customers of all sorts prefer convenience and simplicity. This is why if you can incorporate a more prominent Checkout button then it could have a very positive impact on your overall customer retention rate.
The Continue Shopping Option: Sadly, the Continue Shopping button is overlooked by even some of today’s most prominent online businesses. You must never underestimate this button’s importance as it offers a clear and easy route back to the collection/product page from the cart. On a side note, there are many instances when a customer wants to have a thorough review of what they have planned to buy.
How To Customize Cart Page In Shopify
The following is considered to be the best way regarding how to customize cart page in Shopify:
Using Shopify Theme’s Editor: Take note of this step-by-step process –
- First, you need to log in to your Shopify Admin. Once you are logged in, you then need to visit the “Online Store” section. When you are there, just select the “Customize” button. This button is present near the theme that is the target of your editing.
- At the editor page, you need to click the “Cart” option. You will find this at the page’s dropdown menu.
- By this time, in your editor interface, you should be able to view a host of things that have already become a part of the page. This may include Featured Collection or Subtotal. If you want to tweak the overall design or content of such elements, you need to click on them. This would allow you to alter the data on the left side.
- Here, many choose to add a section. If this is also your priority, then you just need to select the “Add Section” option. This will then allow you to select from the provided list. Here, remember that you have the option of altering a section’s position via the drag-drop feature.
- Once you are done with all of the changes then just click the “Save” button. You will find this button to be present at the top-right corner of the page.
Conclusion
The good news for all those that ask the “how to customize cart page in Shopify” question is that this can be easily done. But, before you engage in any such activity, it is important for you to have a thorough knowledge of a host of things, such as critical elements in a Cart page. This would allow you to better deliver with your commitments as an online business and would make your customers enjoy a hassle-free online shopping experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What are common reasons for cart abandonment?
- Complicated checkout process
- Limited or unclear payment options
- Slow website performance
- High shipping costs or surprise fees
- Lack of trust in data security
Q2: Is the Shopify Checkout Page the same as the Cart Page?
No. The Cart Page is where users review selected items, while the Checkout Page is where they enter payment and shipping information.
Q3: Can a well-designed cart page improve conversion rates?
Absolutely. A streamlined, transparent, and user-friendly cart page significantly reduces abandonment and increases conversions.
Q4: Can I include Terms & Conditions on the Cart Page?
Yes. You can add a checkbox to ensure customers agree to your terms before proceeding.
Q5: Can the Cart Page be used for upselling?
Yes. Use sections to showcase related products or bundle deals directly within the cart to boost average order value.
