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How Customers Check Out from the Side Cart

Updated
Feature Availability User Permissions Time to Complete Skill Level
Philippine and US online stores on Launch, Grow, Scale and the free trial. It's on automatically, with nothing to set up None. This is what your customers see in your online store About 5 minutes to try it yourself Beginner

Summary

Overview: Your online store has a side cart. When a shopper adds a product, the Shopping Cart slides in from the right side of the screen (from the bottom on phones). Shoppers can change quantities, remove items, mark an item as a gift and check out, all without leaving the page they're on. The full cart page is still one click away.

Prerequisites:

  • A published online store with at least one product customers can buy.
  • Checkout turned on for your store. See How to Turn On Checkout for Your Store.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Open the side cart

The side cart opens in two ways:

  1. The shopper adds a product to the cart from a product page or the product list. The side cart opens every time a product is added.
  2. The shopper clicks the cart icon (View Shopping Cart) in your store's header. A red badge on the icon shows how many items are in the cart. Clicking the icon again closes the side cart.

On a computer, the side cart opens on the right. On a phone, it slides up from the bottom of the screen. The cart icon is hidden on the store locations page and the thank-you page. On the cart and checkout pages, the side cart stays closed.

Step 2: Review the items

The title shows Shopping Cart and the number of items, for example (2 items). For each item, the shopper sees:

  • The product image and name.
  • The quantity and unit price (for example 2 x the price), and the variant name if there is one.
  • Any add-ons under Add On:, with their price. See How to Offer Product Add-ons.
  • The item total.

Step 3: Change quantities or remove items

  1. Click - or + to change the quantity. The shopper can't go above the stock you have for the product or variant (products set to always in stock have no limit).
  2. Digital products have no - or + buttons.
  3. If the product has a minimum order quantity, a smaller quantity shows Minimum order of (N) units is required.
  4. Click the bin icon (Remove item) to take an item out of the cart.

Step 4: Add a gift note (optional)

Under each item, the shopper can tick This product is a gift. A Gift Note: form opens:

  1. Add a message...: up to 150 characters. A counter shows how many are used.
  2. From:: filled in with the shopper's name if they're logged in.
  3. Add Recipient: click to add the recipient's email address. Click Remove Recipient to take it off.

If the gift note isn't complete, the shopper sees Please complete the dedication, and checkout shows Please fill in all gift details.

The gift note isn't shown for stores on the Free plan.

Step 5: Check out

  1. The shopper clicks Checkout at the bottom of the side cart. The button shows Processing... while the cart is handed over.
  2. The shopper goes straight to checkout.

Some stores send the shopper to the full cart page first, so the right steps happen there:

  • Dine-in QR Code Menu orders go to the cart page to place the table order. See How to Set Up Menu View and QR Code Menu.
  • Stores that use Custom Delivery Date send the shopper to the cart page to choose a delivery date. See How to Use the Marketplace.

Step 6: Open the full cart page (optional)

On a computer, the shopper can click the expand icon (View full cart) next to the title to open the full cart page. Gift notes are saved first.

Verify It Worked

Success criteria:

  • Open your online store in a private browser window and add a product. The Shopping Cart slides in with the product and a Checkout button.
  • Change the quantity in the side cart. The item total updates.
  • Click Checkout. The checkout page opens with the items from the side cart.

Troubleshooting

Common errors

  • "Login or Create an Account" appears when a shopper clicks Checkout: your store doesn't allow guest checkout, so the shopper must log in or click Create an Account first. To let shoppers buy without an account, see How to Set Up Customer Accounts and Guest Checkout.
  • A "Store Closed" message appears at checkout: you've temporarily closed the shopper's store location for these dates, so they can't check out physical products. Carts with only digital products can still check out. See How to Temporarily Close Your Store.
  • "We could not save your gift details. Please try again.": the gift note couldn't be saved before the shopper moved to the cart page. They can try again.
  • "Please fill in all gift details": the shopper ticked This product is a gift but left part of the gift note empty, or added a recipient without an email address. They need to complete it, or untick the box.
  • "Something went wrong. Please try again.": the cart couldn't be handed over to checkout. The shopper can try again, or open the full cart page with View full cart.
  • The side cart says "Your cart is empty!": there's nothing in the cart yet. Start Shopping takes the shopper to your products. If customer accounts are on and the shopper isn't logged in, they also see Sign in to view their saved favorites and order history.

Limitations & considerations

  • You can't turn the side cart off or change its layout.
  • The Checkout button in the side cart checks out every item in the cart.
  • Shoppers can't remove items they've already ordered at their table through the QR Code Menu.
  • If customer accounts are off, the side cart never asks shoppers to log in or sign in.

Next Steps & Related Resources

Need more help? For more information and assistance, please send an email to support@prosperna.com.

Last Updated: 10/09/2026