Cart persistence

Last update: July 25, 2024

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A persistent shopping cart saves a reference to the customer’s account on the current device, ensuring cart contents remain accessible when the logged-in session expires.

If a customer is remembered, the contents of their shopping cart remains accessible on the current device when the logged-in session expires. After the session expires, the customer’s shopping cart is accessed using the persistent cart session. If the same customer logs in on another device or browser and adds something to their shopping cart, and then returns to the device with an active persistent session, their shopping cart is updated with the added items.

Using a persistent shopping cart can reduce the number of abandoned shopping carts and increase sales. The persistent shopping cart does not expose sensitive account information at any time.

To manage the use of cart persistence for your site or within specific store views, you can configure persistent shopping cart settings. For more information about how these settings affect the shopper experience in your storefront, see Persistent cart workflow.

NOTE
The persistent shopping cart capability is available only to customers that are registered and signed-in. Guest shoppers cannot use the persistent shopping cart feature.

Persistent cart workflow

When the persistent shopping cart is enabled, the workflow depends on:

  • The values of the Enable Remember Me and Clear Persistence on Log Out settings
  • The customer’s decision to select or clear the Remember Me checkbox
  • When the persistent cookie is cleared

When the customer session expires, a Not Jane Smith? link displays in the page header under the following conditions:

  • the logged in customer has selected the Remember Me option and a persistent cookie is applied
  • the customer logs out when the system is configured with Clear Persistence on Sign Out set to No.

The system retains a record of the shopping cart contents on the current device, even if the logged-in session expires. The Not Jane Smith? link allows the customer to terminate the persistent session and start working as a guest, or to log in as a different or the same customer.

If the customer checked the Remember Me checkbox when logging in, your store creates and maintains a separate persistent cookie. This cookie helps keep the customer’s shopping cart accessible even after they close the browser or navigate to a different site and their logged in session expires.

If this same customer visits your store using multiple browsers while logged in or while a persistent session is active, the changes the customer makes to the shopping cart content in one browser are reflected in other browsers when the page is refreshed.

NOTE
To ensure cart synchronization across multiple devices or browsers, customers must log in on each new device they use for shopping. For logged in customers, the contents of the shopping cart is synchronized across multiple devices and browsers as long as they are logged in under the same account, regardless of the Persistent Cart configuration.