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Did you know WordPress powers almost 43% of the websites on the internet? WordPress is beyond doubt the best platform for building any kind of website. eCommerce stores aren’t an exception either. By default, there isn’t an option for eCommerce sites, but there are many plugins available in the WordPress directory that lets you create an eCommerce store.
Since online stores require to offer a good shopping experience to customers for both pre-sales and post-sales, they should be designed and built with that purpose in focus. A poorly functioning website can ruin your business, so you want to make sure you make the right choice.
In this article, you will learn about factors you should consider when choosing a WordPress eCommerce plugin. We will also list some of the best eCommerce plugins available in WordPress and their features. So let’s dive into the article.
Things to Consider Before Choosing an eCommerce Plugin
Following are the major things to consider before choosing an eCommerce Plugin
1. Ease of use
For managing your store fast and efficiently, it should be user-friendly. User-friendliness is the topmost criterion for any eCommerce plugin. It will help you save your time and to use it wisely.
2. Third-party apps/plugin integration
As your store expands, the built-in options may not suffice for your needs. This will require you to integrate third-party apps and plugins into your store. Thus it is always best to go for an eCommerce plugin that allows easier integration of such tools and third-party extensions.
3. Diversity in payment methods
A proper payment system is the backbone of any online store. There are several payment methods out there. Thus the eCommerce plugin must support all the popular payment solutions within it either built-in or via third-party integration.
4. Support
No matter how user-friendly your chosen eCommerce platform is or how good you are at handling technical glitches, there would be times when you would be forced to seek help from the outside to get things fixed. Thus always choose the plugin that offers excellent support when requested.
You can also opt for a plugin with huge community backing. In such cases, you are very likely to get help from a lot of people from the community.
5. Mobile-friendliness
Today, more than half of online shoppers use smartphones for shopping online, so it’s important to make sure your website is mobile-friendly. Also, your website must be responsive and should not have any compatible issues.
6. Security
You should make sure that your eCommerce website has proper security features like PCI SSL fraud prevention and data backup. Otherwise, your customers won’t buy products from your eCommerce store. Also, use multi-factor authentication for offering extra security. Customers should feel like their payment details are safe and secure on your website.
7. Compatibility
Make sure the eCommerce plugin you select is compatible with WordPress versions and is up-to-date. In addition, make sure the plugin is updated frequently and has a good bug fix history.
8. Cost of Installation
You should be aware of the cost of installation before choosing an eCommerce plugin. The cost for the plugin depends on various factors like design, configurations, maintenance, etc. You should choose the right plugin by comparing the price and the features it offers.
9. Type of Products you are selling
Another important factor to consider before choosing an eCommerce plugin is the type of products you are selling in your eCommerce store. There are different plugins specifically made for the type of products to sell. For eg: Easy Digital Downloads is an eCommerce plugin that offers to sell downloadable products.
Now that you are aware of the requirements for a good eCommerce plugin, let’s see some of the best WordPress plugins for eCommerce websites.
Best eCommerce plugins for WordPress
1. WooCommerce
WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce plugin available for WordPress. It powers about 5 million websites. There are numerous reasons why people prefer WooCommerce to any other platform the most. Being a free plugin WooCommerce makes it affordable to set up online stores easily. It comes with thousands of both free and premium extensions that allow you to expand your store to any level you wish to take it.
Benefits of using WooCommerce
Easy to use: WooCommerce is very user-friendly, which helps users to save a lot of time.
Flexible: WooCommerce lets you sell both physical and digital goods. You can customize WooCommerce with a wide selection of themes and extensions.
Payment and Shipping – Supports most of the payment gateways and you can add extensive options for payment. Also helps in calculating shipping taxes.
Affiliate marketing- WooCommerce allows you to sell affiliate and external products. This can be helpful for affiliate marketers.
Inventory Management: WooCommerce comes with inventory management tools that allow you to manage your stocks easily.
Support- There are numerous documentation and a large network of community forums available for WooCommerce, so getting support will be much easier.
Download WooCommerce.
2. Easy Digital Downloads
Are you planning to sell digital products such as software, computer games, or ebooks? Then this is the right plugin for you. This digital eCommerce plugin lets you create your digital store using WordPress. It specializes in digital product sales. The free version of this plugin gives access to features like customer management, discount codes, and shopping cart management. You can upgrade to premium if you want extended features.
Benefits of using Easy Digital Downloads
Easy to use- As the name suggests, the plugin is easy to use and is very beginner-friendly.
Extensions- There are hundreds of extensions available for this plugin. These extensions provide different functionalities from payment to marketing.
Downloadable products- As mentioned above, this plugin is specially made for selling digital products. This plugin supports downloadable products. You can add downloadable files to the product page.
Sell physical products- Yes, you heard it right. This is kind of an easter egg. The plugin also lets you sell physical products with the help of an add-on extension.
Download Easy Digital Downloads
3. BigCommerce for WordPress
This plugin is one of the largest eCommerce platforms in the world. It also allows you to integrate with WordPress to manage your eCommerce store. The plugin comes with everything you need to run an eCommerce store. All you need is to sign up with your BigCommerce account. Besides being secure, BigCommerce is also easy to use, and it helps by automating every step that occurs when setting up and running an online store.
