Summary: Building good retail stores on WordPress requires ecommerce plugins. These plugins include payment processing, shopping carts, and product catalogs, among other things. Your company’s needs and product type will determine which plugin you need. Popular choices consist of WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and BigCommerce.
Key Takeaways:
- E-commerce plugins are crucial for enhancing online retail stores on WordPress.
- Consider your company’s requirements while selecting a plugin since choices address several product categories—physical, digital, and membership.
- Popular plugins include BigCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and WooCommerce, which provide a spectrum of capabilities.
- To choose the best plugin for your site ecommerce on wordpress, consider cost, simplicity of use, and particular capabilities. Discover WordPress ecommerce themes to design an aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly online show-through.
Introduction
Optimizing retail stores on WordPress face tough competition in the online retail world, and running a successful e-commerce store requires more than just a great product lineup. It’s about building a flawless, quick purchasing experience that keeps consumers involved and returning. Adding plugins that support everything from increasing site performance to strengthening SEO, marketing, and customer relationship management will help you run better retail stores on WordPress.Â
But what is an ecommerce plugin, and which is the right one?
We will discuss some fundamentals of WordPress ecommerce plugins and six of the finest e-commerce plugins available in this blog to enable your online store to grow greatly.
What Is a WordPress eCommerce Plugin?
A WordPress eCommerce plugin is a software add-on that extends the capabilities of a WordPress website to increase online sales and transactions without requiring complicated coding or programming.
The eCommerce plugin interfaces with the WordPress site and offers functionality such as product catalogs, shopping carts, payment processing, shipping and tax calculations, customer administration, and order tracking.
How do you choose the best eCommerce plugin for your WordPress site?Â
Choosing the best eCommerce plugin for your site ecommerce on wordpress is crucial for maximizing its functionality and enhancing the customer experience. The right plugin facilitates smooth operations, improved sales, and seamless transactions. This guide will help you navigate myriad options and make an informed decision tailored to your eCommerce requirements.
1:- WooCommerce
WooCommerce is a top WordPress eCommerce plugin that offers essential features for creating an online store. It is compatible with physical, digital, and membership products, making it a versatile business solution. WooCommerce has multiple built-in blocks, such as All Products, Product by Category, Newest Products, and Best Selling Products, which make adding product listings easier. The WordPress Storefront theme was created to simplify the setup process and minimize compatibility risks with other plugins and extensions.Â
First, use one of the Storefront child themes provided by WooCommerce’s official store, or consider using free and premium WordPress eCommerce themes from ThemeForest and TemplateMonster. Integrating WooCommerce with Google Analytics using a plugin can help gather comprehensive sales data, enhance marketing strategies, and boost conversion rates. Launch your eCommerce store using a WooCommerce host optimized for optimal performance and uptime.
Key Characteristics:
- Supports many product kinds on one listing.
- Built-in analytics
- Pre-built eCommerce themes for WordPress
- A large assortment of add-onsÂ
- WooCommerce payment gateways
Cons:
- Requires add-ons to open additional payment gateways apart from its processing mechanism.
- For every purchase—including digital goods—a shipping address is required.
2:- ELEX WooCommerce Dynamic Pricing and Discounts Plugin
The ELEX WooCommerce Dynamic Pricing and Discounts plugin is a powerful tool for eCommerce stores, offering a range of features in an intuitive dashboard. It allows users to customize product pricing based on various criteria and offer dynamic discounts for multiple products and categories. The plugin provides for generating fixed, flat, percentage coupon discounts for individual products, product combinations, categories, and tags based on user roles, weight, user emails, and order numbers. It also allows you to buy one and get a discount. The plugin also allows users to set up product price tables and offers tables to keep them informed about discounts and offers. The plugin provides a free version with limited features, while the premium version starts at $79 for a single site and $199 for 25 sites.
Key Characteristics:
- Create combinations, individual products, categories, tags, and BOGO discounts.
- Customize your store’s pricing to suit your specific needs.
- Product discounts for various product variations.
- Provide cart discounts based on product attributes and shipping methods.
- Provide repeat discounts for set product multiples.
