One of the more common requests I hear from my clients is "We want a unified online shopping experience. We want our members to be able to renew their membership, register for an event, buy a booth, buy sponsorship items, buy products, buy anything, all in the same e-commerce session."

The sentiment makes sense to me. We shouldn't make our customers have to buy distinct items in separate e-commerce sessions. But the reality is, not all items are going to be purchased together, and working toward a unified experience that allows anyone to buy any and all things in one e-commerce session may not be sensible or practical.

Allow me to illustrate.

It is not uncommon for members and customers to want to be able to join and register for an event at the same time. And it also makes sense to offer them an opportunity to donate to the association during many or most of these processes (e.g., add a donation line to the renewal process). But how often is a customer going to be joining the association and purchasing an exhibit at the same time? How often will they want to buy a product and register to attend an event at the same time? How often will they want to sign up for a certification program and buy an exhibit at the same time?

What we really need to do is identify those items that are likely to be purchased together and make sure those products can be purchased in the same e-commerce session. For example, I've had clients that offer events that include an optional textbook, so managing event registration and a product sale is functionality they need. But most associations don't do this.

Make sure you can combine the products you need to combine, but requiring all products be available at all times to all customers is typically not necessary.