ProductAddedToCart

ProductAddedToCart is an e-commerce analytics event that records when a user adds a product to their shopping cart. It is a key signal in understanding shopping intent and user engagement, and it is commonly emitted by client-side interfaces when an add action occurs.

The event typically carries a structured payload including product identifiers (such as id or sku), name, category, and variant attributes, as well as price and currency, the requested quantity, and a timestamp. Additional fields may include cart_id or session_id for session continuity, position or path data indicating where the item was found, promotions or discounts applied, and the resulting cart total.

Analysts use this data to compute add-to-cart rate, cart uplift, and funnel progression to checkout and purchase. It supports product-level analytics, inventory checks, and personalized recommendations or targeting for abandoned-cart campaigns. In cross-channel environments, the event helps join online and offline touchpoints when available.

Best practices include ensuring consistent product identifiers across events, deduplicating duplicate adds, handling quantity updates and item removals, and aligning with privacy requirements. Platform conventions vary; for example, many systems call the event add_to_cart, while internal schemas may standardize on ProductAddedToCart with a unique event name. Data quality, timestamp precision, and careful handling of currency and price changes are important to avoid misleading metrics.

In summary, ProductAddedToCart is a foundational event in e-commerce analytics that captures immediate intent signals after a product is selected, enabling measurement, optimization, and targeting across the shopping journey.