Cons:
- Setting up all the features may take a little time for larger stores.
- The plugin is only available for WordPress/WooCommerce.
3:- Easy Digital Downloads
Easy Digital Downloads is a popular WordPress eCommerce plugin that offers a range of features for selling digital products, including eBooks, music, and software. It allows users to sell digital products in multiple forms, such as embedded versions in posts or pages. It offers bundle downloads, allowing buyers to combine multiple digital products into a single download. The plugin’s dashboard provides built-in analytics, allowing users to track business performance and download logs. It also offers customer management to improve eCommerce targeting. Easy Digital Downloads supports Stripe, PayPal, and Amazon payment gateways and offers various extensions for additional payment options. The plugin comes in free and premium versions, with the Professional plan offering features like marketplace functionality, checkout fields manager, and wishlists. The plugin is available in both free and premium versions.
Key Characteristics:
- PayPal and Stripe integrated payment support
- Customer management panel
- Included in-built transaction and download reports
- Extensions to increase the functioning of the site
Cons:
- Solely applicable for digital downloads
4:- BigCommerce for WordPress
BigCommerce is a managed eCommerce platform that offers a headless solution, allowing the eCommerce infrastructure to run on the platform, separate from the WordPress core. The BigCommerce WordPress plugin provides the framework for running an online business, allowing users to connect their account to a WordPress website and set up the back end of their online store. Like WooCommerce, BigCommerce offers product blocks for embedding product listings on WordPress pages. It also provides marketing tools for creating promotional materials, generating discount codes, and abandoned cart emails to minimize sales loss. BigCommerce offers three core plans, an enterprise solution, and comprehensive analytics tools for real-time data.
Key Characteristics:
- Simple and easy-to-use BigCommerce blocks
- Supports PCI-compliant payment gateways and several currencies.
- Many advanced tools replace the necessity to install several plugins.
- Assists significant worldwide couriers
Cons:
- Advanced technologies like abandoned cart saver and client segmentation are absent from the least expensive plan
5:- MemberPress
MemberPress is a WordPress eCommerce plugin that allows you to create a membership website by offering digital content, courses, and downloadables behind paywalls. It offers multiple pricing plans and unlimited access rules for users’ membership tiers. The plugin uses a custom post type to create a pricing page, which can be customized with custom CSS. It also features an automated billing system that reminds users when to renew their memberships and automatically revokes them if not paid. MemberPress has a library of add-ons, including integration with international payment processors and redirecting members to a custom landing page. Although it doesn’t offer a free plan, its lowest tier subscription provides great value for money for building a fully functional membership website without the need for other plugins.
Key Characteristics:
- Automated billing system and membership revocation
- Add-ons and integrations for scalability
- Unlimited access rules to block user access
- Pre-built pricing pages
Cons:
- No free plan
6:- Shopify
Shopify, a popular eCommerce platform, offers a hosted solution for WordPress users, allowing them to sell products without a third-party hosting provider. The platform offers a 14-day free trial and includes core eCommerce tools, unlimited products, 100+ payment gateways, sales tracking, and global currency support. Shopify also provides robust search engine optimization (SEO) features, allowing users to modify robots.txt files for higher rankings. All Shopify themes are responsive and SEO-friendly. However, the platform’s built-in payment processor, Shopify Payments, is only available in certain countries, and a transaction fee of 0.5-2% is charged for third-party payment gateways. Despite these advantages, Shopify’s integration with WordPress is only available in some countries.
Key Characteristics:
- Simple integrations with transportation carriers
- Strong search engine optimization tools
- Advanced reports with an intuitive layout
Cons:
- Transaction taxes for outside payment gatewaysÂ
Conclusion
In conclusion, selecting the right eCommerce plugin for your WordPress site enhances functionality and customer experience. Options like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and BigCommerce cater to various needs, from physical products to digital downloads and membership sites. By leveraging these plugins, online retailers can streamline operations, boost sales, and create a seamless shopping experience for customers.Â
Our Amazon Consultancy Services assist you in ensuring your eCommerce company succeeds by customizing your online store, selecting the best plugins for enhanced functionality. Reach out today!