Benefits of using BigCommerce
Cross channel selling- BigCommerce allows you to sell across different channels. You can connect buyers through various platforms including Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. There are also options to integrate with top marketplaces like Amazon and eBay.
Multiple payment options support- You can accept payments in more than 100 currencies and provide local payment methods as per customer preferences. Besides the multi-currency option, there’s multi-language support by using third-party APIs.
24/7 Customer Support- BigCommerce has a great support team of experts who will guide you through the very beginning of setting up your store. They have various support options including a live chat feature, email support, Help guides, video documentation, and Phone support.
SEO features- The plugin also comes with some strong SEO tools that help you rank your store top on search engines. In this way, you can generate more organic traffic to your store.
Mobile Friendliness- BigCommerce lets you create a responsive store that is mobile-friendly.
This ensures that your customer gets the best shopping experience from your store.
Download BigCommerce for WordPress
4. WP Easy Cart
You can convert any existing websites or new websites into a powerful eCommerce store in minutes. This plugin lets you sell all types of products including physical products, subscriptions, digital downloadable products, gift cards, etc. This plugin supports many payment gateways including Stripe and PayPal.
Benefits of using WP Easy Cart
Catalog only mode- The plugin has a catalog only mode that lets users browse the products without purchasing option.
Additional shipping method- Many extensive shipping options help in international trading. You can now enter a global handling fee, which will be added to the shipping rates.
Tax Options- The plugin offers flexible tax options that help international sellers. Duty or customs taxes can be added to international orders. There are also options to enable VAT based on the country. In addition, you can configure regional taxes for your country to use more than one tax rate simultaneously.
Download WP Easy Cart
5. MemberPress
MemberPress is one of the most popular membership subscription plugins available for WordPress. The plugin allows you to sell subscription-based digital products and services. It can also be used with WooCommerce to give extended options.
Benefits of using MemberPress
Access controls- The plugin comes with powerful access control options to define user access levels and restrictions. Restricted content can only be accessed by users who have permission.
Content dripping- It lets you deliver paid content over time, similar to Amazon Prime shows.
Online Course- It can be used to sell online courses.
Buy MemberPress
6. WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments
The WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments plugin transforms your WooCommerce site into a powerful booking system for services and products. With features like single and flexible day booking, appointment scheduling, and recurring bookings, it suits a range of needs from online rentals to service appointments. Enjoy dynamic pricing, Google Calendar sync, and customizable notifications to streamline your booking process and enhance customer experience.
Benefits of Using WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments:
- Versatile Booking Options: Offer single-day, multiple-day, or flexible bookings with start and end dates to suit various services like tours, rentals, and appointments.
- Dynamic Pricing: Automatically calculate total costs based on factors like a number of slots, additional services, and special discounts.
- Google Calendar Sync: Integrate seamlessly with Google Calendar to manage and sync bookings directly from your calendar.
- Customizable Notifications: Send automated email notifications and reminders for bookings, confirmations, and cancellations.
- Advanced Management: Set up special pricing, manage availability, and allow partial payments or deposits for added flexibility.
- Multi-Language Support: Available in multiple languages and compatible with WPML for global reach and accessibility.
Buy – WooCommerce Bookings and Appointments
7. WP Guidant
WP Guidant is an advanced product recommendation quiz and form builder for WordPress websites. You can easily improve your customer’s purchasing experience with multi-step guided selling processes from this plugin. WP Guidant has essential options for creating guides with various filters, cards, sliders, and forms. However, it can be considered a form plugin also. It has functions for making conversational forms with conditional logic.
Benefits of Using WP Guidant
Unlimited Filters – Make your sales funnel or guided selling process with unlimited numbers of filters. There is no limitation of using filters to create multi-step guides. So, create the guides more user-friendly with filters.
Pre-designed Templates – Also, WP Guidant has various pre-designed templates for users such as ecommerce, SEO services, real estate, customer feedback, webinar registration, renting a car, etc.
Smart Conditional Logic – Use the smart conditional logic to specify the results for various products, categories, posts, post categories, and more attributes.
Lead Generation Forms – Craft smart lead generation forms to collect your customer’s information. This plugin offers you options for choosing various form filters to build it efficiently.
Download WP Guidant
8. Visual Product Configurator
The Visual Product Configurator for Woocommerce plugin allows you to sell very complex products. This plugin allows you to ease your customer’s pain by customizing their perfect product visually. No matter how complex the product may look, such as controllers, bikes, furniture, helmets, sunglasses, and much more… the fact is that it’s so flexible that it can be used for any kind of product.
Benefits of using Visual Product Configurator
Conditional logic: Allows you to automatically show or hide some options or components based on the customer selection.
Multiple options selection: Allows multiple options within the same component.
Linked products: Allows you to link existing products to an option to trigger everything related to the linked products once the order is made.
Priority support: Get help from our support team within the next two hours after submitting your ticket.
Translation ready: can easily support multiple languages, allowing content to be adapted for diverse linguistic preferences
Wrapping Up
The purpose of this article is to inform you about various plugin options available in WordPress to build an eCommerce store. We believe this article served its purpose.
Do you have something to add? Let us know in the comments section below.
