Years ago, building, maintaining, and running an online store was a very complicated task that required a lot of technical know-hows. Today, it is so easy that with the click of a few buttons, you can create an online store for your business in hours. Better yet, you can even convert your existing blog to an e-commerce platform with the right tools. These tools are called eCommerce plugins.
So, let’s say you run a blog or a website, and you want to make more money online by selling some of the books you review to your site visitors. In lieu of turning to third-party e-commerce platforms like Shopify or BigCommerce, one of the best ways to turn your website into an online store and start selling products is using eCommerce plugins.
Source: www.sagipl.com
There are hundreds of eCommerce plugins available for individuals looking to kickstart their eCommerce journey on their WordPress website. And because WordPress doesn’t come with these eCommerce features built-in, you need these plugins. You should, however, know that the plugin you choose for your business and relative to certain factors like the nature of the products you intend to sell, payment options, features of some of the plugins etc.
Choosing the right eCommerce plugin is crucial for your business.
Do you run/own a WordPress website or plan to build an online store? These are some of the best WordPress eCommerce plugins.
5 Best WordPress eCommerce Plugins 1. WooCommerce
With over 10 million downloads, WooCommerce is the most popular eCommerce. The plugin avails you with all the basic features you need to get your online store going from the ground up…all at zero cost! WooCommerce comes with tons of options and features (that could sometimes get overwhelming) for almost every aspect of your online store. Support for physical and digital products, inventory management, multilingual websites, availability of numerous payment and shipping gateways, affiliate and external product integration etc. are some of the features that makes WooCommerce the king of e-commerce plugins.
There are also plenty of available extensions and add-ons that are available on its extension store at affordable prices for more advanced features. WooCommerce has a large community of developers and is supported by majority of the best WordPress themes and templates.
With WooCommerce, you can easily upload whatever products you wish to sell on your website, set prices, write sales descriptions and publish, all from your dashboard. Afterward, users can also —without hassle— browse your products library/collection, fill up their shopping carts, and check out their orders via PayPal, Stripe, PayPal Pro, Amazon Payments Authorize.net, and other supported payment gateway.
2. iThemes ExchangeiThemes Exchange is another WordPress eCommerce plugin for converting your WordPress website to an online store with zero technical skills required. The free version is suitable of small businesses and comes with the core features you’ll need to get your store up and running.
The Pro version of iThemes Exchange costs $199 per year and comes with all plugin’s 22 extensions like Purchase Button customization, Table Rate shipping, Membership, Recurring Payments etc. It doesn’t come with as many features, add-ons, and extensions as WooCommerce but it does a pretty decent job.
3. Easy Digital DownloadsUnlike WooCommerce which is an all-round e-commerce plug-in for selling all kinds of products on your website, Easy Digital Downloads (EDD hereinafter) is specially designed to help you sell digital products like software, eBooks, documents, photos, ebooks, songs, and graphics on your store.
EDD comes with the basic features you need to propel your digital sales business and a wide collection of third-party add-ons and extensions for commissions, free downloads, payment gateways, reviews, recommended products, and other services.
4. MemberPress
Like Easy Digital Downloads, MemberPress is also focused on a single type of product — membership services or subscription-based digital products. It is beginner-friendly, available for free, and also come with powerful extension for premium features to help you sell your services and products. MemberPress is a must-have WordPress plugin when building a membership website.
5. Product Countdown
Designed specifically for WooCommerce online stores, Product Countdown is one of the best WordPress eCommerce plugins to have on your store. This plugin can be used to show users how much time they have left to buy a product t a discounted or bonus price. It is also used to show how much/many of a product is left in stock to sort of create excitement among buyers. It also helps boost sales and engagement on your store by causing a “panic” and increasing users’ commitment to buying a product of interest.
With just a few clicks and customization, Product Countdown allows you create scarcity-based countdown-timers when a product is on sale.
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